Elite Traveler Winter 2024/25

INFLUENCE THE BIG INTERVIEW

Clockwise from right Neeley hand- fi nishing the RivieraCu ff ; Modern Alchemy, Neeley's exhibition at Laguna Art Museum; Adam Neeley

Adam Neeley may be a jewelry designer and goldsmith by trade but, as he explains to Elite Traveler ’s Ellys Woodhouse, he sees himself as more of a modern alchemist; a self-described mad scientist, mixing metals and crafting experiments for over 25 years Adam Neeley on tapping into the dreamworld

“I’ve had a couple of explosions and interesting moments. I’ve vaporized gold before, which was a very expensive lesson to see $3,000 worth of gold just go up in the air.”

As one might then expect, Neeley’s pieces embody this dichotic artistic approach — straddling tradition and innovation, the worlds of dreams and reality. It’s one of the ways Neeley’s work transcends the conventions one might expect in a craft as ancient as human civilization itself. Many of Neeley’s designs can be described as dreamlike — with a pattern of crescent-moon curves, starry scatterings of diamonds and midnight sky-colored aquamarines — and this metaphor holds truth; much of Neeley’s work seems to emerge from a sort of dream state. “I usually can wake up and I have the piece perfectly imagined, like it’s already completed, already photographed,” he tells me over a video call from his gallery in Laguna Beach, California. This ability to tap into his subconscious is not merely spontaneous; it’s a practice he’s re fi nedover the years. He captures these fl eeting moments of inspiration quickly, sketching them down before the

Tonna Galea earrings in white gold, SpectraGold and diamonds

vision fades. There’s no doubt this subconscious brainstorming can be productive. “I can sometimes do 10 designs within a really good session,” he says, but it often marks the start of a meticulous and lengthy process before Neeley sees the pieces gracing the necks or earlobes of his customers. While Neeley might have an idea, it doesn’t necessarily mean he has the materials or the tools to bring that creation to life. In fact, he frequently fi nds that such things don’t yet exist: “I have designs that maybe I will not actually create, actually start and fi nish for 10 years, and that might be because I need to develop the gold that I’ve dreamt up, or that technique so it can hold, or maybe it’s a gemstone that I’m searching for.” This was certainly the case with Neeley’s fi rst dreamy design, conceived when he was an apprentice in Italy studying under master goldsmith Giò Carbone. “I had this dream of this beautiful, sinuous curve that came down, kind of like the edge of a clamshell, and then had the pearls just fl oating in the curves, with the gold going from yellow to white,” he says, his hands gesticulating as he describes the piece. Yet, he was immediately faced with a problem: “I was learning that process of how to do the gold, but it had an issue with hardness.” This early challenge opened a rabbit hole for Neeley into the world of gold alloys, something that has become a hallmark of his career. It’s an expensive and laborious process — he’s done about 185 experiments over several years. Neeley laughs it o ff : “I’ve had a couple of explosions and interesting moments. I’ve vaporized gold before, which was a very expensive lesson to see $3,000 worth of gold just go up in the air.” That explosive investment has paid o ff , with Neeley creating the SpectraGold gradient color technique and three distinct (and trademarked) solid colors of gold: AlbaGold, a peachy champagne-toned gold; RevaGold, a red gold with a touch of graphite; and

Melissani ring with indicolite tourmaline in SpectraGold with custom-cut diamonds

VeraGold, a cool, minty sage green gold. Returning to those clamshell curved earrings Neeley envisioned in Italy, after conquering the challenge of the gold’s hardness and fi nding the perfect pearls at a gem show in Munich, Germany, Neeley fi nally created the piece with his experimental metal. “I actually entered it into the International Pearl Competition, and it won fi rst place,” he says, his delight evident even over the video call. “And then, a year later, the curator and the head of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC called and said, ‘Your piece is really extraordinary. Would you be interested in having it as part of our nation’s collection?’” Despite much of Neeley’s work being mostly client or commission these days — most recently, he’s launched a high jewelry line — those aforementioned earrings are far from the last of Neeley’s collection to go on display to the public. In the fi rst half of 2024, the Laguna Art Museum hosted a solo retrospective of Neeley’s work, the fi rst jewelry-focused exhibition held by the museum. The exhibition is something Neeley feels particularly proud of, a showcase of more than 140 pieces that explore the breadth of his career, starting with the fi rst piece Neeley made at age 12 — a pair of earrings for his mother after he discovered gemstones in the Colorado mountains. The exhibition