As a youngster, as an art student, and later as a jeweler, Apichart Warrachart’s love for architectural design grew and deepened. Guided by his uncle, who is an architect, Warrachart watched and learned, experimented with design, chose materials, evaluated where a design could be improved, and where it might be impractical for its purpose.

Always, he believed, the finished structure had to be strong aesthetically as well as structurally. Now, creating jewelry, he designs each piece from the gemstone outward in every direction. “I look at the back as well as the front. Each one,” he insists, “must be beautiful from any angle.”

Growing up in Thailand, Warrachart remembers, he was surrounded by the raw materials for creating jewelry. Thailand is rich not only in stones and materials but also in knowledge, with many craftsmen to turn to for technical and artistic advice.

Warrachart’s designs always begin with the stone. The stones he prizes are simple, clean and high-quality—and preferably inexpensive. The potential of the stone is not found in its cost, but in its unique characteristics or unusual color. “Unusual stones challenge me to come up with new ideas,” Warrachart explains, “I meet with the stone-cutter and discover what is possible.”

For the future, he plans to learn much more about gemstones. “How much,” he wonders, “can I push them? How much can I make them do the unexpected?” Imaginatively designed, well-made jewelry lasts long after it leaves the jeweler's hands.

“Good jewelry,” Warrachart recognizes, “can be given from one generation to the next generation, carrying the love as well as the value and beauty.”

See more of Warrachart’s designs at: www.isradesigns.com.