MEET THE TEAM
Jamie Madison
My name is Jamie Madison, I have been a jeweler for over 20 years, but it started a lot less glamorous than that. I started as an apprentice making $8.25 an hour. Learning the trade one job- and probably more than a few mistakes- at a time. Over the years I've had the chance to wear just about every hat this industry has to offer. Apprentice. Bench Jeweler. Shop Manager. Trainer. Eventually, I even earned the title of master.
One thing I learned though, titles mean nothing to me and in THIS industry there can never be a finish line. Only the line in which you choose to call finished. There is always another technique, another way to solve a problem and someone out there who can teach you something you don't know. It has been that mindset that has taken me all over the world. Metallurgy in Italy,
Stone setting in Belgium, Bench and Engraving techniques in Tennessee, Hand Engraving in Arizona, and other classes everywhere I could find them. From some of the greatest in our industry I learned the true definition of where time and the right techniques can take you.
I have spent my career at some of the biggest names in tradition jewelry retail, family owned shops, and finally into independent work along side incredible private jewelers and maybe a few names you and your grandma would recognize. However the titles, the shops, and the clients aren't really why 585 became a thing. It was everything that happened between those things.
I know what it's like to want to get better and work somewhere that won't train you. I know what it's like to put in the work and money your self to realize there isn't necessarily another opportunity- or another dollar- waiting for you when you do. I've worked in shops where speed was all that mattered and quality was absent. Places where there was no standard, and just "the way we have always done it." I have also had points in my career where I was the guy that mattered more about numbers, deadlines, and getting the next job off my bench that I forgot why I loved it.
That's why even after it all, teaching and working with others has always been my favorite part. There's something different about watching somebody struggle with a technique, finally understand it, and suddenly realize what they are capable of. Sometimes all someone needs is the right person to teach them that it took the rest of us a lifetime to figure out the hard way. That is what I want 585 Gallery to be.
Not just a jewelry store. Not just a training center. Not just a place where beautiful things are made. A place where people who care about the craft can come together. A place to create. Learn. A place to screw something up, figure out why, and get better. A place to push your skills further than you thought you could go. A place to get resources and answers to the questions you have and even the ones you don't know exist yet. Now my goal is to help the next person so they don't have to figure it out alone. That's 585, Create. Learn. Grow. Together. See you in the studio.
Duke Dominguez
My name is Duke Dominguez, and I’ve been a jeweler for five years. I went from melting jump rings in my garage to working on pieces I once could only imagine making.
I began with a picture in my head of what I wanted to make. Watching Bobby White's work on YouTube, I became fascinated by Cuban link chains and pieces covered in hundreds of carefully set diamonds. I wanted to know how someone could take metal and stones and turn them into something that felt impossible to make.
Starting off I invested about $2,500 into a jewelry shop in my garage and started trying to figure it out on my own from YouTube videos as a guide. I made wire, I cut links, then I picked up a torch and melted one jump ring after another. It’s hard to explain how defeated I felt, standing there surrounded by tools I’d saved up for, unable to make the first thing I wanted to make the most. It's a pretty horrible feeling. Wasn't sure how to move forward and ended calling my dad and expressing how regretful I felt thinking I’d just wasted my money and so much time. Which led to him telling me to just try to find a place to work where I can learn the craft.
That's where the apprenticeship came along in which I'd find out how rare of an opportunity I had found for myself. For months up to a year, I polished rings, did office work, and watched the benches where I hoped to work someday. I'd still put time in the garage after work to continue to get practice in and to make pieces that you don't normally do as bench jeweler. It wasn't much but during that time as an apprentice that's really what you're limited in that role, especially being brand new to the industry. So within that time I made due with what I had and the restrictions that were set on me and just kept faith. Until everything changed when Jamie transferred to our shop as the manager. For myself, after nearly a year of not touching a bench, he gave me an opportunity that you don't normally get in repair shops being brand new. He didn’t treat my lack of experience as a reason to keep me away from the craft. He taught me. He gave me room to practice, make mistakes, and to finally grow as a jeweler.
With everything I learned from that time and all his mentorship, five years later, I’ve made custom gold and diamond pieces, pavé set tens of thousands diamonds/gemstones, set hundreds of center stones some up to 12 carats, became a top ten producer in a major jewelry company, and completed more repairs than I ever thought I'd do. It's been an incredible journey so far. Some days, I’m trusted with a stone that someone had passed down from generations. Other days, it’s a piece they’ve worn for years and can’t imagine being without. I take pride in all of it. I once stood in my garage wondering if I really had what it took, ready to throw in the towel. Now people trust me with the jewelry that matters most to them.
And that's why Jamie and I are opening 585 Gallery. We want everybody that learns from us to do incredible work for the people who trust us with their jewelry. And when someone walks through our doors with the same dream I had, I want them to find what I needed most: a person willing to teach them and a place where they can begin. This is 585.
