Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof

Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof was born in September 1957 in Canada into a family of Baltic aristocrats. He is a world class gem sculptor and the lead designer of Zadora timepieces.  Von Zadora-Gerlof's family left Europe and settled in Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). He spent his childhood in hiking, fishing and hunting in the Canadian wilds of the Queen Charlotte Islands, an isolated and romantic archipelago known as "The Galapagos of Canada," situated 90 miles off the British Columbia coast. As a child, he began carving totem poles with the Haida Indians after a hunting accident left his left arm paralyzed. His physical therapy was to sculpt with the world's best totem carvers.

He studied the techniques of Haida totemic art under the apprenticeship of Gordon Cross, a close family friend and a Haida artist. Gordon Cross was a great Haida Indian artist, personally tutored him in the art of metal and gold engraving. Through this therapeutic process, and his love for nature and great interest in Indian mysticism and spirituality, he discovered his gift for "form feel," the talent to visualize and sculpt objects in three dimensions. He was thus inspired to pursue his talent for gem sculpting and metallurgy as a full time profession. In time, von Zadora-Gerlof became deeply involved in both Haida and European motifs and designs.

After three years of study in a military school in California, the artist became convinced not to pursue a military career, a very long family tradition, but much to his father's distress develop a future in the art of sculpting and jewellery. After studying at Idar Oberstein, Germany Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof established himself as one of the greatest gemstone artists of his time, also known as "America's Faberge".

Von Zadora-Gerlof now leads a world-class workshop that makes everything from fine jewellery to large sculptures. His work is included in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, the Middle and Far East. Selections from his oeuvre have been presented in exhibitions at the Forbes magazine Galleries in New York in 1992 and 1996 as well as at the Park Avenue Armory in 1995 and 1997. As the creator of some of the most exquisite works of art that exist today, many of the world’s most discerning art connoisseurs and collectors recognize his unique talent and appreciate and covet his sensational creations.

The distinguishing characteristic of von Zadora-Gerlof's gemstone sculptures is the exquisite level of detail he achieves in his portrayal of models from nature. To commemorate twenty years of the artist's outstanding gemstone sculpting achievement, a monograph, The Art of Zadora: America's Faberge, has been published in September 1999 by Vendome Press.