Sandy Baker is an American contemporary jewelry designer who has been making wearable art since 1970. She works in sterling silver and gold with hand-set inlays of red coral, carved mother-of-pearl, abalone and jet. National Jeweler magazine named her one of the top 100 American jewelry designers of the past 30 years.

Which museums hold Sandy Baker’s work?

Her work is included in the Design Archives at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and her “Pyramids” necklace was selected for the permanent collection of the Museum at FIT. Museum stores including the Carnegie Museums, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the American Jazz Museum and the National Ornamental Metal Museum have sold her work.

Grafilage is a word Sandy Baker coined for the process behind one of her collections: her own artwork on artisanal paper, suspended in resin. Pieces in the Grafilage line are coated with a clear veneer to protect their vibrancy and set in sterling silver with her name along the bezel.

What materials does Sandy Baker use?

Sandy works in 18K gold, 14K gold and sterling silver. The settings carry hand-set organic inlays of carved mother-of-pearl, petrified wood and abalone, all carved and designed by Sandy herself, and some designs also use red coral, jet, bamboo and pearls.

Who has worn Sandy Baker jewelry?

Julia Roberts, Natalie Cole, Michelle Obama and Dr. Maya Angelou have all worn her pieces. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Glamour and Essence, and in trade and news press including Jewelers Circular Keystone, National Jeweler, Modern Jeweler, Crain’s New York and The New York Times.

How long has Sandy Baker been designing jewelry?

Since 1970. She founded Sandy Baker, Inc. that year and ran it from her Brooklyn apartment until 1974, when she moved it to a workroom and showroom in midtown Manhattan. The site carries a year-by-year illustrated chronology of five decades of her work.

Who was the first African American member of the American Jewelry Design Council?

Sandy Baker. She became the first African American member invited to join the American Jewelry Design Council in 1991.

Sandy Baker | Contemporary Jewelry and Wearable Art Since 1970

Collections

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Atlas
Collectibles
GRAFILAGE
Rhapsody
River Blue
Signature

In the press

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Sandy Baker Shares Her West Side Story December 2025
Influencers in Jewelry Design: Sandy Baker October 2018
Sandy Baker’s ‘Pyramids’ necklace at F.I.T. Museum October 2018
You Definitely Know Jewelry Designer Sandy Baker October 2016

About Sandy

Sandy Baker is an award-winning jewelry designer with a career spanning more than five decades. Her iconic designs and signature style have graced the pages of Vogue, Glamour and Essence, and have been worn by the likes of Michelle Obama, Dr. Maya Angelou, Julia Roberts and Natalie Cole. Selections from her work are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian, through the African American Design Archive at Cooper Hewitt, and of The Museum at FIT.

Read her story

Sandy Baker

The Bialy Collection

Have You Seen Sandy Baker Lately?

Sandy Baker History

Sandy Featured in Crain’s

Sandy Featured in OdysseyCouleur

Collections

Atlas

Collectibles

GRAFILAGE

Rhapsody

River Blue

Signature

In the press

About Sandy