John Hardy first became known as a designer of silver jewelry, and although he now also designs in gold and with diamonds and other gemstones, he remains a master in the use of sterling silver.  John came to Bali in 1975 and studied silversmithing techniques with Balinese craftsmen, some of them descendants of artisans who made jewelry for the royal courts of Bali.  Many of the craftsmen employed by John Hardy today are part of that heritage.

The design studio in Bali where John Hardy jewelry is created, is an extraordinary expression of John's many-sided character.  It lies deep in the heart of rice farming country, at the very center of this tropical Asian island.  When John and Cynthia Hardy acquired the land in 1997 for a workshop for their rapidly expanding business, it was still rice fields.  The Hardys were concerned about converting food-producing land, so the design studio is also an organic farm, complete with livestock - cows, goats, poultry, rabbits - and fish ponds.  The paths are paved in river stones and lined with tall sugar cane.  Rice grows in paddy fields outside the glass walls of the design center.  The food grown here is used to provide the employees (over seven hundred people) with a healthy lunch.