The Artful Eye Jewelry Design Center, Prescott, AZ
IN 2000, WHEN JEWELERS Dave and Sherrie Rabellino opened their second location of The Artful Eye Jewelry Design Center in Prescott, AZ, they moved into a former cattleman’s shop in a circa 1903 building.
Dave Rabellino was determined to do the renovation himself with the help of jeweler Kevin O’Neill. Rabellino had experience helping his dad flip houses that his mom found while working as a real estate agent.
“I’m a compulsive builder. When you’re a jeweler, everything is so small and intense. When you’re building, it’s just a release from that.”.
“I’m a compulsive builder,” Rabellino says. “When you’re a jeweler, everything is so small and intense. When you’re building, it’s just a release from that.”
They gutted the space not long after they moved in, an effort followed by a couple more renovations over the years. After removing layer upon layer of vinyl and plywood, they uncovered old Southern yellow pine at the bottom. But it was in bad shape, and they covered it over with rustic oak flooring.
“Flooring might have been the most physical,” Dave says. “But we also had to put up new walls and electricity. It was a total remodel. The store was so butchered up from people adding on, adding on, adding on, that we had to start over.
“Kevin is both a welder and a jeweler, so between the two of us, we had a lot of skills. A friend of mine who was a business inspector helped me with a lot of the technical stuff that had to be done to code.”
Dave Rabellino rebuilt his store in a circa-1903 building in downtown Prescott, AZ.
They also handcrafted the tile and marble mosaic entryway and all of the showcases. Three of those cases sit atop old mining ore cars found in Arizona mines. The counter, too, is custom made, with wood pillars, rock facets and a shingled roof. They kept the original tin ceilings. The doorknobs are custom made of clear quartz crystal balls.
“When we first did the store, we put together the cases quickly,” Rabellino says. “After 15 years or so, they started getting worn out, scuffed up. So, in 2017, we built new cases for the store that are bigger and taller. They’re metal framed with a patina to make them look rustic and rusty; the bases are hardwood. They will be there forever.”
The most common reaction Dave has gotten over the years to the store he largely built, is, “Are you available for hire?”
ARTFUL EYE PHOTO GALLERY (8 IMAGES)
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