Christine Cooper Hill lives to create beauty by hand.
The innate drive to add natural beauty to the world has always inspired the handcrafted art of fine jewelry maker Christine Cooper Hill. From timeless wedding rings and exquisite necklaces to fanciful earrings and dynamic brooches, her one-of-a-kind, handcrafted pieces expertly bring to life the shared vision of her and her clients as they reflect the colorful stories of nature.
Hill, who graduated from Columbus College of Art & Design in 1986, in Columbus, Ohio, worked for more than three decades as a goldsmith and custom jewelry designer for major national jewelers. For the past 15 years, she has worked from her own artist-owned and -operated studio at her home in Columbus. There, working near her longtime partner, artist Pat Hill, she has her hands in every step of every unique piece’s creation. From the designing and drawing of renderings, to the piercing, bending, forging, and milling of the copper, sterling silver, and gold, Hill sees each stage of the piece completely through. Bringing every one of these pieces to life is personal pursuit laden with responsibility that Hill cherishes.
“What I love most about what I’m doing today is being able to work directly with customers,” she says. “Most of the people who are referred to me are just regular people who usually have preconceived ideas of what they want. That initial inspiration for a design helps my imagination go where it wouldn’t naturally go on its own, which I love because it always leads to something lasting and very special for the client.
“In the end, I’m creating things for people who are wanting a pure expression of love, and there’s just so much beauty in that.”