A jewelry store that started in San Francisco on Fisherman’s Wharf in 1972 is relocating to Bainbridge Island where it is in sync with that community’s love of art and social responsibility.

Martin Taber married Alexandra Trippe on BI in May of 2019 with the hope of settling down here to grow their Taber Studios business and start a family.

That dream has finally come true as they are opening their new gallery at Winslow Wharf Marina, 175 Parfit Way.

Taber, a second-generation jeweler, left behind his little boat studio in the Berkeley Marina to open a waterfront studio and gallery in BI. Taber has a classical foundation in art history and black-and-white photography.

Taber received his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1995. The integrity of crafting directly in the metals and working so closely with his customers has led Martin to renew his passion for the environment in his new signature collection of ecologically inspired, haute couture jewelry – Martin Taber Designs. Additionally, he has made significant changes to the methods of production and acquisition of materials to reflect Taber Studios’ revised mission to become a leader in the move to help clean up the jewelry industry.

Its website says Taber Studios researches its supply chain to find out where the raw materials come from to promote financially sustainable communities and ecologically healthy environments.

”We believe that to have a truly successful business we must be responsible members within our communities and responsible stewards of our environment, at both the local and global levels,” the website says. “When we cease being mindful of the true costs of these resources (both to the environment and in human labor) we devalue them, and some of the integrity we seek to invest in them as personal talismans is lost.”

It also gives back by doing things like donating 10% of the sale of all Ethaus jewelry into a mine remediation fund managed by Ethical Metalsmiths. Also 10% of Martin Taber Designs jewelry is donated to the Ocean Conservancy. It also uses recycled materials in its TS Classics Collection.

Of the jewelry itself, founder Bob Taber says on the Taber Studios website: “When you look at each individual piece, as well as all of our work taken together, it is the visual counterpart of going to a classical concert and hearing a pianist playing a sonata. That’s because we work in the manner of a Renaissance Craft Guild, where the artist/craftsman will work, not just for years, but for decades, using the same basic hand tools and hand techniques, and slowly developing and evolving their designs and their skills over time.”

Taber Studios began in San Francisco on Fisherman’s Wharf in 1972.