Ricardo Basta (born in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an

Argentine American Argentine Americans ( es, argentino-estadounidense) are Americans whose full or partial origin is in Argentina. They are part of the broader Hispanic and Latino American category, and make up a scant 0.1% of the U.S. population, compared to lar ...

jewelry designer Jewellery design is the art or profession of designing and creating jewellery. This is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest known human societies in Indus Valley Civilization, Mesop ...

based in Southern California and is known for sourcing only ethically mined gems and diamonds.

Early Years and Education

Ricardo Basta was born and raised in

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. At the age of 19, Basta moved to the United States. He arrived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and is a third generation jeweler. He began working for his uncle who owned and was a European trained master jeweler and expert in restoration who operated a jewelry store. Basta began by sweeping floors and eventually apprenticed with European-trained jewelers.Michelle, Amber. "Jeweled Dreams." ''Rapaport Diamond Report'' 7.Mar.2008:192-195.

Career

Early in his career, Basta began working for a high-end retailer in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

that specialized in antique estate pieces, known as Frances Klein. There Basta restored and designed pieces from the Victorian, Edwardian, and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

periods. Basta gained an appreciation of the designs and craftsmanship which in turn inspired his own creations. Aside from his craftsmanship, Basta has become known for his engineering innovations. Much of his jewelry is created with built-in movement. Basta created a pair of earrings with alternating

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...

tanzanite Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate), caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite belongs to the epidote mineral group. Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of M ...

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different s ...

rubies A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sap ...

, and

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

s set with ball-bearings in between each section allowing the entire length of the piece to spin independently. Basta has also become recognized in his field as a

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

expert. In 1986 when information was scarce on the subject, he began to cast in platinum and began to research and study the properties of platinum. Most design houses weren’t using platinum quite yet.Maerz, Jurgen J. "Beginning Platinum" ''Platinum Guild International'' Web

/ref> Through the process of trial and error, he developed an understanding of the best way to work with the precious metal. Since then, the learning curve has decreased due to the popularity of the metal and the development of resources, equipment and technology. Also, due to his experience with platinum, he has written contributing articles for the
Platinum Guild International
ref name="Rapaport"/> on the subjects of casting and antique jewelry restoration, as well as articles on designing and manufacturing in platinum. In 2004 Basta started his own brand. He is based in Century City on Santa Monica Blvd. In 2005 Basta served as judge at the AGTA Spectrum Awards. In 2007, Ricardo Basta was approached b

with designer Kristin Keller, to create a tear drop pin to raise awareness about conflict diamonds and their impact on child soldiers. Ricardo Basta handmade and donated labor and materials for the creation of The Blood Diamond Pin, made for actor
Leonardo DiCaprioRyan Gosling
an
Djimon Hounsou
and director
Ed Zwick
to wear to the 2007 Oscars Ceremony in support of Amnesty International Campaigns on Child Soldiers and Conflict Diamonds. In 2017, Ricardo Basta was accepted into the prestigious group
AJDC (American Jewelry Design Council)

Exhibitions

From 2007 until 2010, Basta had his first exhibition at the

Carnegie Museum of Natural History The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896. Housing some 22 millio ...

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There he participated in a group exhibition entitled: ''Luxe Life: Masterpieces of American Jewelry''. The exhibit featured extravagant pieces of jewelry, ranging in age from mid-19th-century to modern. Basta displayed two pieces for the exhibition: a snowflake brooch and a seahorse brooch. That same year, Basta had his first solo show exhibiting one-of-a-kind brooches at the

Gemological Institute of America The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is a nonprofit institute based in Carlsbad, California. It is dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Founded in 1931, GIA's mission is to protect buyers and ...

Museum in Carlsbad, California. The show included pieces made with green sapphire,

fire opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms of ...

, platinum,

diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

mother-of-pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is f ...

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

and elephant hair. In 2018, Basta had several of his pieces featured in the Headley-Whitney Museum of Art with The American Jewelry Design Council.

Awards

*2000 AGTA Award *2002 AGTA Spectrum Awards - Evening Platinum Honors *2003 MJSA Vision Award *2004 AGTA Spectrum Awards - 1st Place Bridal Wear *2004 AGTA Spectrum Awards - Honorable Mention Casual Wear *2004 MJSA Vision Award *2005 AGTA Award *2008 AGTA Spectrum Awards - 1st Place Evening Wear *2009 AGTA Spectrum Awards
1st Place Men's Wear
*2009 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2012 AGTA Award *2014 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2014 Excellence in Service Award by Jewelers 24Karat Club of Southern California *2016 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 Summer AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 Summer AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 JA CASE Awards
1st Place Jewelry $5,001 - $10,000
*2017 JA CASE Awards - Honorable Mention *2017 MJSA Vision Award
CAD / CAM Distinction
*2017 AGTA Spectrum Awards
1st Place Men's Wear
*2017 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2017 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2017 Rio Grande Saul Bell Awards
Finalist
*2018 Rio Grande Saul Bell Awards
Finalist
*2018 JA CASE Awards
1st Place $2,001 - $5,000
*2018 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2018 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2019 AGTA Award

Features

*February 2016
The Real features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry in surprise proposal segment
*May 2017
VoyageLA features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry
*August 2017
National Jeweler Piece of the Week feature
*September 2017
Cosmopolitan Turkey features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry
*November 2017
This is LA features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry
*December 2017
Lucy's Magazine features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry (pages 108 - 113)
*January 2018
Rapper Evander Griiim shops at Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry with Complex
*August 2018
Savannah James wearing Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry for Nike campaign with Lebron James

Bibliography

* Basta, Ricardo and Maerz, Jurgen J. "Casting Gold to Platinum", ''Platinum Guild International'

* Basta, Ricardo "Restoration of Antique and Period Jewelry", ''Platinum Manufacturing Process'', Platinum Day Symposium Vol. IX N2. Prin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basta, Ricardo American jewelry designers American jewellers Argentine artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)