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Penoir Contemporary Jewelry a one-of-a-kind contemporary original jeweler utilizing diamonds, precious and semi-precious gemstones, and precious metals.
Penoir Contemporary Jewelry, ( aka Penny ) creates on an ongoing basis, new & original, pieces of jewelry. Every piece (design) we make is made ONLY ONE TIME. I like to compare our original jewelry pieces with original paintings. An original Renoir contains the essence and spirit of the Master Painter; what he was trying to express through the medium of his art . You can buy a poster of his work, but his spirit is missing. Penny in the same way encapsulates a bit of her own spirit and essence in each of her pieces of jewelry. Most Jewelers like to say that their jewelry is original, and in the very broadest sense it is, in that they did, at some time in the past, design the setting. Now what they do is mold the piece and put different colored stones in this "original" setting. In other words they are different colored "posters" of the original art. In the spring of 1987 Penny & I met at a small Bistro in Birmingham Michigan. This first date was initiated by an ad that I had placed in the Detroit News. The only reason that Penny chose my ad was that I requested that whoever responded "must love cats" and Penny only answered that ad because her friend had dared her. On the way to the cars that evening Penny noticed that my license plate expired in March. She inquired as to my birthday we discovered that we had the same birthday. This revelation only served to compounded the other unique events we share: Both Penny & I are middle kids, we both have sisters named Linda and now we had the same birthday. Needless to say Penny went right out and bought a lottery ticket! (Unfortunately it was not a winner) In the fall of 1988 Penny & I got engaged and we set a wedding date of September 1991, During this time I was working toward my M.B.A. from University of Detroit and working full time as a Design Engineer. Penny was Chief Designer for Matthew C. Hoffmann Jeweler, in Ann Arbor. Her position not only involved the actual designing of the rings, necklaces, bracelets, earring, etc., but also required her to train and manage a 5 person design staff. She had started with Matthew in 1984, and developed and broadened her metal working, setting, and polishing skills. However, by the fall of 1989 following a series of poor business decisions by her employer, we decided to "test the waters", by starting our own company. That spring we did our first art fair. We had 14 pieces of jewelry in our borrowed cases and did more in sales than either Penny & I had ever thought possible. In fact, it took us two more years to have another show where our sales were as good. In the spring of 1989 Penoir Contemporary Jewelry, as it is now known, was born. The development of our name and company logo happened at a small restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. We were happily enjoying a pitcher of Heineken at one of those restaurants that has butcher paper & crayons on the table and were brainstorming. We came up with Penoir, a homonym of Penny's nickname Penwa. Penoir was the perfect merging of Penny's nickname with my French linguistic background. In early 1990, with a year of business ownership under our belts and with continuing management problems at Penny job, We decided that she should devote herself full time to designing jewelry for us. Her designs were original and unique and well executed. Much as they are today. In May of 1991 I completed my MBA and that September Penny & I were wed. Much to my employer's disappointment we decide to take a 4 week Honeymoon in France. We spent a week with the family I had lived with when I had gone to University there, and then spent 3 weeks traveling the country. Upon our return to the States, life fell into a increasing spiral of busyness. The shows were becoming more frequent and we were selling more at each show. Penny could no longer make all the jewelry and keep up with the other necessary business activities. The time was looming for me to leave my engineering position and help Penny . In December of 1994 that time arrived. I tendered my resignation and have never looked back. I started my Gemological Institute of America Gemologists degree and also began the slow process of learning to cut gemstones for Penny to use. My full time attention to the business details allowed Penny to again devote all her time and energies to her Art. I like to say that "Penny makes the jewelry and I do everything else". Penny's 29 years as a jeweler (she apprenticed at the tender age of 16) has permitted her artistic abilities to grow and mature. Our travels and her sincere appreciation of 19th & 20th century painters, sculptures, and architects have allowed her to interweave the inspiration of these great artist with her own amazing talent. We have discovered that her art is become more complex and refined, increasingly elaborate, yet subtle and pleasing to the eye.
Penoir Contemporary Jewelry, Inc. Founded 1989, Incorporated 1995. This page was last updated on 11/24/07. |
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1998 - 2008
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