Petra Class grew up and was educated in Germany. After studying art history and philosophy at the University of Stuttgart, she pursued a rigorous traditional education in goldsmithing and design. Living and experimenting in the exciting city of Berlin before the fall of the Wall, she made her first steps into creating her own world of jewelry. After meeting her husband Steve, a California native, Petra emigrated to San Francisco and founded the jewelry design studio in 1991. Her classical training and connection to the cutting edge European design world combined with the organic and nature inspired attitude of California worked in harmony to create Petraʼs unmistakable vocabulary.

Since then it has grown into an atelier spanning 2 familial generations across the west coast and, recently, New York City, where a team of gifted metalsmiths create an ever growing collection of sculptural, contemporary jewelry made of high karat gold and precious gemstones. Petra, accompanied by her son Lucas, are the creative forces behind the studio, while her daughter-in-law Phoebe runs operations and 2 brilliant bench jewelers, Morgan and Clio, assist in production.