Better known for his furniture and sculptures than for his jewelry, Harry Bertoia was head of the metals studio at Cranbrook Academy of Art from 1937 to 1943, where he specialized in forging, chasing, and combining materials to produce modernist works of art. Like Calder, with whom he exhibited jewelry on several occasions, Bertoia made jewelry in modern forms using hammered wire. He was particularly interested in modulating the metal’s surface with hammer marks to create a textured effect. The branching forms of this brooch suggest the movement of organic materials like rippling waves, windswept grass, or microscopic organisms. Nature and microbiology were strong influences as Bertoia’s ideas, forms, and techniques evolved in the 1950s and 60s.