By 
Loren Stein is a multi-media full time Judaic Jewelry artist, paper-cut designer, and want-to-be comedian. She is passionate about Israel and its continued pursuit of peace. After Oct 7, she began creating new designs with Love of Israel as her focus, generously donating 18% of profits to JNF USA’s Israel Emergency Fund, where she and her husband Eric are Chapter Presidents.
Loren has been creating art for as long as she can remember but chose to strengthen her inherent artistic skills through architectural studies, earning her BA in architectural design from the University of Florida and a master’s in architecture from MIT. Although Loren has always been passionate about Judaism, Jewish art and Judaica, her Judaic training began in 1990 after traveling to Israel with her husband in search of the perfect talit clip. However, after much investigation she concluded that she had to design it herself. Upon returning to her home of New York, she went to the 92nd St YMCA and signed up for the beginning jeweler’s class, because the Judaic metal class was full. Unbeknownst to her, this was the only Judaic metal class in the country. After some finagling, she managed to get into the class. Her career as a Judaic Metal Artist began.
“Sitting at a jewelry bench felt so natural, and cutting silver felt like cutting butter,” she said.
Loren continued her learning, and was fortunate to learn under the tutelage of renowned Judaic Metalsmith Bernie Bernstein, z”l for the next 10 years. Bernie trained under Ludwig Wolpert, a German born Israeli-American goldsmith celebrated as the first artist to design Judaica in modern styles.
“I could not have been any more fortunate than to have learned under the auspices of these great artists,” she said.
In 1990, she started Loren Stein Designs and began creating one-of-a-kind pieces, as well as limited edition works. All her pieces tell a story, and her work is often self-inspired,
“When I was expecting my first child I became obsessed with the story of creation, which led to the Creation Line, including the Seven Days necklace and bracelet, and soon after the line depicting Adam and Eve,” she said.
These pieces are designed with depth and volume, using Loren’s architectural background and are admired as wearable art. However, the pieces she is most passionate about are those that come from personal stories from others. After the tragic loss of her son’s bunkmate at the same summer camp where Loren was teaching jewelry making, she found her studio filled with overwhelmed campers, looking for a way to express their grief.
“They began stamping dog tags with blessings for their friend,” she said.
This led to the Endless Blessings line, where Loren continues to stamp blessings of love, hope and dreams for others, with a percent of sales donated in the memory of the loss.
Hebrew letters have always been a guiding force in Loren’s work, and this passion is evident in her floating stars, Hebrew monograms and paper-cut ketubot.
Her piece, ‘Israel is in my heart, my heart is with Israel,’ depicts the way she was feeling after October 7.
“From a distance you see a heart, looking closer, Israel is centered embraced by the heart, then even closer you see the heart is formed by many smaller hearts. For me this represents the strength of the Jewish people,” Loren said. “Our hearts are one, protecting Israel.”
Loren donates a percentage of every piece to help rebuild Israel through JNF-USA. Learn more at.lorensteindesign.com.
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