About Wild Bryde

In 1980, Mike Warner and Tracy Holzman started making jewelry together in a garage on McBryde Avenue in Richmond, California — right at the foot of Wildcat Canyon. The name was born from that address: Wild from the canyon, Bryde from the street. Warner had studied art and botany at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and that dual training showed from the very first pieces.

That combination of disciplines became the Wild Bryde signature. Warner’s background as an illustrator and naturalist meant every design was drawn from life, not stylised abstractions: individual feather barbs, muscle contours, the right number of toes. Each animal was painstakingly photo-etched into thin sheets of recycled brass with a fidelity that still astonishes. He once described the process as “drawing with acid” — building up layer after layer of fine detail before cutting the silhouette free.

What started as a two-person garage operation grew steadily through the 1980s and 1990s. By the mid-2010s, the studio had moved to a larger workshop in El Sobrante, California, with a team of roughly ten artisans. The catalogue had ballooned to over 8,000 individual designs — birds, mammals, reptiles, marine life, wildflowers — produced as earrings, pins, necklaces and bracelets. The company also expanded internationally, supplying nature centres, museum shops and specialty retailers across the United States and abroad. Warner ultimately became the sole owner and lead designer, and the artistry only deepened over time.

Nature wasn’t just business — it was the animating passion behind every design. Wild Bryde actively supported wildlife conservation organisations and environmental education programmes throughout its existence, a commitment that was printed on every brand care tag. That ethos permeated the whole operation: recycled brass, non-toxic processes, and designs that aimed to foster genuine appreciation for the species they depicted.

Most pieces were finished in 14k gold plate, with non-tarnishing rhodium plating used for the silver-tone variants. On rare occasions, pieces were also produced in sterling silver. Gold-fill or sterling earwires were standard on earrings.

Wild Bryde wound down and closed around 2023 — phone lines were disconnected and the online shop went dark. It’s a real loss. Nothing new is being produced, so the pieces now circulate on the secondary market — each one a small piece of a remarkable four-decade body of work. I maintain an aggregated eBay listing page that gathers current Wild Bryde listings from various sellers in one place, so collectors can easily see what’s available — though I don’t sell anything myself. I may earn a small commission on some purchases, which goes back into running the site. The occasional new-old-stock item still turns up from retailers who held unsold inventory — always a thrill to find.

Most Wild Bryde pieces carry a small copyright stamp on the reverse, usually marked “© Wild Bryde” or “© WB”. This is the easiest way to authenticate a piece. Earlier production may show slightly different markings — browse the hallmark gallery to compare your piece to verified examples.