Dransfield Jewelers

Apr 4

In their own words

“We’re in an area called Shockoe Slip, a historic area of Richmond. There’s a cobblestone street in front of our store, and when you come in the door, at first, you see several independent jewelry artists that mainly work in silver. We carry many different artists—a couple of them are folks I went to school with in New York, and others are artists we’ve worked with for many years. We carry estate jewelry—we’re always looking for interesting pieces to buy. We also have customers consigning family pieces with us. We’ve been in this a long time and have always been a source of education. We bring that to the table when working with our customers.”

-Don Dransfield

Jason’s Interview with Don

Jason

We're back on Meet the Jewelers and today we're talking to Don from Dransfield Jewelers.

You're such an anchor in Richmond. Thank you for giving back to the Children's Hospital, the American Cancer Society, the Children's Museum. Let's start there. How did you get involved with all the charitable work?

Don

A lot of it has come through our customers. A lot of people are very involved, have personal backgrounds with cancer or Alzheimers, different things. They support these causes and have stepped up and asked us to participate. We're all about it. We like to support Richmond.

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I don't think there's many families today that aren't touched by cancer. My mother-in-law was a huge supporter of the American Cancer Society for many years and did a lot of projects in town. We have an amazing hospital here called MCV, the Medical College of Virginia, and they have the Massey Cancer Center. Through one of our customers, we did a number of projects we called A Carat for the Cure. We held some events and fashion shows. We've also been involved with their Children's Hospital.

I'm also doing something with the Alzheimer's group—that's something that touched me personally, my mother had it. I read recently that one in three seniors is affected by Alzheimer’s.

We also support the arts, there's a lot of great art organizations in Richmond, and a number of fantastic schools. We also have this children's museum that we've been very active with. It's important to us to be part of that. My father was a minister. I didn't grow up in the jewelry business. One thing I learned was the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That's how I've approached my business and every customer that walks in the door.

Jason
So in 1991, how did your jewelry store come to be?

Don
The 1970s is when I first got interested in jewelry. I had worked with, was always interested in art, and I had friends that were in the antique business and was always intrigued when I saw these older items and things. I had an opportunity to apprentice with some folks up in Massachusetts that were doing a collection of silver jewelry hammered and constructed, and that's where I was like, "Wow, this is fantastic. I love it." And so I started with them, had an opportunity after that when I started doing some of my own stuff and approaching different galleries and selling pieces.

I had an opportunity to do some teaching through an art department at a private school, and then decided to go back to school myself and got a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from State University of New York at New Paltz, New York. That was a great experience and I learned a lot of fantastic things.

I worked for another jeweler here in the Richmond area for about eight years and then decided to start my own business. I started out by myself and as time went on, I hired other designer goldsmiths to work with me. We opened our doors in 1991 and we're still going strong here. I'm very proud of that.

Jason
What's the experience when they open the doors?

Don
We're in an interesting part of Richmond. We're down in an area they call Shockoe Slip, which is an old historic area. There's a cobblestone street out in front and when you come in the door, it's a small, warm atmosphere. At first, you're seeing a number of our independent jewelry artists that mainly work in silver. We carry a number of different artists—a couple of them are folks that I went to school with in New York and others are artists we've carried and worked with for many years. We also do a lot with estate jewelry, always looking for interesting pieces to buy, as well as customers consigning family pieces with us. We've been in this a long time. We've got a lot of great connections with diamonds, colored stones, and pearls.

Jason
Tell us an example of a customer who went through a fun engagement proposal experience?

Don
We've had so many and we get a lot of joy in doing that. One couple, the gentlemen put a note in a bottle and hid it on the beach. They were walking on the beach and he discovered the bottle, broke it open, and there was the proposal written on the message in a bottle—and out of his pocket comes the engagement ring.

We had another couple, they were surfers, and he comes riding in on a wave and reaches down in his wetsuit—he's got the diamond ring in his wetsuit pocket and pulls it out.

We have somebody else, one of their first dates was at a bakery, and they had them display a cake in the window with his proposal on the cake.

Without our customers, we'd be nowhere. We've tried to let people know that we care about what they're doing and hope they care about what we're doing. We had one woman who was dying of cancer and had us make a number of lockets personalized to each of her grandchildren saying, “Nana will always love you.” Sadly, after she gave them to the kids, it was only a couple weeks later she passed away. We have another customer, his wife was battling cancer and after she passed, he brought in their original engagement ring and wedding band. Kristen fashioned an anchor pendant for him using their marquis diamond from the engagement and incorporating the wedding band into it using the gold from that. It's very touching when these are things that people cherish and we are very proud that we're part of it.

Jason
For people who don't know about your store, why should they trust you with their family heirloom?

Don
We like to get to know them a little bit before we even start looking around or showing them anything. The fact that we are so service-oriented, I think people get the idea pretty quickly that we're not here to do the used car salesman treatment. If you look at our showcases, you see that we have a very eclectic collection and a lot of interesting eye candy for people.

Jason
Tell me about a few of the pieces that you're most passionate about?

Don
We have a number of different artists. This one fella, David Urso, I went to school with in New York, his work is quite unique. It's silver and he uses crushed-up gemstones that are inlaid into the pieces. Very unique, very bold. Another fella, Keith Lewis, does very affordable, unusual designs that are well thought out—very colorful, lightweight, and wearable. We have another artist that does glass enamel work, all one-of-a-kind pieces. We have a fellow we work with from Belgium, a diamond cutter, and we've done a lot of interesting things with him with natural colored diamonds. We have one ring with a 10-carat black diamond that is a pear shape and it's cut upside down. It looks more like a cabochon, but he's put little mini facets all over it—it's a one-of-a-kind cut and we're proud of that.

Jason
Now, if there's anything you want us to know about Dransfield, tell us.

Don
We love stones, we love pearls. We have a lot of really good sources. When it comes to something we may not have, we're on the phone, getting things shipped in here for our customers. I'm very proud of the people that work with me. I wouldn't be where I am today without my staff. They’re as passionate about this as I am and that really shows, they each have their own following, too. We're more old school. Most of what we do is hand sketching things, hand carving models, and different waxes. There's a lot of steps involved in getting to the final product and we include our customers in that