Goldstories Turns to a Ceramic Artist for Jewelry Collaboration

San Francisco–based jewelry brand Goldstories’ new collection with ceramicist Erin Hupp is a fusion of art and adornment, and an example of what happens when two creative people bring their skills along with mutual trust and admiration to a partnership.

Goldstories founder Subikksha Balaje says the Fold Collection she created with Hupp grew out of the respect they have for each other’s talent and individuality.

“Erin’s folded forms have a quiet sense of movement. The way a single hand-formed curve catches light felt both bold yet graceful, which is exactly what I try to capture in gold,” Balaje says. “I also loved that her work is rooted in craft and intention—values we share at Goldstories.”

Goldstories’ new collection of rings, pendants, and earrings is based on ceramic artist Erin Hupp’s beloved Fold design. 

“Collaboration is an essential part of my art practice—it inspires me to take new directions in my art,” adds Hupp, who is based in Oakland. “Over the years I’ve partnered with glassblowers, florists, chefs, interior designers, metalsmiths, and fiber artists, among others.”

Making use of Hupp’s sculptural prowess and Goldstories’ metalwork, the Fold collection merges the organic beauty of ceramics with the elegance of fine jewelry in rings, earrings, and necklaces. Prices range from $450 for sterling silver earrings to $2,600 for a 14k gold necklace with choice of lapis or malachite.

The “fold” became a hallmark of Hupp’s work after she made a hand-thrown serving plate with a folded edge that gained local attention. San Francisco chef Alex Hong commissioned Hupp to create Fold plates for his Michelin-starred restaurant Sorrel.

Balaje took note of Hupp’s Portal Mirror, a reimagined Fold plate containing a reflective surface, during its installation at a 7×7 Social Club event in San Francisco in summer 2024. Looking at the Hupp piece, Balaje started turning it around and around in her mind, seeing it not as a mirror or plate but as a ring.

“When Subikksha suggested that one of my mirrors would translate beautifully into a ring, we exchanged numbers, and soon after brought the idea to life,” Huff explains.

Erin Hupp has worked with clay for more than 20 years, starting in high school and—after also working in law—focusing on it full time for the past seven years.

In designing the Fold jewelry, the two passionate artists sketched, debated, and iterated through CAD and prototypes, always with the goal of maintaining the soft curves of Hupp’s work while considering thickness, balance, and on-body comfort.

“That back-and-forth is how the fold became structure, not just a shape,” Balaje says. “One favorite moment: a bail-less pendant idea that came to me while I was rolling roti. Instead of adding a separate bail, we engineered the fold to carry the chain—function layered into a form that still feels organic. Erin was fully on board.”

Hupp says she loves the Fold jewelry pieces, mostly because they represent their working relationship but also because they are inherently wearable.

“Subikksha gave me a lot of creative freedom—one of the many reasons this collaboration was both fun and fulfilling,” she says. “The small refinements we made along the way led to forms that truly reflect my artistic voice.”

Collaborations like this one and others that Goldstories has done make jewelry so enjoyable, says Balaje.

“I love collaborations because they turn a single point of view into a conversation. They let me learn, stretch, and share credit with artists I admire,” she says. “We invite other crafts to the bench, people who think in clay, space, line, and rhythm and translate that language into gold. Not decoration on top, but structure in the piece.”

Top: Erin Hupp (left) brought her ceramicist’s eye to a jewelry collaboration with Goldstories’ Subikksha Balaje. (Photos by Hannah Franco/courtesy of Goldstories)