Precious Metal Artwork
Crafted Through Time
Dennis Kangasniemi carries on an unbroken 6 generation family lineage of craftsmanship and artistry in the jewellery arts.
With over 40 years of personal experience Dennis continually works to fine tune his skills in the creation of one of a kind wearable precious metal art creations.
He incorporates traditional techniques with his own innovative vision to create truly unique pieces.
Dennis has had the additional privilege of adding to his skills over the years by working with some of the finest artisans in the craft. Among them, two influences have been Frank Gurney, master hand engraver, lapidary artist and Ray Schow, master diamond and stone setter. Dennis keeps these disappearing/fading hand skill arts alive throughout his 40 yrs of continuing to further master his craft and skills.
PRECIOUS METAL ARTWORK
Inspiration to Creation
Dennis’s unquenchable desire to continually create is a fixed part of his life.
Directly inspired from his interactions with the natural world. He has spent much of his life exploring the wilds and working on programs to protect wilderness areas. His surname “Kangasniemi”, Finnish in origin, literally translates as “Forested Peninsula” Always wanting to share his experiences, filming and photographing his wilderness explorations have formed a central part of his creative process in producing the precious metal art work he has become known for. Creating precious metal wearable iconic pieces is a passion he wishes to share and for people to treasure
Precious Metal Artwork
The Making of a Piece
Dennis creates all gold components starting with 100% recycled gold refined to assayed 24 karat purity.
He then alloys the pure gold to create the desired karat gold to work with, typically in 14kt sheet or casting grain form. Making of the sheet from which many of his designs are cut from requires multiple procedures to create his final “canvas” from which he can begin his hand work in creating the desired image. With gold as his canvas and a jewellers saw as his paintbrush, Dennis hand cuts his designs with meticulous precision. Capturing in gold the subtle curvatures present in all of nature’s creations requires working his hand tools with confident, fluid movements.
The art of micro hand metal working gold is unforgiving. Each hand cut edge is further hand burnished creating an extra glint not achievable any other way. Dennis hand finishes each piece individually to ensure the quality of each piece meets his standards. The unique bezels Dennis fabricates enclosing images and stones is further hand finished to his high standards for presentation. The BC Nephrite Jade used is Grade “A” of the finest quality, which stands out with its rich green translucent glow.