russ zabler: inspiring jewelry designs

How many careers were ultimately launched by the famed Peninsula School of Art, you may wonder? One such artist is Russ Zabler, who was taking PenArt photography classes back in the early 1970s. “The funny thing is, I happened to be talking to a couple of professors on the front steps of the School and Bill [Griffiths] just had this cool vibe going so I asked him what class he taught,” Zabler recounts. “He said Metal Arts, so I signed up for it and the rest is history!” After the fateful metal arts class, Zabler didn’t return to college. “Jewelry had lit a fire in me,” Zabler said. Instead, he worked at a trade shop doing jewelry repair, then became a bench jeweler for a retailer, pursuing his own work in summer art shows. In 1983 Zabler bought a shop in Ephraim and remade it into the current Zabler Design Jewelers, and a year later also acquired a store in Clarendon Hills, IL.

Nature was immediately represented in his early jewelry pieces, he says. Zabler was inspired by “the idea that form, function and load can be represented in both jewelry and architecture.” The use of “Design” in the business’s name is conscious, since his forte is custom design, working with clients until “an ethereal image becomes something you can touch and wear.”

Zabler offers countless alternatives for engagement rings, from antique diamond rings to peach-pink sapphire to morganite and rose gold combinations. He has an original and inventive way to inspire clients with a curated selection. The experienced artist also reaches back in time with his rare coin collection and transforms them into one-of-a-kind pieces in his Ancient Design Series. His interest in coins took off after a Pompeii exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. “The whole exhibit inspired me about the accessibility of 2,000-year-old artifacts. Some of the coins were minted during the time of Jesus Christ under Pontius Pilate and some during Alexander the Great’s lifetime. That I had them in my store was mind-blowing,” Zabler said. The fire that was lit years ago will burn on. “I love the connections I get to make with individuals and being able to work with beautifully colored gems and rare objects.”