Green Lake Jewelry Works

Green Lake Jewelry Works is a Seattle jewelry designer, manufacturer, and retailer. Selling mostly custom made jewelry, the company is known for a customer experience of personalized contact with traditional artisans that is profitably scaled up to a relatively large business operation, made possible by its use of computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), in combination with effective use of e-commerce technology. They maintain a relatively small physical inventory that is augmented by a "virtual inventory" of renderings of their offerings.[2][3] The company's sales volume grew quickly from about $2 million per year in the years 2003–2005 to over $7 million for 2006, passing $10+ million by 2018.[1]

Green Lake Jewelry Works
Company typePrivate
IndustryJewelry
FoundedSeattle, Washington (1996 (1996))
Founder
  • Jim Tuttle
  • Jytte Tuttle
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington
Number of locations
2
Key people
  • Jim Tuttle, owner
  • Krista Tuttle, sales executive
Revenue$10,000,000 (2018)[1]
Number of employees
67 (2016)[citation needed]
32 (2016)[1]
Websitewww.greenlakejewelry.com

History

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The Seattle location, near Northgate Mall

Jim and Jytte Tuttle opened Green Lake Jewelry Works in 1996 as a 500-foot store in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle.[4][3] In 2006, Green Lake Jewelry Works had 35 employees and moved into a 7,200-foot location in the Northgate neighborhood of Seattle.[5] As of early 2012, Green Lake Jewelry Works had almost 50 artists on staff and has a biography page for each artist online.[6] In 2016 Green Lake Jewelry Works opened a second 5,750 square foot location in Bellevue, Washington. As in the existing Seattle location, the jewelers and jewelry designers built the majority of the showcases and hand painted elaborate designs on the floor.[7] In 2019, Green Lake Jewelry Works added the local Seattle Jewelry business, Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery, to each location.[8]

Operations

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In 2010, 90% of Green Lake Jewelry Works's business was custom pieces,[9] primarily engagement and wedding rings.[10] Green Lake Jewelry Works uses computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) as well as traditional techniques like hand engraving to produce its jewelry.[3] In 2009, the retailer was the largest user of Matrix software by Gemvision, CAD/CAM software for jewelry design.[11] CAD/CAM, the process of designing three-dimensional objects using a computer and manufacturing them with a computer-controlled machine has long been used in other industries and is gaining importance in the jewelry industry, which still primarily using traditional techniques of craftsmanship.[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c "Green Lake Jewelry Works", Macmillan Reference USA,  – via Gale (publisher) (subscription required) , 2016 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  2. ^ "Creating A Custom Experience", Modern Jeweler, Cygnus Business Media, 2009 – via Highbeam
  3. ^ a b c Carlton Harrell, Debera (September 15, 2006). "Retail Notebook: Store again moves into bigger digs". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  4. ^ Heebner, Jennifer. "JCK TV: Interview With Jim Tuttle, Owner of Green Lake Jewelry Works". JCK. Archived from the original on January 2, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  5. ^ Hollenbach, Jack. "Moving the Lake to Northgate". Seattlest. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  6. ^ "Custom Designs With A Click". JCK Magazine. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  7. ^ "Custom Jewelry Store Opens in Bellevue - 425 Business". August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  8. ^ "Contact Information for Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery". January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  9. ^ Heebner, Jennifer (June 2010). "You've Got It Made". JCK. Archived from the original on 2011-12-28. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  10. ^ Gregg, Dierdre (April 9, 2006). "Green Lake Jewelry figures out how to compete against online retailers". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  11. ^ Kremkow, Cheryl. "Custom Design for All". Modern Jeweler's Jewelry Trends. Archived from the original on April 18, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  12. ^ Workman, Steve. "Tips from the Bench". Gemological Institute of America website. Gemological Institute of America. Retrieved 2012-01-27.

References

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47°42′31″N 122°19′15″W / 47.708744°N 122.320963°W / 47.708744; -122.320963