Inspired by Savannah:

How I crafted my jewelry design aesthetic

By Kristen Baird

When people describe your jewelry design, what do they say?

No doubt they use words like “beautiful” and “fashionable,” but are they able to articulate the particular way in which your designs stand out from the crowd? The best designers don’t just make beautiful jewelry, they have a recognizable aesthetic that’s as unique as they are. It took me many years and lots of trial and error to finally hone in on my vision as a designer, but once I did I was able to transform my business. All it took was stopping and looking around.

Falling for Savannah

I first fell in love with Savannah, Georgia, as a wide-eyed freshman at SCAD with her heart set on studying architecture. Walking the cobblestone streets of my new city, I took in the Spanish Baroque and Gothic Revival buildings with relish. I was enamored with the many cultures and nationalities I encountered every day, the vibrant art scene, and - most of all - the natural beauty. Mossy trees, sweet azaleas, and rolling water filled my imagination. I also quickly realized I was in the wrong major.

During a Jewelry 101 course, which I took because it filled a general requirement, I fell in love with jewelry as well and decided to make a switch. Four short years later, I graduated with the Outstanding Achievement in Jewelry Award. I opted to stay in Savannah and founded my own business, Kristen Baird® Jewelry.

Everything to Everyone

The first few years of running my business were all about the hustle. If you run a small business,

Please see Baird page 20

CLark

ing home from World War II and marrying, he worked in his father-in-law’s laundry business for a while. Then he moved to Louisville and worked in a cigarette factory while attending watchmaking school. After he’d spent six years in jewelry retail, his traveling boss one day announced he was going to give another employee a raise and take it out of Tom Sr.’s paycheck.

“My dad didn’t like that, so he quit. Five kids and no job,” Clark says. It was 1959. His parents borrowed $5,000 and opened their own jewelry store.

consolidated operations at the mall. They bought a freestanding building across the street and moved there in 1990. That place is undergoing renovations, which Clark says should be complete in time for the store’s 65th anniversary in 2024.

“It looks like 1990,” Clark says. The future promises cedar posts, painted brick, dark gray trim, and a repositioned sign to call more attention to the store at its busy intersection, which is also being redone. Inside, his wife Laurie, who manages the laser engraving service which has proven to be a customer magnet, plans to refinish the light oak cases to something darker and more contemporary.

Patrick, who studied watchmaking, became a jeweler by default in 1986 when his elder brother David cut his hand and couldn’t work the bench for six months, and Chad, the other trained jeweler, hadn’t joined the store yet.

“I had never done stone setting before, and that Christmas I got initiated,” Patrick recalls.

edge of gems, and people trust you more because they can tell.”

Clark also swears by his longtime membership in RJO as a source of support that helped them stay debt-free, a muchneeded condition during the pandemic of 2020.

He recommends jewelers embrace technology. He says

“They were scared to death. I have their old deposit books, they were handwritten. I don’t know what things cost in 1960, but at the bank they used, the guy who worked as a teller there – who went on to become the bank president – told me my mom came in

Continued from page 1 Established 1988 every day to make a deposit. She had to do it to make sure they could cover their checks.”

The first Clark Jewelers store opened downtown, and soon after, a second location opened in a strip mall. In 1974, the family closed the downtown store and

The family has yet to establish a third-generation direction for the store. Patrick and three brothers, Chad, David, and Tom, all attended Gem City College in Quincy, Illinois, and they have managed the store along with sister Kathy for several decades.

It was a good thing: Watchmaking and watch repair were on the wane everywhere, and the store felt the effects. Clark hasn’t done watch repairs in more than 30 years.

In 1990, Patrick and Tom earned their Graduate Gemologist degrees after years of study. He was surprised to learn how rare the achievement was: A veteran GG told him the completion rate was only 5 percent.

“I highly encourage anybody who’s thinking of it to do it,” Patrick says. “It helped us increase our sales. You have more knowl-

Edge software, laser welders, and 3-D printing have been boons to his business, which enjoys a stable growth rate of 2 percent to 3 percent year over year.

That said, he points out: “You can’t Google customer service. People ask me, ‘Do you know every person who passes through the door?’ I say no, but I try to.”

He once recognized a woman by the jewelry she was wearing but couldn’t recall her name. Still, he made a connection by telling her he liked her necklace.

“She chuckled and said, “You should like it, you made it!”

Editor, Bill Newnam bill@southernjewelrynews.com

Publisher, Chris Smith chris@southernjewelrynews.com

Administration and classified advertising

Martha Osswald martha@southernjewelrynews.com

Staff Writers

Wanda Freeman

Paul Holewa

Dianna Jarrett

Deborah Yonick

Vice President Sales

Elesa B. Dillon elesa@southernjewelrynews.com

Contributing Writers

David Brown

Diana Jarrett

Mia Katrin

Chuck Koehler

Joel McFadden

Guy Pineda

George Prout

Southern Jewelry News 2006 New Garden Road - Suite 208 Greensboro, NC 27410

Phone: 336-389-1950

Fax: 336-389-1952 www.southernjewelrynews.com email: info@southernjewelrynews.com

Any views or opinions presented in this publication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Southern Jewelry News.