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In 1972, 25-year-old Lee Angelo Marraccini accompanied his wife Pam to the art studio in Washington, DC, where she was taking pottery classes. On a whim, he enrolled in a jewelry-making workshop. Within a year he and Pam had left their jobs as high school teachers, outfitted their GMC van with a bed and camp stove, and set out on a road trip through the United States and Mexico, during which Lee met jewelers around the country and refined his technique. In the summer of 1973 the pair landed at the Belles Artes San Miguel de Allende School of Art where, for $32 a month, they enrolled in a bohemian course of study that included drawing, ballet, guitar, and jewelry design.

But Lee honed hiBy 1974 they were back on the east coast. Hard against the Allegheny Mountains in Paw Paw, West Virginia, they eked out a living farming organic vegetables while Lee put all his energy into making jewelry. He started Moondance Silver that year, and pedaled rings and bracelets at craft shows around the country. Commercial success proved elusive.

As inlay technique and became exceedingly skilled at shaping stones on the wheel. He sought out and studied under some of the country’s top jewelers, including Heiki Seepe, Robert Ebendorf, Ivy Ross, James Meyer, and Ronald Hayes Pearson. His pieces became warmer, cleaner, and more linear; the foundation of a style that would eventually become synonymous with the Marraccini name. He was designing jewelry he loved—and that he felt people would buy.

Armed with new creations, Lee hit the craft shows more frequently over the next several years. Business grew. So did his relationships with other jewelers. Gabriel Ofresh and a group from Charlottesville, Virginia, were especially encouraging. At the same time, Wild, Wonderful West Virginia was becoming become a little too wild. When floods, isolation, and harsh weather sent Lee and Pam searching for a new place to settle, Pam suggested Charlottesville. They moved in 1984.

Lee continued to develop new designs. He studied intermediate and advanced stone setting at the Revere Academy in 1986. His pieces became stronger, yet retained a sense of playfulness. They reflected his theory that jewelry should be “serious fun” for the wearer. In 1998 he opened Angelo, a jewelry store, in the Old Michie Building just off Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.

Today, Marraccini Designs employs six production jewelers at 206 West Market Street in Charlottesville. Lee’s pieces have won numerous awards at art shows around the country and sell to private clients through shows, specialty jewelry stores, and high-end craft galleries. He also sells his full line at Angelo, which moved to the Downtown Mall proper in 2000.