At Earth Door Sky Door we produce a line of sterling silver jewelry set with semi-precious gemstones. We also have a selection of 18 karat gold jewelry, and silver and 18 karat gold combinations. Our stones include tourmaline, opal, tanzanite, rutilated quartz, aquamarine, kyanite, labradorite, and rainbow moonstone, as well as a wide range of opaque stones.

Gemstones set in Fine Sterling Silver Jewelry

We are based in Arlington, MA, USA, and we manufacture in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. As a small company, we take pride in the quality of our materials and in the quality-control of our production. Our emphasis is very much on hand-made jewelry. Rather than being concerned that each and every piece be an identical replica of the piece before it and after it, it is the charm and character of hand-made jewelry that inspires us. India is a place where craftsmen and artisans are still honored, even as the country rushes, along with much of the rest of the world, into a more technological and less personalized future. So even while most of our jewelry is simple and modern in design, it nevertheless reflects a love for craft and for tradition that is rapidly disappearing from so many places. Even in our simplest designs, we hope that the presence of the individual artisan peers through.

In addition to our contemporary jewelry, we have a large collection of vintage silver beads, pendants, and elements from India, and a very special selection in high karat gold. This material is especially interesting for jewelry designers. Some of our pieces are fine antique collectibles.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Rusty Glicksman, and I established Earth Door Sky Door in the early 1990’s. Before that, as well as during the early years of the company, I was an instructor of English language and literature at various institutions in Canada and the US.

Since the late 1960’s I have traveled widely, especially in South Asia, with India becoming more and more a second home to me. It was as a result of my efforts to incorporate India into my life that I got into the jewelry business. Even though I’d come from such a different background, I found that working with Indian artisans connected me more and more with Indian society and culture.

dZi Bead - after which we are named

In the mid-1970’s I was traveling in Ladakh, a region in the Indian Himalayas that abuts the great Tibetan plateau. Ladakh shares Tibet's ancient Buddhist culture, and as Tibet and its Buddhist institutions were being devastated by the Chinese, Ladakh became increasingly important as a repository of Buddhist learning.

While there, I happened to acquire a small bead that had a circle on one side, a square on the other. Some years later, I learned about Tibetan dZi beads. These dZi beads are much treasured artifacts from Tibet’s distant past, and their origin is shrouded in mystery.

I remembered the little bead that I had gotten in Ladakh, brought it back to India on a subsequent trip, and discovered that it was very special, very rare. In Tibetan, the particular pattern on my bead is called Sa sGo gNam sGo, which translates as the earth door (the square) and the sky door (the circle). As so often acknowledged in ancient wisdom, the bead seemed to speak of the profound relationship between the celestial and the terrestrial, and consequently of the interconnection of all things. This is an understanding so easily forgotten in the clatter of modernity, yet so desperately important to the ultimate health and bounty of mother earth.

Whether I had acquired the bead by chance, or through the working of forces I do not fully comprehend, I have always felt it to have been an auspicious moment in my life. So when I set up my business I named it after my dZi bead. My business logo is a view of the bead rolled out --- the earth door and the sky door.