This is my first post on this blog, and hopefully you will find this and all other future posts interesting and informative. I would like to tell you a little bit about myself, and my product, and how I came up with the idea for Jeweler in the Dishwasher.
I am a second generation bench jeweler and have been in the jewelry industry for over 35 years. I began my apprenticeship at the age of 16 (now you have an idea how old I am) under the guidance of my father, John (Jack) Beasley, a well-respected and exceptionally skilled jeweler in the Kansas City area. I worked alongside my dad, two brothers, and family friends at my dad’s trade shop for several years, doing repair work and setting up inventory for several of the chain stores.
My father decided to broaden our horizons, and opened a retail jewelry store. The store, Beasley Trade Shop, appreciated a very rapid growth. However, about a year and a half after we celebrated our Grand Opening, our courier was robbed. In the robbery one of the larger companies that we serviced, had several thousand dollars of inventory stolen. And no, they never caught the individual that robbed us. Within a month of our courier being robbed, our store was held up. All of our inventory was stolen along with all the repair work that we had done for other stores. This time, we could not recover from this loss. The stores that we serviced no longer felt safe sending their work to our shop, and since we designed and manufactured our own inventory, it would take a very long time to replenish our stock.
The morning of the armed robbery I tried to call my dad to tell him what had happened (he had just retired). I felt awful, because he had worked for so many years to open his own store, and now his dreams had been taken away. And, once again, the police never found who robbed our store. This episode changed my life forever.
At the time of the robbery, I was in charge of our store, I handled the more difficult repairs, and it was up to me to make sure that all the work was done correctly, and that everything went out on time. Each day that I went to work I was terrified that I would have a gun pointed at my head again. After a month of trying to get over my fear, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore, and I told my dad that I had to quit. Without me, the shop couldn’t operate, so my dad had to close. I felt awful doing this to him, but I didn’t really have a choice. I helped my dad clean out his store, and I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. For several years I was too afraid to work in other jewelry stores, so I worked out of my house. Then I decided that I would venture out of my house. I was the in-store jeweler for several area jewelry stores, and I learned a lot from that experience. But, at the same time, I felt that I wanted to be more in control of what I was doing, and decided it was time for me to take another step in my profession. I opened my own retail jewelry store January 2, 1998. For the past 10+ years, I have owned and operated my store, waiting on customers, doing custom design and manufacturing, and any repair work that needs to be done.
Over the years I have repaired thousands of rings, designed and manufactured hundreds of rings. The thing I hear over and over again from my customers is their desire to get their fine jewelry as clean as I do. They spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an item, but within a few weeks of wear, the stones become dull, due to the oil and dirt that has built up under and around the stones. Unlike all other jewelers, I use dishwasher detergent in my ultrasonic at work. As you know, the detergents have a degreaser along with the other cleaning agents. Therefore, I decided that this should work well when cleaning jewelry prior to and after repairing jewelry that needed repair. I found that using a dishwasher detergent works really well, and I knew that there had to be a way that I could design a product that would allow my customers to get the same kind of results. And, that is how I came up with Jeweler in the Dishwasher. It took several attempts to come up with a design that would facilitate enough water and detergent to enter the unit, and would be easy for consumers to use. I think I accomplished everything I set out to do, and I am now in the process of getting this product to the mass market.
I am a second generation bench jeweler and have been in the jewelry industry for over 35 years. I began my apprenticeship at the age of 16 (now you have an idea how old I am) under the guidance of my father, John (Jack) Beasley, a well-respected and exceptionally skilled jeweler in the Kansas City area. I worked alongside my dad, two brothers, and family friends at my dad’s trade shop for several years, doing repair work and setting up inventory for several of the chain stores.
My father decided to broaden our horizons, and opened a retail jewelry store. The store, Beasley Trade Shop, appreciated a very rapid growth. However, about a year and a half after we celebrated our Grand Opening, our courier was robbed. In the robbery one of the larger companies that we serviced, had several thousand dollars of inventory stolen. And no, they never caught the individual that robbed us. Within a month of our courier being robbed, our store was held up. All of our inventory was stolen along with all the repair work that we had done for other stores. This time, we could not recover from this loss. The stores that we serviced no longer felt safe sending their work to our shop, and since we designed and manufactured our own inventory, it would take a very long time to replenish our stock.
The morning of the armed robbery I tried to call my dad to tell him what had happened (he had just retired). I felt awful, because he had worked for so many years to open his own store, and now his dreams had been taken away. And, once again, the police never found who robbed our store. This episode changed my life forever.
At the time of the robbery, I was in charge of our store, I handled the more difficult repairs, and it was up to me to make sure that all the work was done correctly, and that everything went out on time. Each day that I went to work I was terrified that I would have a gun pointed at my head again. After a month of trying to get over my fear, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore, and I told my dad that I had to quit. Without me, the shop couldn’t operate, so my dad had to close. I felt awful doing this to him, but I didn’t really have a choice. I helped my dad clean out his store, and I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. For several years I was too afraid to work in other jewelry stores, so I worked out of my house. Then I decided that I would venture out of my house. I was the in-store jeweler for several area jewelry stores, and I learned a lot from that experience. But, at the same time, I felt that I wanted to be more in control of what I was doing, and decided it was time for me to take another step in my profession. I opened my own retail jewelry store January 2, 1998. For the past 10+ years, I have owned and operated my store, waiting on customers, doing custom design and manufacturing, and any repair work that needs to be done.
Over the years I have repaired thousands of rings, designed and manufactured hundreds of rings. The thing I hear over and over again from my customers is their desire to get their fine jewelry as clean as I do. They spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an item, but within a few weeks of wear, the stones become dull, due to the oil and dirt that has built up under and around the stones. Unlike all other jewelers, I use dishwasher detergent in my ultrasonic at work. As you know, the detergents have a degreaser along with the other cleaning agents. Therefore, I decided that this should work well when cleaning jewelry prior to and after repairing jewelry that needed repair. I found that using a dishwasher detergent works really well, and I knew that there had to be a way that I could design a product that would allow my customers to get the same kind of results. And, that is how I came up with Jeweler in the Dishwasher. It took several attempts to come up with a design that would facilitate enough water and detergent to enter the unit, and would be easy for consumers to use. I think I accomplished everything I set out to do, and I am now in the process of getting this product to the mass market.
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