About Us

What is Ptah? Ptah is a principle in Ancient African Culture that represents "Master Craftsmanship".  We at Studio of Ptah, strive to create amazing designs that embody this principle. Located in NYC’s second largest jewelry district known as the Bowery, we are the premier design house for fine jewelry inspired by the beauty of African art and culture.

 

Our designs are hand designed by prolific Artisan and Founder Heru Semahj, who chose to dedicate his remarkable talents designing fine jewelry that has meaning. Designs stand for love, family and other positive values and while we specialize in African inspired fine jewelry design we have been known to create amazing custom designs of Native American, Asian, Judaic, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian inspiration as well. Some people upon seeing Semahj’s work call him one of New York City's best kept secrets. However he has been at the forefront of his niche and has built a reputation as one of America's top African American jewelry designers.

 

Every other season we add more designs to our already huge original design catalog and unlike most companies, we allow our clients to have any design we create to order.  This gives our clients the options to customize any design to their specification and taste. At Studio of Ptah, we welcome the creative input of every client and encourage them to express their individuality with their order.

 

Many amazing people support Studio of Ptah and we are proud to be the personal jewelers for Erykah Badu, Wesley Snipes and Ben Vereen. We designed Erykah Badu’s signature Ankh Ring among other pieces and jewelry worn by Andre Benjamin, Full Force, Gary Dourdan, Roshumba, Afraka Bambattaa, Earth Wind & Fire and others. We also designed and crafted the Engagement Ring and Bands for Wesley Snipes and Bands for Apprentice winner Randall Pinkett among others. Essence Magazine has done a full page write up on Semahj's talents and his work has been published in many other publications. Heru Semahj's work was also the only fine jewelry featured in Harriette Cole’s bestselling books, "Jumping the Broom: The African American Wedding Planner" and her followup book "Vows".

 

In creating stylish, distinctive and unique fine jewelry, we are smashing the idea that jewelry inspired by Africa has to be merely trinkets, beads and shells.  While that is also beautiful, we pride ourselves on creating high quality, detailed designs that continues a tradition over 6,000 years old.  For these and other reasons, Studio of Ptah stands out as the jewelry company of choice for those looking to express their love for African and other world cultures.