Jeff High, the founder of Gemvision and creator of one of the first CAD (computer-aided design) programs for jewelry, died of cancer on Sept. 6. He was 60.
High was working at his family jewelry store in 1990 when he decided to marry modern technology with jewelry design.
“At that time, all jewelry design and manufacturing was done by hand with a rough sketch and tools and techniques that hadn’t changed in hundreds of years,” according to an online history of Gemvision “Jeff became frustrated with these traditional methods, and started integrating emerging digital camera, computer hardware, and graphics software into a system to help him communicate jewelry design ideas to his customers.”
Soon, other jewelers expressed interest in his technology. High started Gemvision, and it sold its first workstation in 1993, though it took a while for the product to take off.
Originally, “people did not beat a path to our door,” High told The New York Times in 2012. “Over time, the technology got better, and we noticed about 2006 that we started seeing a major influence in the market.”
High sold Gemvision to Stuller in 2009. Shortly afterward, Stuller introduced CounterSketch, a software package that allows jewelers—and their shoppers—to custom-design pieces. High joined Stuller in 2012 as executive vice president.
He served as Stuller’s chief innovation officer until 2015, and later worked with his wife, Diann, at Dianna Rae Jewelry, a store in Lafayette, La.
High received numerous awards for his work. In 2006, Gemvision’s Matrix software was named Business Product of the Year by the Technology Association of Iowa, and in 2009, its V-Ray for Matrix won an MJSA Innovation Award.
High was a member of the American Gem Society (AGS) board of directors. On Facebook, AGS CEO Katherine Bodoh remembered High as “a great mentor with a brilliant mind and a zest for life.”
Steven Adler, president of ASDM Technologies, tells JCK that High was “a visionary who inspired the creation of software that was uniquely responsible for transitioning the global jewelry industry to adopt computer-aided design and manufacturing.”
In a statement, Stuller president Denny Clark said that High was “always focused on the future.
“Those fortunate enough to have spent time with him witnessed the power and inspiration of his vision firsthand. Even as the team worked on his latest idea, Jeff was already busy reinventing it. That was the magic of Jeff.”
High is survived by Diann, his wife of 40 years; daughters Rio and Ronni; mother Jane; brother Phillip High Jr.; and sister Katheryn.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made in High’s memory to the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, which promotes opportunities for skilled workers.
Funeral services will be held in Lafayette on Sept. 16.
(Photo courtesy of Stuller)
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