COUTURE: What’s notable about your store? What is your unique point of view?

Carol Ferguson: I think that we brought something to Denver that it surprisingly didn’t have; we bring jewelry as an art form as opposed to a commodity, we bring jewelry that women want to wear. I feel like women are given jewelry that says more about the person giving it than the recipient, on some level it represents their [the person gifting’s] aesthetic. We sell jewelry that says more about the wearer and what they want to wear. Everybody that works in my store has a real connection to jewelry as an art form. We have two people who are junior bench jewelers trying to learn the industry, I did custom work for 25 years, and we have a woman, Margaret, that had a thriving antique jewelry business of her own before she joined us. We all have a different attitude about what constitutes fine jewelry. As an example, we added a line that’s done in concrete and Margaret had a hard time with it at first, but it’s been fun to watch how well received it’s been by our community.

This is a fun industry. I love the people, it’s designers not corporations, it’s people, it’s my people. With our customers, we really enjoy connecting them to the people behind the designs. To me, that’s really where jewelry should be. It’s an art form that evokes a personal connection and is often purchased to commemorate events and people in your life, so it’s important that it feels authentic all the way the through.

COUTURE: It’s great that with your decades of experience as a bench jeweler you have aspiring bench jewelers working with you. Do you mentor them?

CF: I do! I mentor my bench jewelers and I help them in any way I can with resources or advice. I’ve known a couple of people that have worked for bigger stores, and they tell you that you have to stop making jewelry if you’re working for the store, but I don’t see my bench jewelers as competition. I tell them straight out that I’m not going to judge or evaluate your work any differently than anyone else, and if they get to the point that they want to present a line, I would consider it as I would any other line. They’re part of this industry and not just my employees.

What COUTURE designers or brands are your clients really responding to lately and why?

CF: Denver is always a little slow on the uptake of new trends, and I’m really happy to see so many people getting into color now, it’s very exciting! We did a great trunk show recently with Leigh Maxwell, her work is beautiful, and she and her team are such nice people to work with. We also did a trunk show recently with Fern Freeman and people really loved her work. We are awaiting a new shipment from Dries Criel and that’s going to bring more of the classic diamond jewelry to the store, but with a strong, designer perspective.

While I have the final say in what we bring into the store, there are 4 other people who get to weigh in on the decisions, and it’s great to have all of these different perspectives from different ages and lifestyles represented. That’s really helpful because you want to pick lines that you’re going to be with for the long term; we convince our customers to buy into these pieces, so we need to create great partnerships with the brands. And everyone gets excited when a box of jewelry arrives!

COUTURE: It sounds like you’ve been doing a lot of events?!

CF: We were closed for 5 months and we kind of went crazy when we reopened September 1^st. We put as much business as we could into the last quarter—every weekend, a grand re-opening event last week—so it’s been a lot for the staff. Next year we won’t do as many events!

Our area of Cherry Creek is becoming really important to the Denver community. There’s a boutique area and a really nice shopping mall, 3 blocks near us have been sold for development, a Waldorf Astoria is coming in, as well as two high rise apartment buildings, so we’ll soon have 800 hotel rooms in our area, it’s going gangbusters. We’re on the last real small boutique street.

Our store is changing with our showroom being bigger and more beautiful and we’re leveling up in terms of what we can offer. We have twice as much space, our workspace is three times as big, and we have a bench that my two young metalsmiths will come and play on in their off time.

COUTURE: Where’s the best spot in town to grab a quick lunch?

CF: I would say our new kitchen and lovely break area in our work room! We were going to put in a lounge or a sofa, but we really like working around a table, so we put in a table with banquets, and we have meetings and lunch there.

COUTURE: Where’s the best restaurant for entertaining clients or out of town guests?

CF: We spend a lot of time at Quality Italian. We also love Hillstone, everybody can always find something there.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite bar?

CF: Forget me Not is the cutest, hippest bar to go to. It’s actually creating a nightlife in the area. Cherry Creek sidewalks usually roll up around 6:00pm so Forget me Not is bringing in a younger crowd.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite local cultural spot?

CF: I love the Denver Botanic Gardens and it’s right there, a little oasis, right there near Cherry Creek.

COUTURE: What’s special about your town?

CF: I would say the great thing about Cherry Creek is that it is a true neighborhood. People walk everywhere, it has a grade school, and it’s just got a real sense of community. It’s also so dog focused, people bring their dogs into the store, and you see people walking dogs everywhere. We offer a price matching guarantee to make it easy to shop local, to shop among your neighbors.