Hilary Hertzler is a self taught, Philadelphia-based contemporary jeweler, artist, and writer. She attended Drexel University where she graduated with a BS in Interior Architecture and fell in love with Philadelphia’s approachable and vibrant arts scene.

Upon graduation, she worked for over a decade in the architectural world, designing and managing projects at a small, collaborative architectural firm. A formative experience that developed her eye for design and confidence in her craft.

After leaving architecture, Hilary spent a year in exploration, playing with new techniques and building a visual language of her own. In 2015, she presented her first jewelry collection at the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen’s Fine Craft Show in Philadelphia, kicking off a decade of presenting her work in exhibitions at NYC Jewelry Week, Romanian Jewelry Week, The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) Conference, and The Galleries at Moore College of Art + Design. She has sold her work in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian Craft Show, American Craft Council’s American Craft Made, and BIJOUX jewelry show. In 2018 and 2019, respectively, she was awarded New Artist at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond’s Craft + Design show and Excellence in Jewelry at the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival. Also in 2019, she was selected to be the Craft + Design show’s featured artist. Her works have been shown and sold both nationally, and internationally.

Even as she draws inspiration from her life in Philadelphia, Hilary continues to look to the natural world and her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage to inform her work - her curiosity and exploration encouraged by the juxtaposition of these different worlds, the moments where they intersect. She is interested in the subtle and dramatic interplay of line, texture, light, and color. She enjoys playing with and working in different mediums, finding their limits and transformations.