Avery in the News

Designer Crafts a Life Around Religion

San Antonio Express-News, June 10, 2005
By Meena Thiruvengadam

KERRVILLE — It was 1954, and James Avery didn't have much money. But he knew there was an Episcopalian bookstore in New York willing to pay $5 each for his handmade crosses.

"I knew if I couldn't do anything else, I could at least sell my stuff to them," he said.

So with $250, an old jewelry-making textbook, a few scraps of metal and a workshop in his mother-in-law's garage, he started James Avery Craftsman.

Now the family-run business best known for its sterling silver religious jewelry has 38 stores in three states. Annual sales are about $85 million.

The business — with about 300 local and 1,000 national employees — is one of Kerrville's largest employers. The company does everything from designing and producing jewelry to distributing and selling it. Each December and May, nationwide employment swells to about 2,000.

And at 83, Avery — who endured the Great Depression and flew 44 missions over Germany as a World War II bomber pilot — is still sketching designs and reading handwritten customer letters. As the company's chairman and CEO, he's often among the last to leave work each day.

"I don't get up in the morning and look forward to retirement," he said. "I just hope tomorrow I'll do a better job than I did today."

Avery's designs have been to space and back, commemorated a papal visit to South Texas and served as Special Olympics medals. Many people have received the Hill Country jeweler's pieces as gifts for birthdays, graduations, Communions and other special occasions.

But James Avery Craftsman still maintains its headquarters less than a mile from the garage where it began, and the way in which Avery — a former agnostic — came to create religious symbols is a story unto itself.

Before he settled in Texas, Avery was married to Mona Pierce. It was their breakup — which Avery attributes to his stubborn agnostic ways — that he credits with bringing him back to God.

After the marriage ended, Avery sought refuge in the church and parted ways with his tightly held agnostic beliefs. It was then he fashioned the first handmade cross he wore around his neck — a replica of one he had seen in a store window.

"I realized for the first time in my life that I was not in control," he said. "When you get in deep trouble, the thing that is very important is to have someone to put their arms around you and comfort you. I found that in the church."

Later, the Wisconsin-born Avery was working as an instructor at the University of Colorado in Boulder when he met his second wife, Sally Ranger, a Kerrville native studying there.

On their honeymoon in Idaho, Avery, wielding a torch, a saw and sandpaper, fashioned a symbol of the Holy Trinity — a three-tiered candelabra that would later become his trademark.

"I wanted a strong Christian symbol that wasn't the fish everybody had," he said.

The couple moved to Texas and was living with Sally's mother when Avery set up a craft shop in the modest two-car garage on Hartshorn Road. He built a workbench, bought a polishing machine and gathered some hand tools.

Two weeks passed before he made his first sale. It was another three years before he hired his first employee. Back then, pieces sold for about $5.

But prices have risen, and things have changed for Avery. An affair with another woman ended his 20-year marriage to Sally. "One of the things I'm most sorry about in my life," he said, "is when I divorced her."

It wasn't Avery's first divorce, though, and it wouldn't be his last. Avery has been married four times and divorced three. He admits he had a hard time following the biblical Commandments regarding adultery and coveting.

But now his motto is "Do everything for the love of God — Everything." His product line, with more than 1,500 designs, is brimming with that philosophy.

His line of jewelry features crosses of all kinds and sizes, Bible charms and bracelets engraved with phrases including "The Lord is my Shepherd." A simple band with a cutout cross has long been the company's top seller.

"When he gets something in his mind, he stays focused on it," said Paul Avery, his youngest son.

But there also are pieces without any religious significance. Among them are various items incorporating flowers, hearts, cell phones and even pizza slices.

Avery's favorite pieces are those that mean something to his customers. "That's what makes it worth it," he said.

Avery's is a family business that extends beyond his family. The daughter of his first employee now manages a store in Austin. An architect he worked with 30 years ago is director of marketing. Employees are called by first name and never required to retire.

Although they didn't plan to, two of Avery's sons have left other careers to take jobs with the company.

Paul Avery, a former horticulturist, is the company's executive vice president, overseeing retail operations. Chris Avery, a former anesthesiologist, serves as president, running daily business operations.

In the more than a decade since the pair joined the business, James Avery has launched an Internet store, battled a recession and continued to expand its retail presence.

A store in Denver is scheduled to open this summer, and a McAllen shop is set to open in August.

"Our goal isn't to be the biggest," Chris Avery said. "We just want to do a good job and grow as we can."