About

Samantha Dulay is a multi-award-winning goldsmith and the artist behind Samantha Dulay Designs, her independent jewelry company she founded in 2010. Raised in an entrepreneurial family, she discovered jewelry making at an early age that turned a creative hobby into a lifelong pursuit of craftsmanship, artistry, and storytelling. Since 2012, her work has earned more than two dozen awards at the San Diego County Fair, reflecting a career built on continual learning, creativity, and technical excellence.

Samantha specializes in hand-fabricated jewelry, and prefers to work primarily in sterling silver, 14k gold, and 14k gold filled. Rather than sculpting wax models to be cast, most of her jewelry begins as flat sheet metal and wire before being carefully sawed, formed, soldered, textured, and finished entirely by hand. Her signature hammered finishes and meticulous attention to detail have become defining characteristics of her work, ensuring that every piece reflects the care, patience, and craftsmanship invested in its creation.

For those who have been with Samantha since the beginning (who still has one of those copper jewelry pieces?), one tradition has never changed. Her personalized hand-stamped jewelry—the designs that helped launch her business over a decade ago—is still stamped by hand on the spot whenever she’s set up at an event, allowing customers to take home a piece personalized just for them!

Over the past sixteen years, Samantha’s business has evolved just as much as her artistry. What once included numerous galleries, boutiques, gift shops, and multiple events each week has become a far more intentional practice. Today, she carefully selects the events she attends, no longer advertises on social media, and relies primarily on word-of-mouth referrals from longtime customers and collectors.

Because every piece receives her full attention, Samantha accepts only a limited number of private projects each year and regularly declines commissions that aren’t the right fit. Many of the pieces she creates today are passion projects and original collections inspired by the stories she wants to tell, giving each design the time and creative freedom it deserves.

That philosophy is perhaps best captured by one of Samantha’s current private clients. After learning Samantha had agreed to create a special piece using a gemstone hand-selected from her own personal collection, she excitedly turned to her husband and exclaimed, “I was chosen!” It was a lighthearted moment that perfectly reflects what Samantha hopes to create—not exclusivity for its own sake, but deeply personal jewelry made with intention, care, and the time each piece deserves.

Samantha’s work has been recognized at the San Diego County Fair throughout every stage of her artistic journey. She first began exhibiting as a bead artist before transitioning into handcrafted sterling silver and gold-filled jewelry, quickly establishing herself as an award-winning metal artist with pieces such as Wings of Change, Tsunami Uprising, Boneshaker, Moon Stick, and Luminous Tubes. In 2026, her avant-garde necklace Love, Bun earned First Place in the Professional Art Jewelry division, while her hand-fabricated chain Remember When received First Place in Handmade Metal Chain and Golden Cadence earned Second Place in the same category. While awards have marked important milestones throughout her career, Samantha views them as something more meaningful than ribbons—they are personal benchmarks that challenge her to learn new techniques, push her craftsmanship further, and create work that is more ambitious than the year before.

In 2016, Samantha attended the world-renowned Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Carlsbad, where she received a full scholarship to study CAD/CAM jewelry design. While CAD became another valuable tool in her creative toolbox, it also reinforced what she loved most: transforming raw sheet metal and wire into finished jewelry with her own hands. Today, nearly all of her jewelry is individually hand fabricated, with digital design used only when it genuinely enhances the final piece. Her philosophy is simple: craftsmanship should always lead technology.

Following a major rebranding in late 2022, Samantha expanded her work into multiple distinct collections that celebrate everything from timeless everyday jewelry to anime, fantasy, travel, and seasonal inspirations. Her Classic Collection features the handcrafted everyday pieces that have become the foundation of her business, while Jackee’s Collection honors the memory of her late sister and showcases Samantha’s most treasured, one-of-a-kind creations featuring precious metals and gemstones. Her Limited Collection evolves throughout the year with rotating seasonal releases, while several themed collections continue to evolve with new designs and, in many cases, entirely new artistic directions from year to year.

Whether creating an elegant heirloom pendant, a meaningful memorial piece, or a subtle tribute to a favorite fandom, Samantha approaches every project with the same goal: to create jewelry that tells a story, preserves a memory, and forms a meaningful connection with the person who wears it.

Today, Samantha shares her work through juried art festivals, specialty events, farmers markets, and her online store. While she keeps her website as up to date as possible, many new pieces debut first at in-person events, and some one-of-a-kind creations find their forever homes before ever making it online.

She continues to refine her skills as a lifelong student of the craft, believing that the pursuit of mastery is never complete—and that the most meaningful jewelry is made not by machines, but by human hands.