Family of Celtic Jewelers to Open Store in Fairport

As his family grows, so does the business for Celtic jewelry designer Stephen Walker.  Walker will be moving his Rochester store to Packets Landing with his daughter Jeannie. Walker’s Celtic Jewelry is a satellite store for Walker Metalsmiths of Andover, NY.  The Walkers celebrated their 25^th anniversary in business this year, although Stephen Walker’s work with precious metals and Celtic design goes back much earlier. The store will feature their original gold and silver designs authentically crafted in the living tradition of the Irish and Scots as well as some of the finest old world craftsmanship in this style being created in Ireland and Scotland.

Unlike some modern Celtic jewelers, the Walkers are very innovative with the traditions of interlaced knotwork and spiral designs, not simply copying designs from ancient sources, but actually mastering the intricate tradition.   Stephen Walker explains, “Many feel that authenticity comes from faithful reproduction of historical Celtic designs. I was fortunate to have been taught a very young age that true authenticity  comes from being so immersed in the tradition that you can create original work that is good and true without taking all your designs from the past. This is the tradition I am passing on to my children and apprentices”.

Soon after he was introduced to the mystical designs of the medieval Book of Kells by his Irish-American grandmother, he was hooked. His Scottish-American grandfather his mother to learn bagpipes, a tradition Stephen also followed.  “ Shortly after Grandma Walker made a visit to Ireland in 1968”, Walker explains, “my family moved to Andover, NY, where the art teacher was very accomplished in Celtic art. William MacCrea did a lot to teach and inspire a number of other artists who continue to work in the Celtic tradition”.  After High School, Stephen spent a year in Ireland and the British Isles playing his bagpipes as a “busker” or street performer.  Returning to the States he attended Syracuse University for a BFA degree in silversmithing and jewelry design and then went on to earn his masters degree in Metalsmithing from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1982.

Stephen’s wife and business manager, Susan, is also of both Scottish and Irish heritage. Her grandmother was an immigrant from Co. Tipperary and her father’s family claims descent from Nova Scotia Scots. Susan was a math and business major at Syracuse, where the couple met. It is claimed that her mathematical specialty is multiplying, as the family has six children. All of their children have taken their turns at helping with the family business beginning when they were very young.  Andrew, the oldest, began the Rochester store in 2007. He is returning to school and his sister Jeannie is ready for her turn to enter the business full time. The four younger children are still in school. Two are in engineering programs and the two youngest have already begun following their father’s footsteps as craftsmen. All of the children have traveled to Scotland and Ireland with their parents to keep in touch with relatives and craftsmen that supply the shop.

Walker’s Celtic Jewelry in Fairport is expected to be open in time for Canal Days, June 6 & 7. There will be a workshop on the premises to accommodate custom orders, sizing and repairs.