Peter Macchiarini

Peter Macchiarini (August 27, 1909 – July 3, 2001) was an American Modernist jeweler and sculptor, who was a pioneer in the field of avant-garde jewelry.

[3] In 1923, when he was age thirteen, he and his family moved to the northwestern region of Italy, where he went on to study for four years at the Art Academy in Pietrasanta.

At a student demonstration during the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike, he was severely beaten by San Francisco police officers.

[2] In 1980, he was awarded a gold medal from the Association of the Lucchesi nel Mondo, which annually recognizes those who, as citizens abroad, bring honor to the Italian province of Lucca through personal merit.

[7] In 2000, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors renamed a portion of Kearny Street – near Telegraph Hill – "The Peter Macchiarini Steps" in his honor.