Michael Corneau grew up in the blue-collar town of Corning, NY, surrounded by the sprawl of glass factories and questionable taverns which catered to the over-worked grunts who bent and broke their backs in the service of Corning Inc.
The son of a brick layer and later a fire-brick mason working the Corning Company’s glass tanks, he developed his appreciation of architecture, and after graduating high school attended Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), concentrating on the study of Interior and Architectural Design. As a student he was awarded “Most Outstanding Designer” in both his junior and senior years. He was elected “Student President of the Design Department.”
A fortuitous accident in 1997 introduced him to the basics of goldsmithing and he has never looked back. He has honed his craft with the assistance of goldsmiths from Laos, Russia, Syria, Poland and the U.S.
Architecture, in particular the post-modern movement and the work of Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry and Richard Meier has had a major influence on Michael’s design vocabulary. The hallmark of his design style is his ability to successfully scale down large, muscular architectural elements and, retaining their strengths, adapt them for small scale use in jewelry.
Michael is presently chief goldsmith and workshop supervisor at R. W. Wise, Goldsmiths and is pursuing his Graduate Gemology Degree at The Gemological Institute of America.
|
