When asked to describe his craft, Robert Piland chuckles and says, “That could take some doing.” Creating original designs based on the Celtic art of his heritage and the oriental imagery of his childhood, Piland melds the artwork of these ancient traditions into his own art. The jewelry this artist designs and crafts are original creations, not reproductions.

Piland’s childhood was inspirational, to say the least. “I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, until I was 10 or 11,” he explains. “We once went to Padre Island where I found a gold, Spanish spoon that had washed up from a shipwrecked pirate boat.” Fascinated with the intricate cherubs that decorated this one piece of history, Piland was hooked, though he didn’t quite know it yet.

After Texas came an adolescence lived in Japan, thanks to his father’s military assignments. “I didn’t like school much,” Piland admits, “but there was a Japanese goldsmith in the village. I used to hang around his shop—and probably drove the man nuts now that I think about it—but he tolerated me.” And thank goodness, for this time spent daydreaming and absorbing the world around him found its way into Piland’s blood and stayed, strong enough to help him insist on an apprenticeship with a German master goldsmith some years later. “It took me six months to convince him to hire me,” the artist admits, “and the best advice he gave me was simply, ‘Learn to be a mechanic. Learn the mechanics of your trade and the art will come.’” Piland followed these words of wisdom and one of the ways he simply describes his work now is “painting with a torch.”

For a man who has made a 36-year career out of goldsmithing, a craft he describes as “a part of me,” it’s surprising to know that he tried to give it up in 1989 after his first wife passed away. “I tried photography and pottery,” Piland says, “but I came back to this.” Now his second wife, Liz, manages the business and works as his apprentice.

Creating handmade, original sterling silver and 14-karat gold pieces, some embellished with precious or semi-precious stones directly in metal—no wax involved—Piland cannot explain the recipe for the work he does. “A pinch of this, a pinch of that,” he laughs, conveying that this is simply an art that cannot be documented. “When I say this work is what I am … that it’s now what I do,” Piland says, “I mean it literally.”