Jack Gualtieri of Zaffiro has a passion for creating understated elegance through creative jewelry design. With a sense of adventure and the gift of patience, he and his partner, Elizabeth, mastered the use of granulation not only as a textured accent to their jewelry but also as a showcase in itself. Never satisfied with the status quo, the Portland, Ore.-based pair—who are better known on the smaller craft circuit than in the traditional jewelry industry—ventured into the unusual area of platinum granulation. A half-decade later, the Gualtieris have produced not only platinum-on-gold granulation but also platinum-on-platinum granulation. The process was not an easy one, but the artists were driven by creative instinct as well as the challenge to produce something that stands out from the masses. And in this market, success springs from such distinctive products as well as from sk