provided by: 
Stuart Rae never met a metal he didn't like. The Montreal-based designer studied metalsmithing and jewelry design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where he not only dabbled in traditional precious metals, but some nontraditional ones. Take stainless steel. Rae, who also is a trained blacksmith, was intrigued by the metal that surrounds us every day but whose properties are taken for granted.
"There are a lot of misconceptions about steel. It's harder than gold or sterling silver so steel is very durable. It doesn't tarnish or oxidize yet you can do some amazing things with it," Rae says.
Amazing is right. Rae's latest collection is "Pea and Pod," a stainless steel jewelry collection he created for SteelX, a supplier of men's and women's stainless steel. The collection, which retails between $90 to $200, features natural pod-like shapes mixed with freshwater pearls. "The pods remind me of ones I saw when I was growing up in Australia," says Rae. "Most people think it's sterling silver." That's an easy mistake to make since few steel lines have the natural, feminine styling of Rae's collection. Rae employs techniques usually associated with precious metals: lost wax casting.
Rae says he finds manipulating metals in new and varied ways one of his favorite challenges. He got his start in design, creating body jewelry when he was a tattoo artist. "I couldn't find jewelry that was long lasting and consumer friendly so I forged my own out of steel."
His ability to use steel in new ways is one of the things that attracted SteelX. Rae intends to push the steel factor even further. In his next collection, Rae is using actual meteorites to cast his own steel space stones, another natural inspiration. He hopes to introduce steel jewelry collections that hearken back to Art Deco, Art Nouveau, even Rococo. He also is doing "high jewelry" made out of steel. He is working on some titanium jewelry concepts—again looking to push the envelope on how alternative metals are used. Rae, however, insists he won't forgo steel. "Steel is the new gold."
author: Jeff Prine