Avery in the News

Daytrippin' to James Avery Craftsman, INC.

By Linda Lambert, The Horseshoe Bay Beacon
March 13, 2008

James Avery with some of his favorite original metal patterns. After over a half century in the business, he is still creating new designs with infectious enthusiasm.

If you love fine craftsmanship, take a trip to Kerrville to tour the home base of James Avery Craftsman, Inc.  View the large selection of gold and silver jewelry in the retail store and then head to the visitors’ center where you can see several craftsmen at work through a glass wall and watch a short video about the company’s history and the intricate jewelry making process. You may be lucky and meet James Avery, who at 86 years young still comes to work every day, designs jewelry at his workbench and loves to visit with his customers.  “One of my greatest joys in coming to work is the letters and emails I receive weekly from customers from all over the world,” he says. A ranch style complex of buildings on the 40 acre campus is the central location for Avery jewelry design and production. An original farmhouse now contains design offices, and its Texas Hill Country wood and limestone design is continued throughout the complex of newer buildings, enhanced by a magnificent walkway lined with stone pillars from Mexico. Each piece of Avery jewelry is taken from design to manufacturing (including casting and die striking) to hand finishing and polishing, right here in the Texas Hill Country.  Some gemstone work is done in the town of Comfort, casting in Fredericksburg and there is another jewelry workshop in Hondo. You are welcome to walk around the Kerrville property, sit in the large gazebo, relax and enjoy the Hill Country view.

The motto of James Avery, “Meaning, Integrity, Universality, Simplicity” permeates the entire business and very well describes the founder of this fifty three year old jewelry business.  From its humble beginnings in a two car garage, James Avery now has 44 stores in five states and several more opening in 2008.  Employees include 1400 craftsmen, designers, management and support personnel.  Sales topped $100 million in 2007 with a 9% increase in 2008. Recently James Avery passed the reigns of leadership to his son Chris.  The new CEO of the company is also a medical doctor.  Another of Avery’s seven children, Paul, is Executive Vice President of the company and a licensed horticulturist.

While touring the design workshops I had the opportunity to talk with craftsmen and employees. Meeting these highly skilled individuals gave me an understanding of what keeps Avery’s business on the leading edge of a highly competitive field. Many of them have been with the Avery company for over fifteen years.  Irmtraut Hruschka works in the corporate offices and told me this was her twenty fifth year with the company. The designer’s workroom is airy, well lit and has large windows for each designer. Jewelry craftsman Sam Chanthamalay came to the United States as a refugee from Laos and has been with Avery sixteen years.  Frank Taccetta showed me some of his beautiful models for product development, rings set with moonstones.  He is a twenty four year veteran of the company. Phil Reede was busy soldering a jewelry model.  He has recently returned to the company after several years in the U.S. military.  He says he loves coming to work here and enjoys the Hill Country setting, especially when deer come to his window.

James Avery holding an angel he carved in soap at age twelve.

During my recent visit with this vital, personable man, Avery talked about the many influences behind his successful career.  His office is a tribute to the special people and events in his life. He displays pictures of his mentors and friends through the years, including a picture of his first and longtime employee, Fred Garcia, who had a special talent for teaching others his craft.  There is a photo of his six man WWII fighter pilot team and one team member’s painting of their airplane. Another favorite photo is of Reverend Balfour Patterson, the Episcopal priest who guided him through a difficult time in his life, helping Avery renew his faith. He says that he was raised a Christian, but went through an agnostic period. After he met Patterson in the 1950’s he returned to Christianity and began making jewelry with religious symbolism.

Also surrounding Avery’s desk are inspirational books, favorite quotations and memorabilia like his first work bench. A small adjoining room holds his current workbench and tools. Avery says that the basic jewelry making tools haven’t changed a great deal through the years. Hammers, soldering irons and polishing stones are still in use but production has become much more sophisticated since he began his career. In spite of mass production, various techniques like polishing are applied to individual pieces, which are stamped with the James Avery trademark.

Avery’s notable public accomplishments include designing and making the communion vessels used by Pope John Paul II during a mass in San Antonio in 1987 and production of special charms for astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor in 1996.  But two beautiful soap carvings Avery made when he was twelve years old are also very dear to him.  The resulting angel and horse were copied for him as small silver statues.  He also showed me a set of small drawers, each one about 3 inches wide by 4 inches long, which he made to hold several hundred of his original metal patterns for jewelry pieces.  He spread several of these out on his desk, fondly showing me various designs, some less than a half inch in diameter, as he talked about the design process, beginning with scratching out these metal patterns, then cutting them with a small handsaw.  This clearly demonstrated to me one comment he later made, “Success comes to those who don’t know the difference between work and play.” After over a half century in the business, James Avery is still creating new designs with infectious enthusiasm.

Avery was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 7, 1921. He says he was “blessed with sensitive and sensible parents who gave him an appreciation for good craftsmanship and the desire to strive for the best quality in anything he attempted.” His parents gave him piano lessons and he played piano with a band in his youth.  He still loves music and says that if he hadn’t discovered jewelry making he might presently be in New York City in the music business.  As a teenager he lived with his maternal grandfather in Iowa for a time and learned many strong character lessons from him, including a lack of racial prejudice.  His grandfather shared his admiration for one special teacher with the young James.  That teacher was the famous botanist George Washington Carver.

Vice President of Design Mitch Mikesa showing James Avery a new ring design.

Avery served as an Army Air Corps B-26 pilot in WWII and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois in 1946.  He taught industrial design at the University of Iowa, and the University of Colorado and the University of Minnesota.  While in Colorado one of his female students said, “Mr. Avery, we’ve designed furniture and so many other things.  Why can’t we design jewelry?”  Always open to new ideas, Avery checked out a library book on jewelry making and the rest is history.  His student got her wish and Avery sold his first design, a cross made with a butane torch, to an Episcopal Book Store in New York City.  The store sold it and ordered several more.

In 1953 Avery married a student he met while teaching at the University of Colorado, and later moved to her hometown of Kerrville.  He was pleased about the move since he had found Texans to be very friendly people when he was in pilot training in Texas.  He set up shop in 1954 in a two car garage, and with $250 bought silver, hand tools and made a bench.  His work space was a walnut drop leaf table he purchased for 25 cents. He sold a ring for $6.50 to a counselor at a nearby girls’ camp.  Word spread and he was soon supplying jewelry to patrons of all ages at local girls’ camps--Camp Kickapoo, Camp Waldemar and Camp Mystic.  He had sales of $5500 in his first year in business, a small fortune for the young couple.  By 1968 James Avery Craftsman, Inc. had twenty five employees and had outgrown its workplace and moved to its present location. The company’s first retail store outside of Kerrville opened in Dallas in 1973.

Timeless jewelry pieces are still made with an emphasis on high quality and simplicity.  “I strive to keep designs from being contrived, cluttered or cute.”  Avery pointed out that designs must also be comfortable to wear and meaningful to the recipient.  One Horseshoe Bay family honored a grandchild who died in infancy with an Avery “baby angel” charm that can be found among the catalogue selections.  James Avery has touched thousands of lives through his unique, symbolic designs and giving spirit.  He gives generously to hospitals and many charities, and provides scholarships for American and third world students.  A framed poem on Avery’s office wall exemplifies his life’s goal:

“To give and give, and give again what God hath given thee,
To spend thyself nor count the cost,
To serve right gloriously the God who gave all worlds that are
And all that are to be.”
- Geoffrey Anketrl Studdert Kennedy 1990