Stephen met his British wife,Amy, in March 2000, at an art show in England where he was selling "The Legacy Collection." They married in 2001, and Stephen decided to dedicate himself full-time to his artistic career, and asked Amy to be director of sales and marketing.

The couple expanded the O’Meara Sterling enterprise by purchasing the remaining antique & vintage equipment necessary to complete Stephen's lifelong ambition: to bring something meaningful to peoples' lives through the ancient goldsmith's art, like Bernini before him. The O'Meara Sterling studio was complete in 2002, with the circa 1910 - 1930's tooling refurbished and painted: handmade lathes, engine-turning machines, a full raising studio with over 200 handmade hammers, casting machine, and kilns.

At last, Stephen could culminate 37 years of goldsmithing knowledge and practice into a body of work befitting his experience. Within the next few years, Stephen produced collections of handcrafted silver and gold for the table, luxury gifts, object art and important silver, the scale of which America had not seen in 80 years. Stephen also founded the “Academy of Master Silversmiths” to promulgate and celebrate excellence in traditional silversmithing.