THE GEM LOVER
LISA COTTEN

This former model and mother of four started making jewelry three years ago when she couldn’t find what she wanted in stores. Now she creates a custom line from her home in Winnetka, choosing gems through vendors in New York and Thailand. “It’s been a complete self-education,” Cotten says. “In some ways it’s been to my benefit, because I don’t have any preconceived ideas about what should go together.” She starts by grouping precious and semiprecious stones in surprising combinations—blue topaz and multicolored tourmaline, for example—then creates detailed blueprints for a master craftsman. Many of her pieces, particularly her bracelet cuffs, have her signature wrap-effect detail, inspired by her grandmother’s midcentury rattan furniture. $900 to $10,000

THE NATURALIST
ALISA MILLER

The metalsmith Alisa Miller, 30, finds her inspiration in nature. “I made a present for my mom that resembled honeycombs, and I loved the result, so I started playing with it more,” she says. That first design was three years ago, and now that geometric shape adorns necklaces, rings, and earrings, which are all without what she calls “stones and bling.” A graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, Miller starts with footlong circular tubes, which she cuts into four-millimeter pieces and solders together individually to form her patterns. “Every piece is completely handcrafted,” Miller says. “It’s got my fingerprint all over it.” $65 to $900

THE LITHOPHILE
KATIE JOHANSSON
Dollybird Design

This Wicker Park resident, 33, starts every handmade piece with a raw chunk of rock. “I have a really vivid imagination, so I’d like to think that every time I do a piece it’s going to be something I hopefully haven’t done before,” she says. She custom fits each rock with a series of gauge metals and wires, then creates a seam through soldering, all the while cleaning, filing, and grinding the product. “[I’m] building with a bunch of different layers, so it’s a repeated process of firing and cleaning back and forth,” says Johansson, who named her business Dollybird after a 1950s slang term used to refer to an attractive woman. $25 to $400

Illustrations: Jordan Domont, Stylist: Megan Lovejoy

THE WIRE WORKER
KATHY FREY
Kathy Frey Studios

Using only a set of pliers, Frey, 36, shapes 90 percent of her sculptural wire jewelry at her studio in Lincoln Square. “It’s basically creating a skeletal structure with a heavier gauge wire and wrapping a lighter gauge wire around it,” she says. Even though she uses only silver and gold metals, Frey obtains a range of colors—from blues to deep reds—through oxidation, accenting some pieces with semiprecious stones and pearls. She has chronicled her unique design process in a book, Elegant Wire Jewelry (Lark Books, 2007), in which she offers beginners a how-to approach. She will be featured in the Art Institute of Chicago’s gift shop when its new Modern Wing opens this May. $88 to $1,200

THE HISTORIAN
MARLA PATINKIN
Marla Studio

This Evanston artist, 42, starts with ancient coins and dendritic agate stones that she finds in rock shops and through coin dealers and friends. Using a hammer, Patinkin shapes silver and copper into a dome, then measures, cuts, solders, and rivets the metal with a variety of tools and fire. Before the piece is finished, Patinkin ages the copper by soaking it in a chemical bath. “I wanted to make work that people, instead of putting on their wall, would have on their bodies,” says Patinkin, whose collection also includes engraved Hebrew scriptures, which she creates using a basic printmaking etching process—transferring sketched images to metal pieces and bathing them in a tub of acid. $72 to $650

WHERE TO BUY

LISA COTTEN lisacotten.com ALISA MILLER City Soles 2001 W. North Ave., 773-489-2001; 3432 N. Southport Ave., 773-665-4233 alisamiller.com KATHY FREY STUDIOS Gem 1710 N. Damen Ave.; 773-384-7700 The Field Museum 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.; 312-922-9410 kathyfrey.com DOLLYBIRD DESIGN City Soles and The Andersonville Galleria 5247 N. Clark St.; 773-878-8570 dollybirddesign.com MARLA STUDIO Michael Del Piero 1914 N. Damen Ave.; 773-772-3000 I.D. 3337 N. Halsted St.; 773-755-4343  E Street Denim 1876 First St., Highland Park, 847-433-8338; 908 Green Bay Rd., Winnetka, 847-784-8805 moderntribe.com, marlastudio.com

Illustrations: Jordan Domont, Stylist: Megan Lovejoy