Laguna Beach, California is just the sort of place where you expect to find surfer dudes, babes with great tans, and locals who move at a slightly slower pace.  Yet, with the largest population of artists of any town in Orange County, Laguna Beach is also the sort of place where you'll find a bevy of gifted jewelry designers.  Rising to the top of this creative wave is Lance Heck.  A native of this sun-splashed landscape, Heck has logged plenty of surfing miles of his own, but his well-appointed studio/gallery on South Coast Highway makes it look like he lives anything but the "slow" life.

At 37, Heck has been designing jewelry for more than 20 years.  At age 11, he made his entry into the field when he won first prize in cabochon cutting at the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies' competition in Seattle.  (According to Heck's mother, he also won first prize in cabochon cutting at the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies' competition when he was nine years old.)  Over the past 17 years, Heck has become a bit of a landmark as well, as a veteran exhibitor at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, the regions premier juried arts event since 1932.

I'm sitting with Heck in his 600-square-foot gallery.  Outside, passersby linger over their cappuccinos and jockey for premium parking spaces in this quaint beach town filled with boutiques,  galleries, and cafes.  We arranged our meeting for early morning, so as not to be disturbed by walk-in customers, but there is and endless stream of knocks at the locked door, hands pressed to the windows, and faces peering inside at Heck's treasures.

"I've always had a love of art since I was a little kid.  My mom was always steering me into art and doing projects around the house.  I was interested in sculpture and ended up as a fine art major in college," says Heck, who's jewelry designs reflect architecturally inspired clean, simple lines and detailed craftsmanship.  "I was also kind of a rockhound as a kid.  I started out doing lapidary work when I was nine at a local boy's club.  Eventually, my lapidary work and interest in art paralleled, then converged."

What seems to be converging these days for Heck is a graceful ability for combining elegant goldsmithing and brilliant gems into jewelry that appears at once classic and contemporary.  A strand of freshwater pearls, for instance, might serve as the vehicle for a subtle centerpice pendant with spessartine garnets and diamonds.  Yet, the angular, shieldlike shape of the pendant and it's subtle hinges add an updated flavor to an otherwise standard-issue item for any woman's wardrobe.

"I took a jewelry class in high school, but it was so basic that I ended up teaching half the class," Heck recalls.  "I had been making jewelry before that on my own and the teacher had been thrown into the class without much training.  I really didn't get a good education in design until after that, when I worked in a semi-apprenticeship for seven years," he says of his time spent with local goldsmith James Grahl.  "I was in college and wanted to learn the trade and he took me under his wing and taught me a lot of things.  It's a shame that we don't have the same sorts of systems in place here for apprenticeships as in Europe, where it's more of a formalized apprenticeship system.  There isn't a central area to study goldsmithing in this country."

Most of Heck's jewelry is hand-fabricated from 18-karat gold and platinum, and set with a variety of gemstones.  On my finger is one of Heck's ring designs - which I may never take off.  It's centerpiece explodes with a spectacularly large tanzanite.  "That originated as a European design," he says of the rectangular cut.  "I was one of the first people around to use that sort of shape and cut, about 15 years ago, but it's getting more popular now."

Operating from his gallery space for the last 11 years, Heck started out on his own, selling his work mostly at the local Festivals of Arts.  He recalls the beach towns in this part of southern California as being nothing more than rural backdrops during his childhood.  "About the time I was born, there wasn't much around here.  But Laguna Beach has been an art colony since the '30s," he recounts.  Although tourism is a big draw to the region, Heck's customers are largely local collectors and he generates most of his business by word-of-mouth referrals.  Working at the bench whenever time allows, he makes all his own jewelry, working with only one assistant.

TRIAL BY FIRE.    During Heck's apprenticeship, he attended the G.I.A.'s six-month gemology-in-residence program.  A few years after building up a private clientele, Heck opened his first storefront in Laguna Beach in 1986.  "That was a unique experience," he says wryly.  "I didn't have any experience running a store and all of a sudden I was doing everything.  It was really kind of trial-by-fire, trying to build up clients and keeping the store running.  It took a few years before things settled into place."

Although Heck shows his work in a couple of northern California galleries, he stays more than busy through his own gallery.  Heck is fortunate for an artist - he's a nice amalgam of gallery owner and jewelry designer.  He credits the Festival with acting as a motivator to keep inventory up, while allowing him to experiment with new designs.  Testing what works and what doesn't work is easier at a show, he says, than in the gallery where the foot traffic is less immediate.

Continuously evolving in design and materials, Heck's creations are largely one-of-a-kind and limited editions.  He shuns the idea of creating for mass production.  "A lot of jewelry designers have a production line that they try to keep on to of.  That can be hard to do.  I'm happier doing one-of-a-kind pieces and smaller editions, so I have more leeway to experiment and create different things.

"The designs evolve.  My design philosophy is to keep things simple.  Less is better," he adds.  "I've never been one to use a lot of frilly design just for the sake of it.  I like to work around the stone.  Whatever works well with the stone is best.  I use refining designs.  When I started out, I used a lot of 14-karat and over the last 10 years, I've pretty much kept to 18- karat and platinum.  I've always been influenced by famous jewelers, like Bulgari  or some of the vintage Cartier pieces.  Who hasn't?  It seems like they always used 18-karat and finer materials.  If you're going to do it, you might as well use the best.  The color difference and richness with 18-karat gold is important to my work." 

The morning sun is beginning to stream through Heck's gallery windows.  A bold ray of light zooms in and highlights one of Heck's one-of-a-kind creations, a 1991 Spectrum Award winner.  This choker / pendant looks a bit like a "lightsaber" that Luke Skywalker might use only on special occasions.  At the base of this cylindrical, torch-shaped pendant is a shaphire whose color balances the orblike top of the pendant, which is offset by rubies, a tourmaline cabochon, and diamonds.  The choker is part of a series of pendants that feature similar design themes worked with different gems.

"People see all kinds of things in this piece," Heck says.  "They see an Olympic torch, a lot of things.  But it wasn't meant to be anything except an abstract design."

ELEGANTLY HIP   Hinge attachments, an emphasis on construction, architectural inspiration, like neoprene rubber choker bands for gold and gem-encrusted pendants, add a hip, yet elegant twist to Heck's designs and craftsmanship.  Many of his pieces, whether intentional or otherwise, are full of movement and moving parts.  Removing his own wedding ring, Heck shows me how hinges find function even in his rings.  This one forms to the finger as you wear it, or plays snakelike movements when you pull it loose.

"I do a lot of things that are hidden, that the wearer might be able to see but that aren't seen by everybody else.  A lot of my work is architecturally inspired.  Form follows function, without a lot of added-on frivolous design.  It goes back to a European standard and ideal.  I like to see the way it's all put together.  I like to see aspects of a design exposed, where you can see the interior structure."

Heck still cuts some of his own stones, such as a generous amount of opal inlay he cut for a Southwestern motif pendant.  Embodying a thunderbird design shape, the opal was cut into a six-layer, zigzag pattern as the background for yellow sapphire, green tourmaline, and diamonds.

"Opals can be very tricky to work with.  This piece was especially challenging to cut, with those compound angles on the inside.  When I was working with one piece of opal, in fact I blew it and that was it.  When I started doing lapidary work, I actually started out by cutting opals.  I was drawn to opals because of their beauty.  They're kind of like a hidden treasure.  You never know what you're going to find.  It's always a hunt for the right piece,  It's a challenge, I guess," he adds.

Although gem cutting was Heck's first love, he decided to design jewelry as a way to combine his art background and love of stone.  "When I was first making jewelry, I did my own cutting on a lot of stones.  I did a lot of cabochon and inlay work.  I was really putting the two together.  But I found that the goldsmithing seems to be better suited to me.  Design-wise, I have more leeway with goldwork.  The lapidary, I have to admit, has taken a back seat to the goldsmithing part of my work.  These days, I buy a lot of my stones already cut and work around them."

Drawing inspiration from everyday forms, nature, architecture, art in general, even abstract paintings, Heck says he recently begun to incorporate French-fired enamel into his designs to enhance color and form.  "Enamel is a new technique for me and every time I try a new technique, it opens up new doors," he admits.  "There are a lot of things you can do with enamel that you can't do with stones.  You can achieve textures underneath the color.  Using these textures and color in combination with stones can be very exciting."

Ideas and designs are sketched loosely in notebooks when Heck takes to the page.  He says he works in spurts and cycles, but is always jotting down ideas and forms.  "My main philosophy is that I treat jewelry as an art form.  For my pieces to be art pieces, they must have integrity.  That basically comes down to two things: design and execution.  Any nice piece of jewelry has to have both - a solid design to begin with and fine execution.  Otherwise. the design doesn't mean a thing.  Start with a great design and try not to cut any corners."

For the future, besides experimenting with new designs and materials, Heck isn't too anxious.  In true southern California fashion, his future is bright, relaxed, and full of color.

Reprinted from Lapidary Journal, Dec. 1997