‘Jeweler Cam’ gives Wisconsin jeweler a global consumer base

Appleton, Wis.— If you do a Google search for the term “jewelry repair,” Expert Jewelry Repair & Design, based in Appleton, Wis., will pop up as one of the top 10 search results. And if you go to the shop’s Web site and click on “Jeweler Cam,” you’re likely to see—live on the computer screen— one of the store’s master bench jewelers creating a custom piece or restoring a family heirloom. “We get a lot of comments about how people enjoy watching the jeweler work,” says Randy Kester, Expert Jewelry’s s owner. “In our next version, a visitor to the site will be able to control the camera, to zoom and pan. If the jeweler happens to be working on a piece of yours, you can call him on the phone and discuss it as you watch.” The shop was opened about four years ago by master goldsmith Gary Stein, who decided to start a retail shop where customers could go in and talk directly with the goldsmith. “I got to know Gary as a customer of his; then I broke my leg in an accident and was laid up—I’d been framing houses for 30 years and was feeling kind of burnt out anyway—so I taught Gary to use the computer and he taught me the jewelry business,” Kester says. “I ended up buying the store from Gary, who still works with us.” Expert employs two master bench jewelers, who specialize in the manufacture of 24-karat gold jewelry, which Kester says is especially popular in Appleton’s Asian community. “Most locals are used to 14-karat jewelry, and when they see 24-karat, they sometimes don’t think it’s real because it’s so yellow,” he explains. “It’s also softer, and doesn’t wear as well, and it’s about twice as expensive as 14-karat. But our Asian customers give us good advice on what to make.” The local customers range from businesses to parents who want a custom class ring for their children to grandmothers who want to craft family heirlooms to pass down. Because of its presence on the Web, Expert gets orders and requests from all over the world. A German businessman caught sight of some earrings that Expert had produced for a local café, and ordered several pairs for the wives of his clients. A California woman sent a picture of a single earring, hoping (and discovering) that Expert could duplicate its lost mate so that her husband wouldn’t know the difference. One of Expert’s bench jewelers even gets the occasional marriage proposal via e-mail. The physical store is less than 1,200 square feet, and features custom-made showcases built from recycled Balinese teak wood. “It’s a low-pressure atmosphere, where you can watch the bench jewelers at work and learn about lost-wax casting,” Kester says. “We have a whole wall that displays custom pieces, and it’s our goal to show nothing but our own work in our showcases.” Aside from the Internet, Kester promotes his company by displaying some pieces at an art gallery near Milwaukee, and by donating pieces to charity auctions. He also gets good word-of-mouth business from employees of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co. in the nearby town of Neenah—and from Appletonians who’ve found that Expert can do just about anything. “We’ve had at least three customers walk out of the store crying because our jewelers were able to rework an heirloom piece that the customer had thought was destroyed and unwearable,” says Kester. “We involve the customer in the design of custom pieces, so they can say, ‘Look what I helped create.’