Headlines

Jeweler Has No Fingers, Creates Amazing Work Anyway

She says fingers would just get in the way.

Published

10 years ago

October 2, 2016

INSTORE Staff

Annette Gabbedey gets a lot of questions about her work as a jeweler — people aren’t sure how she manages it with no fingers.

Gabbedey, whose shop is in Somerset, England, has never known the profession any other way.

She doesn’t even use special tools — she adapts, or adapt to, the regular ones. Usually it’s just a matter of holding the tool in a specific position.

“When you’ve been born with something, then you learn your way of doing things from birth,” Gabbedey says in the video below, which comes from Link TV. She specializes in diamonds and opals and does mostly custom work.

Gabbedey is shown using various jewelers’ tools, drawing in her sketch book and doing daily tasks around her studio — all with apparent ease.

Link TV explains that she “even says she could not imagine doing her job with fingers because they ‘must get in the way.’”

After 35 Years in Kent, Bonaci Fine Jewelers Found the Right Partner to Close the Right Way

Bob Bonaci spent 35 years building a jewelry business and community presence in Kent, Washington. When he decided it was time to retire, he knew the process would take careful planning — and the right help. Fellow jewelers who’d been through it pointed him to Wilkerson. The results exceeded expectations. Wilkerson’s hands-off approach let Bonaci step back while the team handled every detail, meeting his personal and financial goals throughout. “It is phenomenal, the success that we’ve had.” Watch Bob share his retirement story.