It's something we girls never seem to outgrow: the pursuit of the perfect gem. When we were younger, we never hesitated to get our dress bottoms dirty just so we could peer into the bottom of riverbeds or beach surf for unfound treasures. When we grew older, (save for the occasional vacation), those clear streams became the clear glass of storefront windows. The treasures are as precious to us now as they were back then, but the ones in our glass bowl back home just seemed to be missing something…

Luckily for us there is Kirsten Muenster. The 33-year old jewelry designer has a great eye for finding the perfect little gem. Whether in a necklace, bracelet, or ring, Muenster's skillful use of metal and stone brings back the little girl on the surf's edge. Unlike our random rocks on our bedroom dressers that seem to be getting a little lackluster, Muenster is able to maintain and even enhance the natural integrity of her materials. This is arguably an art form, a skill that the designer has captured and perfected since she was a young girl.

Muenster firmly attests: "Metal is in my blood." It's an authentic statement coming from the California-based designer. If you poke around her family roots like a rock hound kicking up agate stones along a riverbed, you'll turn up with some interesting, reaffirming tidbits. Her great-grandfather owned a metalsmithing shop in Austria. His son, her grandfather, was a metal sheet worker and her other grandfather was a coppersmith. Her mother, an antiques dealer, had also been a strong influence in her life. Young Muenster began collecting vintage jewelry at a very early age. "I have always been fascinated by the idea that throughout history, people have felt compelled to adorn their bodies with metal, stones, fiber, and found objects," remarks Muenster.

It is the same bedazzling awe-power that Muenster harnesses to convey the deeper story beneath each piece. The materials she uses reflect her politics. Lax policies for worker's rights and environmental stability helped put her own work into perspective. "I've come to acknowledge the fact that the choices I make in my own work have an impact," and undoubtedly Kirsten's wearable art pieces are a reflection of that.

Each piece is emblazoned with ethics. She strays away from using any questionable gem stones such as diamond and tanzanite, even with the advent of the Kimberly Process, a voluntary certification scheme that was approved by the international diamond industry and NGOs in 2002 to help put a stop in the trade of conflict diamonds. Where she gets her materials are about as varied as her designs. Most of the stones she uses are found in the United States and acquired from stone dealers that she has built a trusting relationship with. She also does her own stone cutting from rocks that had been found as early as the1940s. Occasionally she'll recycle stones from vintage pieces and when she uses fossils, she is sure to get them from privately-owned land. Gold, which she doesn't use very often, is always recycled.

Muenster is also exploring untraditional avenues in pursuit of socially-conscious materials. She is currently designing pieces with the byproducts of manufacturing processes. One such example is her use of reclaimed "Fordite." It is not so much a peculiar "stone" name until you dig deeper into the story behind the material, which is also known as "Detroit Agate" found in the most unlikeliest of "quarries" - the Ford Motor Company. The exquisitely beautiful material looks like out-worldly agate stones and are the end-results of the automotive assembly paint plant process. In addition to her use of Fordite in her most current collection, Muenster is also taking to copper fire brick, the byproduct of the copper smelting process. "It's smooth and glimmering. Each piece has the weight of metal and a patina like antique copper," comments Muenster on the material. "Most of the smelters are no longer in operation so each piece contains a little bit of the history of the Upper Midwest."

History: It's part of what is special about her "wearable abstract landscapes." Like a modern-day Michelangelo, Muenster carves her mini masterpieces with the same keen attention to detail, but with a preoccupation of something much deeper. "I'm drawn in by the color, pattern, shape and story behind the materials. But the choices I make regarding my jewelry," explains Muenster, "can be best understood in terms of my attempt to achieve more eco-conscious selections." From the beachfront to the storefront, Kirsten Muenster jewelry no doubt elicits the same feelings of excitement when finding the perfect stone, but the true testament of her work is the socially-conscious message buried deep behind the history of each piece.