Robert Bruce Bielka

As a student of engineering and art at the University of Washington, Robert Bruce Bielka discovered his love for jewelry in 1971 and began a long apprenticeship as a bench jeweler and jewelry designer. In 1975 he moved from Seattle to New York City to advance his studies and began work at Cartier, New York, as a jeweler.

In 1979 Bielka founded his own jewelry design and manufacturing firm in New York incorporating as Bielka, Inc. in 1981. The extraordinary quality of his design and workmanship was immediately recognized and he was soon selling his one-of-a-kind show pieces to many of the world's leading retail jewelrs such as Fred Leighton, Mikimoto, Tiffany, Van Cleef and Arpels, Harry Winston, Gublien, Chaumet, Neiman Marcus and more, some of which have showcased his jewels dozens of time in advertisements in the finest publications around the world. His work is featured frequently in editorials in Departures magazine as well as W, Town & Country, etc. and has appeared on the covers of Jewelry Connoisseur and In Sync magazines.

Bielka is rare in his field in that he is not only a designer but he himself also creates special on-of-a-kind pieces as well the original models from which future pieces may be made. Every facet of jewelry making fascinates him, and he personally sets all the important gemstones. He was the world's first jewelry designer to be credentialed as a Certified Master Bench Jeweler by Jewelers of America. He is a patentee and holder of two technical patents coving aspects of some of his most unique and creative designs. Bielka has been awarded the Key to the City of Bal Harbour for his work with the American Cancer Society. Bielka's jewelry is in the collections of many celebrities including: Barbara Streisand, Yoko Ono, Brooke Shields, Demi Moore, Marlo Thomas, Barbara Walters, Joan Rivers, Billy Joel, Susan Lucci, Emmy Rossum, Dorothy McGuire, Pam Dauber and more.

"It is the meaning of the occasion that brings the gift of jewelry to life. To help commemorate so many wonderful events in people's lives makes what we do transcend worldliness. My jewelry becomes a celebration, a way of giving thanks."