Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Entrepreneur shines as jewelry maker

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Entrepreneur shines as jewelry maker

    Entrepreneur shines as jewelry maker
    By Jennifer Berry

    Valley Sun, CA
    May 28 2004

    Photo by Jennifer Berry IN HIS STUDIO - Harout Kioudjian works on a
    piece of silver jewelry. He says "there's always something to learn"
    about his craft.


    Whether it's a shiny platinum bracelet for Michael Jackson, a
    jewel-encrusted belly chain for Britney Spears, or a gold pendant in
    the shape of a musical note for Madonna, jewelry designed and produced
    by Harout Kioudjian shows up around the world.

    It's been worn by celebrities, featured in magazines and on television,
    and sold in upscale jewelry stores such as Henry Duarte in Beverly
    Hills.

    The master silversmith's global career began humbly, polishing jewelry
    at the age of 7 in a small shop in Lebanon.

    "I did a couple months of polishing. I loved it, but I was doing better
    than a professional jeweler. He got jealous. He tried to get me fired
    because I was doing a better job than he," said the father of two,
    who recently moved to La Caņada Flintridge from Pasadena.

    Even though Kioudjian, who owns H.K. Quantum, enjoyed working
    with metals and jewels, he didn't realize at first that it was his
    calling. Educated for seven years in a Catholic school in Lebanon,
    he tried his hand at religion by attending an Armenian monastery for
    one year.

    "I felt like a prisoner," he joked.

    He was reintroduced to the jewelry business when, after his family
    immigrated to the Los Angeles area, the South High School student
    began helping out in his uncle's Torrance jewelry store after school.

    A member of the Armenian National Committee of America Western
    Region/La Crescenta Chapter board of directors, Kioudjian, whose
    grandparents escaped the Armenian genocide, said jewelry making runs
    in the family.

    His mother's uncle taught his uncle, Nazareth Kioudjian. Following the
    tradition, the La Caņada businessman learned valuable skills in the
    back of his uncle's shop, from polishing, repairing and cleaning gold
    and silver pieces to sizing rings, setting stones and designing pieces.

    "I felt good making things [and] creating designs," he said. "The
    creativity of it, it's endless. There's always something to learn. It
    doesn't end."

    >>From his uncle's shop, the jeweler worked on the production lines
    and design teams of several jewelry companies, including a stint
    subcontracting for Cartier designer Phillip Chariol.

    "After a short while I realized it was time to move on," he said. He
    opened Monte Christo Trade Corp. in 1992, in which he made his own
    designs, casting and producing marquis chains and tennis bracelets.

    Eight years later, he left Monte Christo to try his hand at selling
    motor oil and clothes.

    "I wanted to change my career," he said. "Whatever I tried, it wasn't
    my thing. It didn't work out."

    Now he crafts his masterpieces in a nondescript factory in North
    Hollywood, branding his own designs with the logo H.K. Quantum.

    "In this jungle, it's kind of difficult to get somewhere until the
    brand is popular," he said.

    Helping spread the word of the H.K. Quantum brand is musician Daniel
    "Danny Boy" O'Connor. A member of the former musical group House of
    Pain, O'Connor said he began commissioning Kioudjian to design and
    produce one-of-a-kind jewelry for him because the jeweler's good
    reputation preceded him.

    "At the end of the day, I could afford any jewelry I want," said
    O'Connor, who considers himself a silver connoisseur. "He's a
    perfectionist."

    The next project O'Connor has planned for Kioudjian is to re-create
    a gold ring with a skull design, given to him by Mickey Rourke.

    The New York native also recently pointed fellow musician Mike "Mr.
    Kaves" McLeer to the manufacturing plant on Lankershim Boulevard.
    After sharing a traditional Armenian meal together, the silversmith
    finished a silver Armenian cross, which McLeer will wear while his
    group, Lordz of Brooklyn, tours on the Vans Warped Tour.

    "I'm an artist, so I recognize his craftsmanship," McLeer said. "The
    art in his jewelry, you can see it. He gets his hands dirty. In an
    age of mass production, this is old-world craftsmanship."

    While Kioudjian's designs are available to jewelry companies and to
    individuals wanting custom jewelry, his wares will be on display at
    the Fourth of July festival at Crescenta Valley High School.

    The La Caņada man, whose son attends Chamalian Armenian School and
    daughter attends Rosemont Middle School, is a member of the Crescenta
    Valley Town Council Community Outreach Committee. He has donated
    to the group a silver identification bracelet of his own design and
    two rings-one an exact replica of a size 13 1/2 silver ring worn by
    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Aug. 18, 2003, cover of "Newsweek"
    magazine and a smaller reproduction of the ring, which has an intricate
    eagle design.

    The master silversmith said he runs his business by treating his
    customers as friends.

    "To me, a person is more important than a business," he said.
Working...
X