The Atelier
One pair of hands
Every piece is designed and made by Master Goldsmith Carol Ahern, with more than 45 years at the bench, in a two-person workshop in the Cascade Mountains of central Oregon.
45+years at the bench
1goldsmith, start to finish
0middlemen or retail markup
358designs and commissions shown here
Ahern & Brucker is two people. Carol Ahern is the goldsmith; Bob Brucker looks after everything else. Together they design, make and offer their own fine custom jewelry and accessories from their shop in Oregon, and between them bring more than seventy years of serving clients who want the very best that can be had, regardless of time or effort.
Carol and Bob live and work in the Cascade Mountains of central Oregon, where the shop and cabin are surrounded by forest, clear mountain lakes, rivers and creeks, and an abundance of wildlife. They moved there for the quiet it takes to focus on master craftsmanship, and they find the place nurtures their creativity and resolve. On a summer afternoon they may close early to go fishing and swim the hound. When it comes to making something a client will enjoy for a lifetime and pass to the next generation, they take that seriously.
Both custom casting from hand-carved waxes and hand fabrication are done in house. Alongside one-of-a-kind commissions, some designs have evolved naturally into limited-edition lines: the wolf, forest, yin yang and Basic Man's Ring collections among them.
Not every piece of jewelry can, or should, be a masterpiece. There is no shortage of mass-produced jewelry for every occasion. But there is a time in everyone's life when the occasion demands perfection, when it simply has to be done well. That is the work of this house.
Clients have come from across the United States and as far as Saudi Arabia, Japan and New Zealand, many of them online since 2001. In the house's own words, it has yet to have a dissatisfied customer or a return.
Master Goldsmith
Carol Ahern
Carol Ahern holds the skill and the talent. For more than 45 years she has designed and made jewelry: bench work, wax carving, stone setting, mould making, fabricating, milling and, by hand, the final polish.
Each piece is handled personally by Carol from conception to completion, never by an apprentice. She carves her waxes by hand rather than at a computer, forges and fabricates from metal she has melted and milled herself, and sets stones with tools as basic as a hammer and punch, calling on long experience.
Her finish is the mark of the work: hours of hand sanding and polishing into every recess, rather than a few hours in a tumbler. When a wax is not going the way she wants, she starts a new one.
- Design
- Hand wax carving
- Lost-wax casting
- Mould making
- Hand fabrication
- Hand forging
- Milling
- Stone setting
- Hand polishing
Host, photographer & shopkeeper
Bob Brucker
Bob Brucker is host and narrator of the house, and its shopkeeper: sales, accounting, web design and photography all fall to him. He answers every enquiry and schedules the work.
What he enjoys most is working with clients on their design ideas, building a clear picture of the finished piece in the minds of both the client and Carol. Throughout a commission he photographs each step for the client's approval, so that the piece can be followed from first sketch to final polish.
What we hold to
- I
One pair of hands
Each piece is made from start to finish by Master Goldsmith Carol Ahern: designed, carved or fabricated, set and polished by her, in our own workshop.
- II
Directly from the workshop
There are no middlemen, advertising agencies or retailers between you and the bench. The price you pay is the price at which we would sell the same work to a fine retail store or gallery.
- III
No discounts, no promotions
Nothing in our line is ever on sale, closing out or liquidated. Each piece is made to order and made well, without pressure or sales tactics; the designs, the workmanship and a long history of satisfied clients speak for themselves.
- IV
Your choice of stones
Precious and semi-precious gemstones from around the world, with access to some of the most renowned diamond cutters, stone cutters and award-winning gem designers. We will search for weeks, if need be, for the right stone.
- V
Made to be handed down
A ring you will own longer than your car or your house, and wear every day. It becomes part of you, and in time is passed down and treasured by the generations that follow.
- VI
Done right, done once
If we are going to do it, we are going to do it right: newly refined gold rather than reused scrap, waxes perfected by hand before casting, and a finish that can only come from hours of hand polishing.
Where we work
In the Cascade Mountains of central Oregon
In the workshop
Come and talk with us