Michael Bondanza – MJSA Mystery Box Challenge 2022

Although Michael Bondanza has been making jewelry in one form or another since the early 1970s, there are still things that manage to surprise him—one of which he discovered in this year’s Mystery Box. Although he immediately recognized the abalone, as he has made violins in the past and has often seen abalone used as an inlaid detail on the instruments, he’s never worked with the material himself. “I didn’t know how to do anything with it,” he admits.

And then there were the seed pearls, with which he’s also never worked. “They were from outer space for me.”