Donna Distefano fires it up at her workbench. Photo by Charles Thomas.
Goldsmith Donna Distefano celebrates 30 years as a Downtown NYC entrepreneur—meticulously handcrafting 22-karat gold wearable works of art. She’s collaborated with Aerosmith, the Hollywood Vampires, and The Met, where she fell for the love of her life. DOWNTOWN caught up with Donna to discover she’s fired up about the next exciting chapter in her jewelry journey.
Donna Distefano’s atelier in the Starrett-Lehigh Building, is a bright, magical place. There are breathtaking lavender sapphire betrothal rings wrapped in diamonds and yellow gold (Lizzie ring) or the 22-karat gold, aquamarine and diamond (Lesley Ann ring), that have graced the pages of magazines such as InStyle and Brides.
There are also display cases of jewelry she custom designed for Aerosmith, with bracelets, charms of characters from their Toys in the Attic album cover, along with a collection for Perry’s other band, Hollywood Vampires (Joe Perry, Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper, Tommy Henriksen.)
Distefano was commissioned by drummer Matt Sorum to create this ring he gifted to Ringo Starr for his birthday, with a pair of gold drumsticks etched inside. Photo Sean Younger Thomas.
Each piece, whether it’s a gold necklace, a ring, or a pendant, is created by hand in painstaking detail, starting from hand- drawn sketches. For a birthday gift commission from Guns n’ Roses’ drummer Matt Sorum to Ringo Starr, Distefano created a silver ring not only with gold drumsticks inside, but etchings of an octopus, an English garden, a calliope, a wave (symbolizing rhythm), a dove for peace, a starfish, and in a nod to the Fibonacci sequence, created a pattern of etchings utilizing a plant cell motif.
Love That Moves the Sun and the Other Stars, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, has been shown at Forbes Galleries, Carnegie Museum of National History, and the Tellus Science Museum. Photo by Sean Younger Thomas.
At her workbench, there are stations with petite vises, myriad shaped pliers, micro torches to solder metal, as well as to melt and repurpose gold pieces. “It re- minds me of my grandmother making lasagna,” laughs Distefano, likening it to “reshaping pasta.” Her assistant/goldsmith-in-training Sabrina, who has been with her since 2020, reveals boxes of brilliantly colored sapphires, emeralds, opals, and other jewels, waiting to be chosen and set.
But a peek by her computer desk offers insight to how ideas first percolate in her mind. Her wall serves as a mood board
of things that inspire her-pieces that she worked on from her early days, Italian paintings, literature (Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being are close to her heart), photos of family, musician friends, travels. In a recent Instagram post, she shared a photo of her desk, adding, “I dared to imagine. I guess that is the first step to any endeavor.”
ORIGINS
Distefano, of Italian heritage, grew up in New York and Connecticut. “When I was a kid, I was interested in creating jewelry,” she recalls, playing with pieces given to her by her parents and setting up “workshops.” She was also very close with her grandmother, an expert seamstress, where she took interest in learning how to create by hand. While still in high school, she began taking some metalsmith classes at the University of Bridgeport, and made her first piece of jewelry: a moonstone ring.
She then attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), where in 1982 she received her Associate’s Degree in Applied Science. Her academic journey included independent scholarly pursuits at the University of Urbino, the University of Bridgeport, Hunter College, and Southern Connecticut State University.
She also explored other avenues of creativity, hosting her own exhibits, and immersing herself in New York’s music scene,
even at one point managing punk band International Q, from 1978-1982, and lived next to the Chelsea Hotel. In the late 80s, she took goldsmithing classes, studying under Cecilia Bauer in Tribeca, renowned for her creation of chains and fine granulations. She further honed her skills working with Robert Lee Morris.
ROMANCE AT THE MET: LOVE FORGED A WAY
Donna and husband Sean. Photo by Mathieu Jean.
In 1989, Distefano saw a want ad on the boards at FIT seeking a goldsmith for The Met Museum’s Reproduction Studio. By 1990 she was a Senior Goldsmith, where she tirelessly recreated pieces inspired by the Museum’s exhibitions.
It was here where she met and fell hard for her husband of 26 years, Sean Younger Thomas. “Sean worked in the Met’s Plexiglass Shop, specializing in creating the exhibition displays, vitrines, mounts and upholstery for every department.” In spring of 1992, her then boss made an introduction. By June, they were “madly in love. I lived on Mulberry Street and remember making him a lasagna from scratch to seal the deal.”
But Distefano had already planned to take a leave of absence from The Met, to live in Italy. “That December Sean came to Italy to see me. We toured the boot together and ultimately, I returned to NYC with him in January 1993,” They became inseparable. “Sean proposed to me on Valentine’s Day 1998 at midnight, outside of the Met’s Temple of Dendur in Central Park.” The pair still go back to Italy, where she has dual citizenship, to visit family and seek inspiration.
INCORPORATING, REPURPOSING METAL, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHICALLY SOURCED GEMSTONES
22k Gold Little King Pendant, Sabrina Ring, Balthazar Pendant. Photo by Sean Younger Thomas.
“Once Sean and I were together, I felt ready. I began doing all the craft shows at the armories.” Distefano incorporated in 1994, and opened her first studio on Mulberry Street for several years, later moving to Chelsea. “I had a strategy, albeit laced with partying, rock and roll, and an obsession with art history.”
Clients began pouring in. “A lot of relatives,” she admits at first, but she also drew the attention of celebrities such as composer Marvin Hamlisch and playwright Tony Kushner, musician Sheryl Crow, “and other clients that blew my mind.”
Many turn to her to take their old pieces, melt them down, cool and planish them, to create something new. It’s an imperative to her to ethically source stones. “I source with vendors I’ve known for at least 20 years. Someone I know well is Columbia Gem House,” that advocates for fair trade and transparency. She also works with United Precious Metals. In 2021, Distefano moved her atelier to Starrett-Lehigh. Thomas, who retired from The Met in 2022, started his own exhibition display business, and has a studio on the same floor.
COLLABORATIONS WITH AEROSMITH, HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES, THE MET
Last Vampire Poison Ring. Photo by Sean Younger Thomas
In 2009, Distefano received a call from Aerosmith’s guitarist Joe Perry. In 2016 He commissioned a Last Vampire Poison Ring, made with sterling silver, 22 karat gold, and diamond eyes, that he had created for his bandmates in the Hollywood Vampires. By 2020, Distefano also did a jewelry collaboration with Aerosmith, traveling with them in 2022 for a Las Vegas residency. Then in 2023, her team toured Europe and the US with the Hollywood Vampires. Says Perry, “Over the past 25 years Donna has become more than our jeweler and collaborator with Aerosmith and the Hollywood Vampires, she has become a most cherished, loved and dear friend. The creativity, dedication and passion she has as a goldsmith and designer is exemplary. To us, Donna is a treasure.”
22k Decorative Spheres. Photo by Sean Younger Thomas.
Distefano also did a collaboration for the 2018 Met Gala Special Exhibition Gift Shop for their Heavenly Bodies’ exhibition, creating various bejeweled rosary beads, charms, and bracelets.
A NEW MUSEUM COLLABORATION, AND INSPIRING NYC HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO DREAM
This fall, Distefano’s next chapter includes a new museum collaboration that is about to be announced. She also wants to mentor kids to “dream, to not be afraid to create,” and will be working with students at Avenues The World School, where they will learn about the Renaissance, and create their own pieces. The pieces will be exhibited in her studio in November. She is also launching concurrently with Johnny Depp’s A Bunch of Stuff exhibit ( in the Starrett-Lehigh Building) an opportunity for patrons to book exclusive appointments at the atelier to view the co-branded jewelry collection.
“Preserving the beauty of the past is an attempt to preserve history, not as a selling point, but instead as a way for me, the maker, to meet and remember the goldsmiths of antiquity. It’s a way for me to exist in the future.” donnadistefano.com, @donnadistefanoltd