Mark Hileman's artistic talents bloomed at an early age. His creative abilities were evident even in his early sketches and paintings. Mark was introduced to architecture at age 14 when he began training as a draftsman with a local architect. He continued to refine his technical and painting skills and later took on sculpting and guitar playing as well. Mark's sculpture and painting sales helped pay for his college tuition and in 1970 he graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Architectural Design. By 1974 he had opened his own architectural office in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was also the year Mark discovered a new outlet for his creativity- jewelry making. Mark's jewelry designs became an expansion and blending of his diverse artistic backgrounds. As his jewelry designs and materials used evolved, sales multiplied. Mark was soon dividing his time between architectural projects and jewelry production. He traveled the western United States to find jewelry stores and galleries to represent his jewelry designs and eventually landed accounts with some of the top art galleries and high-end department stores in the U.S. such as Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.Although Mark's jewelry designs have evolved over the last 43 years, his design philosophy of focusing on simplicity has remained the same. He is always searching for what is essential and beautiful whether that be geometrical shapes or flowing curves. Mark believes jewelry is the vision of the artist transformed by the person who wears it. This art form becomes an unspoken projection of each individual's personality. The hallmarks of Mark's jewelry designs are the sophisticated use of Australian opal and other precious and semi-precious stones combined with unsurpassed precision inlay and top quality craftsmanship.