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My Life: Thomas Mann

Published

7 years ago

March 3, 2016

INSTORE Staff Instore March 2016 Issue

Thomas Mann
Gallery I/O, New Orleans, LA

Thomas Mann, who describes his style as “techno-romantic,” has been making jewelry since high school. He quickly noticed a connection between jewelry, girls and money when he brought the silver bangles he made to school in a sock and sold out by lunch. His retail gallery, Gallery I/O, celebrated 25 years in 2013. In 2007, he developed the brand Thomas Mann studioFLUX to offer jewelrymaking workshops, do-it-yourself kits and how-to videos from master jewelry artists. He also creates larger scale sculptures, including the piece he is pictured with, Trajectory Heart – Cloud.

It Was Time to Make a Decision. It Was Time to Call Wilkerson.

Except for a few years when he worked as an accountant, Jim Schwartz has always been a jeweler. He grew up in the business and after “counting beans” for a few years, he and his wife, Robin, opened Robin James Jewelers in Cincinnati, Ohio. “We were coming to a stage in our life where we knew we have to make a decision,” says Jim Schwartz. He and Robin wanted to do it right, so they called Wilkerson. The best surprise (besides surpassing sales goals)? “The workers and associations really care about helping us move out own inventory out of the store first. It was very important to us.”