For years, Luke Hartmann has been hauling traps off the coast of Stonington, Maine. When he’s not lobstering, you can find him at his workbench crafting unique, handmade jewelry from Megalodon teeth, shipwreck coins, scallop pearls, and sea glass that he finds on the Maine coast. His creative mind never turns off, paired with a perfectionist’s sense of detail. Both traits are evident in his lobster buoys that belong in a museum.
His Blue Hill, Maine workshop is tucked beneath an unassuming hand-carved wooden sign. In it, along the shop's windowsill, sits nearly a dozen large mason jars full of sea glass, each sorted by color. One jar is filled with marbles he collected from a New Hampshire beach.
“I think somebody was seeding the beach like 25 years ago,” he said, holding up the jar filled with smooth sea glass spheres.
Hartmann sources some of his materials from across the globe, buying shipwreck gold from salvage operations and Megalodon teeth from North Carolina. His defining skill lies in chain-making, a meticulous process in which each link is individually forged.
“I love making the chains,” he said, displaying a partially completed ring of soldered links, roughly 200 loops each welded shut. He demonstrated how he hammers the chain, tightening the links into a compact, fluid structure. “It’s four rings all soldered together,” he explained, appearing more captivated by the process than the result.
His designs of rings, cuffs, and necklaces often incorporate these handcrafted chains, combined with sea glass or maritime artifacts, including fragments of century-old porecelin plates.
Some projects take longer than others, like the chainlink hoodie he's been working on for the past four years. He calculates he has over 200 hours invested into it, though it amounts to about two cuff lengths long. Hartmann estimates it will take 2,000 hours to complete.
His work has also drawn a devoted following, particularly at sea glass shows across the country, where his pieces are in high demand. “I used to do other art shows, but the sea glass ones are great—destination shopping for the stuff I’m selling,” he said. “I’ve been doing some of them for 12 years now. I have this following,” he said with a humble grin. “When people come to the show, they go right to me.”
For those hoping to purchase one of his designs, they're not easy to find. Most sales occur in his Blue Hill shop, where hours depend largely on whether or not he's on the water. Hartmann, who still runs 800 traps off the Stonington coast, is open to shifting full-time to jewelry, but for now, he balances both trades.
Online sales are also unlikely. He once sold on Etsy under Seafound Studios, where he amassed a perfect five-star rating before stepping away in 2017. “I stopped selling on Etsy because I don’t like computers,” he admitted.
For now, the best way to see his work is in person or through his Instagram, @lukehartmannjewelry.
View this profile on InstagramLuke Hartmann (@lukehartmannjewelry) • Instagram photos and videos
