I met Zanny at the Fort Worth art festival, then spent months watching her set sapphires into molten gold on Instagram, and I had to know how she does it.
Zanny Cox is the goldsmith and weaver behind Estudio Zanny, working out of an artist studio in East Austin. Her work draws on her Mexican, Kickapoo, and Irish heritage and on a lifelong love of ancient history, so her pieces have the organic shapes and molten textures of something unearthed. She makes bespoke fine jewelry and talismans in solid gold and silver, often mixing the two, and she builds everything heavy enough to wear on a river float. Her great grandfather was a gem dealer, she still hammers on his anvil, and she works with stones and rough inherited from his collection. She has also spent six years teaching herself to set diamonds and sapphires directly into molten gold. In this episode we talk about how that molten setting works, why gold is so well behaved at the bench, what the Mohs scale means for everyday wear, and why heirloom jewelry belongs on your body, not in a box.
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00:04 Welcome to What A Gem
00:30 Lois's jewelry: a fabric necklace from the Craft Guild of Dallas and blue glass earrings
01:30 Meet Zanny, the story behind the name, and a studio in East Austin
02:59 A gem dealer great grandfather, an amethyst pendant, and learning at naptime
05:26 Why gold is well behaved, and her mixed metal chain
07:18 Ancient history as inspiration, and jewelry you can wear off a waterfall
09:42 Hammering near a gemstone: won't it scratch?
10:50 The Mohs scale, why opals stay out of her rings, and the molten setting
15:22 Where her stones come from, including a cutter in Utah
16:41 The Tucson Gem Show and why you need more than a week
18:55 Take a class and see jewelry differently
21:10 Canopy, first Saturday open studios, and the Austin art scene
23:29 The Austin Studio Tour, and why the city needs one big art show
24:47 Her first major juried show as an emerging artist
26:32 Art isn't meant to be experienced through a screen
28:30 Saving for heirloom pieces and remaking grandma's ring
31:01 Use the good dishes, wear the good jewelry
32:22 Working with fire in an Austin summer
34:38 The physical side of goldsmithing, from grain to anvil
36:25 Shop safety and the hidden hazards of making jewelry
38:11 Where to find Zanny
39:48 Thanks for listening
Find Zanny and Estudio Zanny:
Website: estudiozanny.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/estudiozanny
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