Asheville jewelry artist Chris Van Dyke jokes that his initiation into the craft was a “trial by fire” due to his father’s unyielding standards. “In truth,” says Chris, “it was the path of least resistance. I saw the trade as an opportunity to get away from working at the local lumber mill which was, at best, an endless opportunity to hump wood around.” And so began Chris’s apprenticeship with his father at his jewelry shop in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.

“I knew within two weeks of sitting at the bench that I wanted to do this for a living. I would lie awake at night thinking of what I was going to try and do the next day to finish a piece. I would feel jazzed and excited until I could put the final polish on it and put it in the showcase.” He adds, “Playing with the torch, cutting, hammering, and manipulating the metal gave me a satisfaction that still makes me tingle today.”

The apprenticeship lasted from 1989 to 1994, during which time Chris worked summers and Christmas breaks while earning a degree in psychology. After graduating in 1992, he (along with two cousins, a brother, and his father) went on a cross-country motorcycle trip. On their way home, Chris peeled off from the group and spent some time in Boulder, Colorado, before heading to Asheville to visit another cousin.

“I remember the visceral experience of riding my Harley into the mountains after the harsh, hot, and monotonous conditions of Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas,” says Chris. After his stop in Asheville, he returned to work for his dad for another two years before heading to Phoenix, Arizona.

“Contentious, stressful, and hot,” is how Chris describes the desert. But it was there he picked up more valuable skills as a jeweler. “It opened my eyes to a wider jewelry world that was ... beyond any scope I had yet experienced.” He also attended, and graduated from, the Gemological Institute of America before returning home to work with his father.

“The fireworks began immediately. Too many alpha males in too small a space,” says Chris.

He knew he’d eventually have to move on, but acting on that knowledge was still four years in the future. Meanwhile, he met Sharon, a professional actress at a local theatre who was studying speech pathology. After she earned her graduate degree, the young couple decided to head south and check out Raleigh, Wilmington, and Asheville. “We came to Asheville first,” says Chris, “and nothing compared. I moved here in September 2000 and she followed the next May. Since arriving here they married and now have three children.” And it is here his jewelry artistry has flourished.

“I am as old school as you can get,” says Chris explaining his technique. “All of my work comes from sheet plate which is flat, featureless, and defiant, and I use very basic tools—saws, hammers, pliers, mandrels, and a torch. I even use the workbench I built in Phoenix.” He says his methods are raw and, because of that, people say it has a very old world look to it, ranging from very refined to heavy and industrial.

“I love to start with a gemstone ... it gives me a place to center the design. From there, I cut from sheet plate each piece that goes into the item and solder each one on individually.”

Most of Chris’s creations are comprised of 10 to 15 pieces, but some have more than 180. And he makes them all right there in his gallery on Biltmore Avenue. “I sometimes come out with black fingers and polishing compound streaked on my face and shirt,” he jokes.

“I know (my father) looks at me with his own version of respect. He is floored by my space and the gallery and by what I have managed to put together in the ten years I’ve been here. ... Fortunately, I have been able to continue to ‘wow’ him.” Chris adds that he is still in awe of his father’s work.

Van Dyke Jewelry & Fine Craft is located at 29 Biltmore Avenue in downtown Asheville. To see more of his work, visit vandykejewelry.com.