If you’ve been keeping up with all things happening in The Summer Local this season, you’ve had the pleasure of reading about and briefly getting to know some of the amazing creatives we have in this community. Well, as summer draws to an end, and we begin to transition towards all things Snowed-In (The Summer Local’s winter publication), we have one more local artisan to present to you.
Introducing Trevor Brachmann, a young man who is quickly gaining notoriety with every piece of handcrafted jewelry he creates.
Brachmann, 26, hails from Ellicottville, where his journey down this road of craftsmanship began. Trevor used to spend his summers traveling for his father’s business, Country Honey, specializing in beekeeping and all that goes with it. The travels for this work found him down south one summer, staying at the home of another jeweler, K. Robins, who he credits with adding to his motivation to create unique pieces of jewelry. Although Trevor had already been dabbling somewhat in the craft, this visit opened his eyes to a whole new world, and he knew he must take it to the next level.
The dominant style of Brachmann’s work would fall under the ‘wire wrapping’ style, which is one of the oldest styles for making jewelry by hand. Generally, when designing his pieces, Trevor selects small gem stones or other items that he finds creatively inspiring, and goes to work encompassing them with either fine silver or sterling silver, which often times comes in various gauge and shape. Brachmann also enjoys doing custom work, should interested persons have a more specific look and feel they’d like for themselves.
If you’ve never seen a piece like this, “intricate” doesn’t even begin to describe it. Using his hands, a variety of small tools like a flush cutter, and pliers of various shapes, Brachmann truly leaves one studying the piece for an extended period of time, marveling, “How the heck did he do that?!” Pieces can take him anywhere from a handful of hours, to upwards of 30 hours, to get the proper look and feel.
Brachmann was recently recognized by STB (Southern Tier Biennial), a group which is professionally juried to display the best of the best in contemporary art throughout the Southern Tier. Their efforts go towards putting on exhibitions for artists like Trevor, to truly portray their vitality and diversity. Brachmann started the process by simply entering a picture of one of his pieces, a wire wrapped necklace that he had recently made for a close friend. Shortly thereafter, he was contacted to submit more pieces, thus solidifying his place within the event. If you’d like to check it out for yourself, it all goes down at the Olean Public Library Gallery Sept. 21 at 3pm. From there, the exhibition will run until Oct. 25.
Although only practicing his craft for a little over a year now, Trevor Brachmann is clearly on to something here. His passion for his work is evident from each and every conversation one has with him. His hope is to continue on and further his creativity, by expanding his mediums into fabricating and wax casting. If you see something that catches your eye, be sure to get in touch with this fine young man, at 716-801-0857, or you can find him on Facebook as well, where he displays many pictures of his work.
Art is something that we must do, so that our spirit can continue to grow, and it is very evident that Trevor’s spirit will never stop growing.
