Daniel Grussing & Marie DesJardins

Based in the beautiful French Acadian area of Lafayette, LA, the unique Art to Wear jewelry of Daniel – Desjardins is created by the husband and wife team of Daniel Grussing and Marie Desjardins Grussing.

All pieces are original designs and individually hand fabricated from sterling silver, steel, copper and brass. The steel is found, usually weathered and rusty, while all of the copper and most of the brass is recycled and obtained at local scrap yards.

We begin our fabrication process with sheets of metals. The pieces are cut by hand using shears and a jeweler’s saw (no stamping or casting). We use a wide variety of texturing and colorization techniques. Some of the textures are created by hammering the metal on a distressed surface, giving the finished piece a primitive look. Other textures are achieved by rolling the metal through a rolling mill where it is embossed and receives a reversed print of such materials as art paper, cloth and wire. We planish the metal to get textures on other pieces. After texturing, the pieces are shaped through several processes. The black on brass is created by heating the metal and washing it with an acid solution; while the orange-rust color is done solely by heating copper to the correct temperature with a torch. The green patina is attained through a chemically induced aging process that duplicates the oxidizing processes found naturally. Some of our finishing processes include hand filing, buffing, polishing and hand etching.