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| Passing on the trade secrets of a master jeweler |
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| News | |||
| Written by Brian McCauley | |||
| Wednesday, 03 February 2010 08:00 | |||
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Gene Wilson loves the art of bench jewelry work. He loves the process of pouring more than 30 years of experience into each piece he touches, and he loves the relationships he forms with his repeat customers. But most of all, Wilson loves the feeling he gets when he passes his passion on to others, which has led to the creation of Wilson’s School of Jewelry. Although it’s only beginning its second year, Wilson’s Paola school has been a popular topic in the jewelry business, with students coming from as far away as California to learn from a master jeweler. And while Wilson works to educate a new generation of jewelry artisans, he can’t help but think back at how his own journey began more than 30 years ago right here in Kansas. Embracing a calling The storybook business biography would say that Wilson was born into a long line of bench jewelers, learning the trade from his father and continuing a family legacy. Wilson, though, has never been one to conform to traditional standards. In reality, his father was a postal worker, and his mother worked as a nurse. Wilson didn’t even have an interest in jewelry until the 1970s, when he was living in Wichita and took a night class on the topic that piqued his curiosity. After finishing the class, Wilson got the opportunity to spend some time with the grandfather of a friend of his. The elderly man was a master jeweler from Germany who took a liking to Wilson and took him under his wing. For the next three years, until the master jeweler passed away, Wilson learned everything he could from the man during an intense apprenticeship. It’s something Wilson says you don’t see very often anymore, with many jewelers today learning from video tapes or from the Internet. Jeweler apprentices are a dying breed, and Wilson knows how lucky he was to have his situation fall into his lap. Actually, Wilson doesn’t see it as luck at all, but instead a little direction from the man upstairs. “I call them God winks,” Wilson said. Mastering a trade Even with only a few years of training under his belt, Wilson was amazed at how many job offers he got when he first came to Kansas City. He describes the bench jeweler job market at the time as truly a “show me what you can do” format. “There were no resumes,” he said. But despite the work, Wilson soon found himself back in Wichita, this time learning more about engraving and the old form of setting stones from another master jeweler, this one of Greek descent. Wilson said he soaked in everything he could, and he still uses some of the older practices he was taught today because they often include more steps that make for a more brilliant, high-quality product. “Jewelry is so easy to learn, there’s 12 steps — but there’s 12,000 secrets that go with each step,” Wilson said. For the past decade, Paola residents have become familiar with Wilson’s Jewelers at 506 Baptiste Drive — especially the police officers, who Wilson said are used to seeing him head out of his business at all hours of the night as he works on different pieces of jewelry. Much of the rest of the country is getting familiar with Wilson as well, and he said he takes pride in being one of the few places stores call if they have a specialty stone set that needs to be done. “They’ll say, you can send it to New York. You can send it to California. Or you can send it to Paola,” Wilson said. He’s even sold jewelry to Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash, along with a few other celebrities. Although he loves what he does, and he takes pride in his work, Wilson still is thinking about the future. Currently, he’s keeping his eyes open for an apprentice to start teaching much like he was taught many years ago, and thanks to his recent efforts, he may have plenty to choose from. Leaving a legacy Wilson had always thought about focusing more on teaching his art, and he was encouraged by one of his satisfied customers, who told him, “I certainly hope you’re passing along what God gave you.” But it wasn’t until another “God winks” came along before Wilson realized the time to act on his teaching ambition had come. Homer Holland, who taught at a well-respected jewelry school in Selma, Ala., for 38 years, recently passed away, and his widow began the search for someone to buy the school and continue its operations. Although there were many people lined up to buy the school’s equipment to use in manufacturing, there wasn’t anyone interested in the school’s operation. That is, until Wilson found out. In one quick visit to Selma, Wilson won over the widow, who he described as a “beautiful southern belle.” “She said I reminded her so much of her husband,” Wilson said. “She made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Now, the remnants of that school can be found in the back of Wilson’s shop on Baptiste Drive, where he currently has four benches set up for his students. The school opened up last year, with Wilson targeting other people in the jewelry business looking to master their craft. Now, he’s ready to market the school to anyone looking to learn more about the art of bench jewelry and how to turn it into a career. Although the one-week classes cost about $1,000 each, Wilson said the students can use the techniques that are taught to quickly make their money back in the workforce. “Once you truly know it, you can go anywhere besides Russia and never be without work,” Wilson said. Wilson is getting ready to kick off his second year of classes, as he teaches from February through October. He says his goal is to get people doing quality repair work, and his tutelage won’t stop after the week of classes. “Once they’re my student, they’re always my student,” he said. But Wilson also has no plans to close down his store to focus on the school, he’s just counting on some extra help from his wife, Pam, and employee Barb Green, who also helps out at the store. In fact, Wilson doesn’t know when he’ll ever stop working on jewelry. “Old jewelers don’t retire,” Wilson said with a smile. “You usually just find us face down on our bench.” For more information, call Wilson’s School of Jewelry at 294-2936.
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