Dave Young
I am a second generation bench jeweler.
I have been creating jewelry for over 50 years. My father cast a plastic toy into metal alloy and I was hooked. I started in the business making $5. pr hour for I.B. Goodman, in Cincinnati, where my
father was employed.
I worked in different retail and manufacturing businesses such as Gregory Custom Jewelers, Heilman, Koop Diamond Cutters, Gangle Jewelers and Quality Gold. The best of them all was Gregory's. Working with Greg Mooney, I was able to cast, design, set, and finish designs by Greg and myself.
I learned everything I could. I took a GIA diamond setting course and a Matrix computer aided design course.
After studying CAD (computer aided design) designing for years, a distributor I worked for decided to have their engineering designs manufactured in China. Now every imaginable combination of diamond ring is predesigned for your cookie-cutter pleasure.
Once I retired, I taught silversmithing classes at A World Of Beads in Cincinnati, Ohio, until the pandemic.
I am now able to follow The Muse and design pieces that have never been seen before. I believe there is more to jewelry than diamond and gold weight.