CREATIVE HISTORY

With 35 years as a jewelry professional and beginning to craft jewelry in High School Art Class in 1974, John Christensen is an asset to our Studio 2015 Jewelry team. John was a professional drummer from 1975 until 1983 where he worked on jewelry and drum customization. When it was time to settle down from the road, a classmate from high school had just started a jewelry trade shop specializing in repair. This is where his apprenticeship began.

John went from rookie to shop Forman over the 8.5-year period where he trained over 20 bench jewelers during that time. He started his own shop working as the only jeweler for a store in Ankeny, IA for 2 years, then in 1992 established his own retail store in Urbandale, IA.

GRADUATE GEMOLOGIST & AWARD-WINNING DESIGNER

John studied Gemology through the Gemological Institute of America and received his Graduate Gemologist degree in 1997. He received 3 design awards from the Iowa Jewelers Association. One was displayed in New York at the Jewelers of America show as one of the top 32 regional winners in the country. He also won another First-Place award in the Illinois Jewelers Association for a ring design in 2003.

After becoming allergic to gold, he had to move in to sales, and made the move to the Chicago area in 2000. After a few years as the manager of a big box store, John realized that he wanted to be in a more service friendly environment, that would allow creativity again. Computer Aided Design (CAD) became a developing technology for jewelry, and allowed John to create again, without exposure to gold. He worked as a designer in a family owned jewelry operation in Geneva, IL for 13 years before coming to Studio 2015 in 2016. John has been married for over 38 years now to his wife Cindy, they have one son and daughter-in-Law. He is celebrating the birth of his first grandchild in early May, Clara Ruth Christensen.

“Looking ahead to retirement and to be able to re-connect with my passion for drums, I began engraving on drums a couple years ago. I am very active in the professional drum and drum collecting community and look forward to working at the largest drum show in the world every year in Chicago,” said John when asked about his future endeavors.