Toni Cavelti: A Jeweller's Life by Max Wyman (D&M $60) provides another variation on the theme of the immigrant with the Midas touch, though Cavelti's story belongs more to the tradition of the Germanic fairy tale.
The youngest son of a Swiss family, Cavelti served a long apprenticeship in the goldsmith's trade, developing a magical skill in jewelry design, far surpassing the usual technical mastery. Realizing that his native land would limit his scope for developing his skill, he set out for the New World.
At the age of 23, equipped with only $8, the tools of his trade and a romantic vision of the Canadian west, he arrived in Vancouver. There he made his fortune by creating fine jewelry for the rich, including the Queen.
And thereby hangs a tale: In 1971 he was commissioned to make a necklace of B.C. gold and local jade to mark a royal visit. A suggestion from Cavelti that it include one hundred diamonds to commemorate the centenary was rejected as too expensive. The B.C. government funnelled the money for the Queen's necklace through the Department of Highways. When he eventually received his payment, the $2,800 barely covered Cavelti's costs.
Cavelti not only went on to make a fortune, he became a great artist. If a fairy godfather had been present at Cavelti's birth, he could not have given a more useful gift than guiding Cavelti to his business location. It was below the New Design Gallery where the city's rising artists - Toni Onley, Jack Shadbolt and Bill Reid - exhibited regularly.
The upstairs artists became Cavelti's friends. Through their work Cavelti found himself connected to the modernist artistic movement under way in the Vancouver of the '50s and '60s. It was this influence on his designs which gave them their characteristic style, brought his work to its full flowering and helped to establish his national and international reputation.
Wyman's portrait includes not only a description of Cavelti's technique but also a discussion of whether he is a true artist or simply a master craftsman. Cavelti himself modestly lays claim only to the stature of master craftsman. He feels that making jewellery for personal adornment and profit precludes the label of artist. His friends disagree. Toni Onley argues that craft does spill over into artistry and sculptor Bill Reid says that it is mastery of the craft that allows art to emerge.
Cavelti admits to a secret desire that perhaps one day someone will choose to acquire his work not to wear but to place under glass and look at. This book would seem to come close to fulfilling that desire because it contains 120 lavish color photographs of pieces just to be looked at. These also fulfill the purpose of allowing those unable to afford works of art a chance to savour their beauty.

[BCBW 1997]