Ricardo Basta (born in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an

Argentine American Argentine Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Argentinian ancestry. Argentine immigration increased after the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, and many took up residence in states such as California, Florida, and New York. Histor ...

jewelry designer based in Southern California and is known for sourcing only ethically mined gems and diamonds.

Early years and education

Ricardo Basta was born and raised in

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. At the age of 19, Basta moved to the United States. He arrived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and is a third generation jeweler. He began working for his uncle who owned and was a European trained master jeweler and expert in restoration who operated a jewelry store. Basta began by sweeping floors and eventually apprenticed with European-trained jewelers.Michelle, Amber. "Jeweled Dreams." ''Rapaport Diamond Report'' 7.Mar.2008:192-195.

Career

Early in his career, Basta began working for a high-end retailer in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

that specialized in antique estate pieces, known as Frances Klein. There Basta restored and designed pieces from the Victorian, Edwardian, and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

periods. Basta gained an appreciation of the designs and craftsmanship which in turn inspired his own creations. Aside from his craftsmanship, Basta has become known for his engineering innovations. Much of his jewelry is created with built-in movement. Basta created a pair of earrings with alternating

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...

tanzanite Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxyl sorosilicate), caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite belongs to the epidote mineral group. Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of ...

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

rubies Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphi ...

, and

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

s set with ball-bearings in between each section allowing the entire length of the piece to spin independently. Basta has also become recognized in his field as a

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

expert. In 1986 when information was scarce on the subject, he began to cast in platinum and began to research and study the properties of platinum. Most design houses weren’t using platinum quite yet.Maerz, Jurgen J. "Beginning Platinum" ''Platinum Guild International'' Web

/ref> Through the process of trial and error, he developed an understanding of the best way to work with the precious metal. Since then, the learning curve has decreased due to the popularity of the metal and the development of resources, equipment and technology. Also, due to his experience with platinum, he has written contributing articles for the
Platinum Guild International
ref name="Rapaport"/> on the subjects of casting and antique jewelry restoration, as well as articles on designing and manufacturing in platinum. In 2004 Basta started his own brand. He is based in Century City on Santa Monica Blvd. In 2005 Basta served as judge at the AGTA Spectrum Awards. In 2007, Ricardo Basta was approached b

with designer Kristin Keller, to create a tear drop pin to raise awareness about conflict diamonds and their impact on child soldiers. Ricardo Basta handmade and donated labor and materials for the creation of The Blood Diamond Pin, made for actor
Leonardo DiCaprioRyan Gosling
an
Djimon Hounsou
and director
Ed Zwick
to wear to the 2007 Oscars Ceremony in support of Amnesty International Campaigns on Child Soldiers and Conflict Diamonds. In 2017, Ricardo Basta was accepted into the prestigious group
AJDC (American Jewelry Design Council)

Exhibitions

From 2007 until 2010, Basta had his first exhibition at the

Carnegie Museum of Natural History The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by List of people from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Pit ...

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There he participated in a group exhibition entitled: ''Luxe Life: Masterpieces of American Jewelry''. The exhibit featured extravagant pieces of jewelry, ranging in age from mid-19th-century to modern. Basta displayed two pieces for the exhibition: a snowflake brooch and a seahorse brooch. That same year, Basta had his first solo show exhibiting one-of-a-kind brooches at the

Gemological Institute of America The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is a nonprofit institute based in Carlsbad, California. It is dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Founded in 1931, GIA's mission is to protect buyers and s ...

Museum in Carlsbad, California. The show included pieces made with green sapphire, fire opal, platinum,

diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mother-of-pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

and elephant hair. In 2018, Basta had several of his pieces featured in the Headley-Whitney Museum of Art with The American Jewelry Design Council.

Awards

*2000 AGTA Award *2002 AGTA Spectrum Awards - Evening Platinum Honors *2003 MJSA Vision Award *2004 AGTA Spectrum Awards - 1st Place Bridal Wear *2004 AGTA Spectrum Awards - Honorable Mention Casual Wear *2004 MJSA Vision Award *2005 AGTA Award *2008 AGTA Spectrum Awards - 1st Place Evening Wear *2009 AGTA Spectrum Awards
1st Place Men's Wear
*2009 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2012 AGTA Award *2014 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2014 Excellence in Service Award by Jewelers 24Karat Club of Southern California *2016 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 Summer AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 Summer AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2016 JA CASE Awards
1st Place Jewelry $5,001 - $10,000
*2017 JA CASE Awards - Honorable Mention *2017 MJSA Vision Award
CAD / CAM Distinction
*2017 AGTA Spectrum Awards
1st Place Men's Wear
*2017 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2017 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2017 Rio Grande Saul Bell Awards
Finalist
*2018 Rio Grande Saul Bell Awards
Finalist
*2018 JA CASE Awards
1st Place $2,001 - $5,000
*2018 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2018 AGTA Spectrum Awards

*2019 AGTA Award *2019 JA CASE Awards *2020 JCK Jeweler's Choice Awards *2021 JCK Jeweler's Choice Awards *2022 JCK Jeweler's Choice Awards *2024 JCK Jeweler's Choice Awards *2025 JCK Jeweler's Choice Awards

Features

*February 2016
The Real features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry in surprise proposal segment
*May 2017
VoyageLA features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry
*August 2017
National Jeweler Piece of the Week feature
*September 2017
Cosmopolitan Turkey features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry
*November 2017
This is LA features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry
*December 2017
Lucy's Magazine features Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry (pages 108 - 113)
*January 2018
Rapper Evander Griiim shops at Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry with Complex
*August 2018
Savannah James wearing Ricardo Basta Fine Jewelry for Nike campaign with Lebron James

Bibliography

* Basta, Ricardo and Maerz, Jurgen J. "Casting Gold to Platinum", ''Platinum Guild International'

* Basta, Ricardo "Restoration of Antique and Period Jewelry", ''Platinum Manufacturing Process'', Platinum Day Symposium Vol. IX N2. Prin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basta, Ricardo American jewelry designers 21st-century American jewellers Argentine artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)