Meet James Friedman | Jewelry Designer/ Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with James Friedman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
I have worked in the jewelry design/manufacturing business for many many years. While working for small to medium sized family owned companies helping them increase their market share. Struggling through the common issues of middle management watching the owners income increase while having to manage in most cases under paid and over worked disgruntled employees I decided to leave my 9-5 job and take a leap. I moved to Bali to work with an expat jewelry designer to help her modernize and streamline her operations. After 3.5 months in Bali I realized that I missed many of my favorite things. While Bali in all its wonder and beauty is quite captivating i felt a bit too isolated and decided to come back to Hawaii. While working as an independent designer and a production and design consultant I took a part time job at the Honolulu Museum of art metals lab. As an instructor there I began to meet many inspiring independent jewelry design entrepreneurs. Most of whom were struggling to find localized services and support to help their businesses grow. The Idea of El Dorado casting lab began. After a few years of slowly developing the idea and a short pause to bring my son into the world. With the help of a few colleagues and a small investment El Dorado Casting Lab went from concept to reality. The idea was to create a small but effective space to provide workspace, tools, equipment, support, education and localized services that would bridge the gap for local jewelry designers as well as the creative community. An incubator for budding jewelry designers looking for a career path outside of the normal 9 to 5 grind. As most other major metro area’s have what is considered a “Jewelry District” El Dorado Casting Lab was hoping to fill the void here in Honolulu.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a young artistic lad with limited formal education I took a job with a very large international jewelry manufacturing company in my home town. There I worked in the chain department in what was called the hammer room. It was a bit of a maniac mechanic tool and die type job operating loud “hammering” machines as they squashed the gold link chains into various styles of necklaces. herringbone, serpentine and so on. It was a monotonous job during the graveyard shift. Eventually I was transferred into the lost wax casting department. There I began to learn the more creative side of the process while fine tuning my technical background. Wax design, melting and casting metal became my home in the company. Eventually the company closed its doors and I moved on to a smaller local company where I had the opportunity to manage the casting department, While still in a production environment I began to design and create my own work for friends and family as a side hustle. The drama that followed at this company was a made for tv scandal, and eventually the company also closed its doors.

After attending multiple industry trade shows and Santa Fe Symposium on jewelry manufacturing technology I now had a solid technical and practical foundation to move forward with. From there I was hired to layout, set up and manage a small production facility for a company who was at the time contracting out 75% of its production. We were producing and selling jewelry to Home Shopping network and QVC. One design 1000 times over and over and over. By bringing all of the the companies production in house the profits went through the roof. After a few years of seeing little or no return on my hard work I left the company. From there I went on to set up a few more production shops for other local companies then the opportunity to work in Hawaii came up and away I went. Sadly even though I was living in paradise the small/family owned company issues continued. During these tough years I continued to build relationships, contacts, develop my technical knowledge and creative skills as a designer. The one common thread though most of my early career was watching these family owned business take full advantage of their employee’s while reaping and keeping all of the rewards for themselves.

After the short stint in Bali I continued to pursue the creative side of the business and began teaching wax carving and lost wax casting at the HMoA Metals lab and El Dorado Casting Lab was born soon after. Now with a brick and mortar home my design business began to flourish. My clients now ranged from individuals looking for a special one off design, jewelry design entrepreneurs looking for help and creatives looking to learn something new. It is one of my greatest pleasures to enable my clients to realize their dreams and potential in what ever path they choose. One of the most important things I learned along the way is to not take shortcuts, take care of your people weather they are contractors or clients and speak truth. Transparency to a fault
Hawaii is a small place so I’m hoping that I can make a difference here and hopefully inspire others to also. Images in this post are of members, members work and a few of my personal designs .

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, I love to sail. first thing would be to arrange as much sailing as possible. On the windward side of the island we would spend a day or two at the sandbar. Lucky for them I have friends with big beautiful sailboats 🙂 At the sandbar we would bask in the sun swim with the turtles, eat drink, sing, dance and take in the breathtaking landscape from off shore. Usually when you take a visitor to the sandbar for a day or 2 like this, the rest of the trip is inconsequential. But alas there is more. The hiking and lush jungles within a few miles of anywhere will provide form some exercise and more amazing vistas. And then an early morning hike to the secret tide pool this also leaves your visitors in a state of euphoria. Living in Honolulu there are so many amazing food options from authentic Asian foods (Moon Garden) to top tear restaurants creating incredible regional American cuisine (Senia) and we cannot forget the local favorites. A sunset and Mai Tai at the Elks Club is always a hit. Don’t worry this Elks Club is not your typical Elks Club. A trip to Chinatown would also be a fun adventure. Find one of the many deserted beaches and take a nap in the shade while my 7 year old buries them in the sand…

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who have impacted my journey. My family who cheered me on as I left the bubble and moved 5000 miles away to Hawaii and then to Bali and Back. One of my earliest mentors was my culinary arts teacher in High School. Bill White, his personality was nurturing and wild at the same time. I still use some of his quotes to this day. My partner and our son for putting up with my antics. One of my close business colleagues who is like older ( but younger) brother Pat Breeden. And as I always say “Thank you to our members, clients, friends and family. You are, who we are”

PersonalJamesFriedma

Website: www.eldoradocastinglab.com

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