In the studio, Brian has assistants who complete different aspects of the production process. Jewelers
I want to make art that people can wear. At the end of the day, those are the pieces that will be for sale on Royal Street a hundreds years after I’m gone.
skilled in every aspect of the trade are increasingly rare, meaning that Beckham often recruits new employees and trains them in one aspect of the process. “When I was learning there were three or four schools in Mississippi that taught casting, and now, I don’t think there’s a single one, so it’s a challenge just to find people with ability,” he says. Beckham also attributes the dearth of skilled jewelers to the loss of career opportunities following outsourcing and increasing overseas manufacturing, something he hopes to combat with his custom, locally made products. “I want to make art that people can wear,” he says. “At the end of the day, those are the pieces that will be for sale on Royal Street a hundreds years after I’m gone.”
20
VERVE Summer 2018