Walker's Celtic Jewelry

121 Park Avenue, Suite 10
Entrance on Meigs Street
Rochester, NY 14607

 Phone 585 271-4510

Hours: Tuesday - Fridays 11 - 7
Saturday 11 - 5

More information
 

Celtic Cross Exhibition
March 12 - April 27, 2008
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Saint Andrew's Day 2007

The Walker family had a special reason to celebrate Saint Andrew’s Day in 2007. 50 year old Stephen Andrew Walker calculated the day he will be exactly twice as old as his 25 year old son, Andrew Alasdair Walker. The day their ages are in an exact two to one ratio happens to be Saint Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s national holiday, November 30.

Saint Andrew’s Day is not as well known as Saint Patrick’s Day. But like Ireland, Scotland is a Celtic nation. Scotland and Ireland share a design tradition that goes back to medieval times, that uses abstract knots and spirals as complex decorative and symbolic ornaments. The Walkers have been leaders in using this beautiful aspect of their heritage as an inspiration for contemporary gold and silver Celtic jewelry.

The good fortune of having the day occur on an important Celtic holiday is very much appreciated by the Walkers. Numbers and dates are an important aspect of traditional Celtic lore. The numbers of knots and spirals are often important to their meanings. The store on Park Avenue opened June 9, Saint Columba’s Day, which is traditionally seen as a lucky day to begin a project or journey.

Stephen Walker took an interest in Celtic design at age eleven, when his grandmother brought him a book about the Book of Kells from a trip to Ireland. He then joined a bagpipe band, and spent his teenage years immersed in American Celtic culture and music. After high school he spent a year in the British Isles and pursued an interest in design and craftsmanship that has been his career for over thirty years now.

The younger Walker has worked in all aspects of the family business, including crafting jewelry at the workbench and marketing. After earning a degree in Physics from the University of Buffalo, he tried several jobs and found that the ones he enjoyed the most involved sales. This summer Andrew opened his own retail branch of the family business on Park Avenue in Rochester, NY.

Andrew Walker was born several days before his father’s Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition in 1982. He spent his childhood in Dad’s workshop and frequent travel to art fairs and trips to Ireland and Scotland, for the family business and to visit friends and relatives in the old country. The Walkers have both Irish and Scottish connections on both sides of the family. The design studio and workshop are located in the family’s hometown of Andover, NY in Allegany County.

 

Park Avenue Summer Arts Festival

Visit Walker's Celtic Jewelry in Rochester

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