During his years as an architecture student, Dutch born Jan D. won a national contest for a new urban design of Rotterdam’s inner city, the "Weena prijsvraag ". At the end of the 1970s he received his Masters Degree in Architecture from the Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, where Rem Koolhaas currently teaches. After graduating, Jan began his career as a designer. During the 1970s he also studied lithography at the "vrije academie" "psychopolis" in The Hague.

Jan D. has been engaged in the design of furniture, glass, iron since the early 1980s, and has also occasionally dabbled into architecture .

For the past 15 years, Jan D.’s artistic energies have been spent mostly on the design of jewelry. He makes it a point to have a new collection every year. In the WHAT section of this web site, you can view a small portion of his work - 24 images of jewelry produced from 1980 to 1988.

The pieces that are shown on this website are not for sale, and the pieces designed after 1988 can only be purchased through the galleries that represent Jan D. Gjaltema. These galleries are listed in the WHERE section of this website. Jan's work is not available for sale over the internet.

The very private, some say reclusive, Jan D. is probably the only well-known jewelry designer that does not display his creations at craft and trade shows. Like many other well-known artists, his designs have often been copied but never duplicated to his high standard of craftsmanship.

Though Jan D.’s initial success occurred in Europe, his work is now in demand throughout the United States. Currently, more than 50 galleries in the U.S. represent his works.

All of Jan D.’s creations are handcrafted and fabricated - none are cast. He works with inlays of abalone, mother of pearl and resin in many different colors as well as with precious stones. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he did work in matte finish oxidized silver, and in the mid 1990s he created an extensive line with the combination of rosewood and silver. In the early years of this century he also worked with hand torched translucent enamel, and later fashioned a line with a glass /silver combination. In 2008 he presented a new jewelry line with silver and black obsidian, aventurine and rose quartz.

The artist has worked in both 0.925 silver 14KT and 18KT gold.

All of Jan D.'s work is handsigned, (see signature on the left) .

From the huge scale of urban design to the now smallest of detail in his jewelry, one can say that Jan D. has come full circle.