Modernist Heart Leaf Pierced Earrings Stud and 35 similar items

Modernist Heart Leaf Pierced Earrings Stud Signed J. Hayes Sterling Silver Jim Hayes arrived in Aspen in 1949 and set up his first jewelry shop on the corner of Mill and Cooper Streets. An early ski pioneer, he tested skiis for Head and broke a pair a week. Eventually he gave up skiing, but he continued making Aspen leaf jewelry, and today his belt buckles are a hallmark of local pride. Born in 1920 and originally from Texas, Jim married Mary Eshbaugh in 1953. They had five children. In 1982 Jim accepted his youngest daughter, Jess Bates, as an apprentice and she trained with him for six years at the Bleeker Street studio before establishing a workshop in Basalt, where for twelve years she produced the Aspen leaf line. During that time she established an additional career in oil painting and raised her son, Tamas Bates. Like her father, Bates is a passionate and enthusiastic local character sharing Jim?s love of skiing, dancing, and painting. She is an avid mountain biker and outdoorsman. Jess Bates moved to Seattle and Maui for several years to pursue other interests until 2008 when she returned to run full operations of the Hayes? studio production in Aspen.