Jim Saylor Jewelers

Feb 23

KAPA’A, HI

In their own words

“My favorite thing is seeing a customer get tears in their eyes when I hand them a piece they’ve been dreaming about that we created together. That’s the best part. Or having a customer come back and say, ‘25 years ago, you made me my wedding ring. I love it still and wear it every day.’ Jewelry typically represents special moments in people’s lives.”

-Jim Saylor

Jason’s Interview with Jim

Jason

Come with me to meet Jim Saylor from Jim Saylor Jewelers. How'd you get started?

Jim

I got started in high school. I didn't want to take a typing class, and the next option was an applied art class and they had a jewelry component, and that fascinated me. I kept doing it throughout high school, junior college, and got a job at a jewelry store. Three dollars an hour doing repairs, sizing, and a little bit of custom work. That was some 45 years ago.

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Jason
Were there moments that you said “Maybe the jewelry industry isn't for me”?

Jim
It wasn't something I was planning to do as a career, but it was fun. I was getting paid for it and a number of years down the road realized, “This is kind of fun.”

I wanted to be a teacher, partly because I hated school. I figured there had to be a better way. I could make a difference in young kids’ lives. But then I kept having to go to school to become that. I realized I really still hated school and it's not where I wanted to be. After working at a jewelry store for a couple years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I moved to Kauai.

Jason
What do you enjoy creating the most?

Jim
I don't know if it's a specific thing. I love colored stones or gemstones of all types. My favorite thing is creating something that I get a reaction from—or seeing a customer get tears in their eyes when I hand them a piece that they've been dreaming about. That's my favorite thing to do. It's not a specific style or a specific stone, it's creating something that creates an incredible emotional reaction with the customer. Having a customer come back, “25 years ago, you made me my wedding ring. And I absolutely love it still to this day and wear it every day.” That's pretty exciting to be part of that. Jewelry represents typically very special moments in people's lives, whether it's a birthday, anniversary, a wedding ring. It's great to help people realize their dreams.

Jason
Tell us about a hero piece that you loved making.

Jim
There's a lot. It’s pretty amazing. We did a seven-carat platinum diamond engagement ring with this stunning emerald pet diamond, all hand fabricated and platinum. A total of 27 pieces of platinum shaped together. I don't think people realize sometimes the amount of focus that goes into that.

Jason
How many hours into it?

Jim
Probably 40 to 50 for that piece. I didn’t charge nearly enough, because you just never expect it to take as long as it does. The customer deserved it. It was a very special stone, very high clarity, high color. The joy of creating something that they would have a very hard time finding anywhere else is what makes the magic for me.

Jason
Being in Hawaii, you're around very special people who live there all year round, and then you get a ton of tourists and other folks who are coming in.

Jim
We’re not “Hawaiian-style” jewelry or touristy-type jewelry. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not our niche. Fine quality jewelry and it happens to be that we're on Kauai. Being in a little more relaxed state, they can spend the time to get to know us a little bit. We get the time to know them and come up with ideas for them. We have a new friend. And they're walking out of here waiting for their piece to get sent to them in Alberta, or New York, or Atlanta.

Jason
How much of your audience would you say are people visiting?

Jim
It amazes me how many times a week we have people that have never walked in the store before.

Jason
What do you do outside the store?

Jim
I've been married to my wife for 22 years now. We've been together 26 years. Second marriage. I had three kids with my former wife. They still are on the Island. Amazing kids. One of my great passions is sailing. I race sailboats and have since I was a little kid. We race here on Kauai, we have a whole fleet of race boats. I just can't imagine being bored in this business or bored on the racecourse. There's always more to know and always ways to get better. Every day is a new experience.

Jason
What makes you stand out from other jewelers?

Jim
Many jewelers, craftsmen, designers have their style, their niche. They design for themselves and hope their customer likes it. I've been doing it long enough that when I'm with the customer, I'm not thinking about what I want to do. I think about what's best for them.

Jason
Why should people trust you?

Jim
I've been blessed with trustworthiness. I trust people. If I can't, I'm not interested in playing.

Jason
What are some amazing proposal stories you've heard?

Jim
We don't do a fair amount of wedding stuff. It's not a huge focus for us, so I don't have a bunch of great proposal stories. I remember a guy figured out a way to put an engagement ring in a fortune cookie with the fortune. After dinner at a Chinese restaurant, they got the staff to give her the fortune cookie with her engagement ring. That was pretty fun. I've had videos of people proposing with amazing scenery on Kauai in waterfalls and jungles.

Jason
What's your thought on sustainable, eco-friendly jewelry or lab-created stones?

Jim
All of the gold we use is recycled. We send a lot of gold to the refinery to remove scrap gold off the street. I don't have a problem with synthetic gemstones. We just don't carry them. They're beautiful, wonderful things. I just don't want to open that box. Every stone in our store is natural. No synthetics. I probably have 6,000 gemstones from all over the world. We are passionate about our colored stones and how they’re mined. The supply chain for our gems is pretty tight. Not a lot of middlemen. I think we're making great inroads into sustainable, ethically-minded and sourced.

Jason
Tell us, how do we find you?

Jim
The best way to get here is on a beautiful sailboat, but that could take you three weeks from the West Coast.

Jason
I’ll fly there.

Jim
There you go. Kauai is just a magical place to be. We’re in the town of Kapa’a, our store and workshop are located in the same location. We've been here for 44 years now, though it's evolved considerably from the little workbench in the back closet to where we are now.

Jason
Here's your chance to say whatever you like to Meet the Jewelers.

Jim
Even if it's just to come say hi, look at our collection of fine gems and jewelry. Come play on Kauai. It would be our honor to build anything you desire.