In a wide-ranging talk that covered the past, present, and future of their celebrated jewelry brand, Sybil and David Yurman said they have no plans to retire anytime soon but could see changing the name of their company from David Yurman to just Yurman now that a second generation is helping run the business.
The Yurmans were interviewed on Wednesday by their friend Fern Mallis, fashion executive and author, at the 92nd Street Y. The public ticketed event during New York City Jewelry Week came a day after the couple’s new book, Sybil and David Yurman: Artists and Jewelers (Phaidon), was published.
Talking about the early years, Sybil Yurman told Mallis that it was she who suggested naming the company after David—partly because Sybil was selling her paintings at a big gallery at the time and thought sales could be hurt if she were perceived to have a split commitment between art and jewelry. The couple founded David Yurman in 1980, a year after they got married.
The Yurmans said they have discussed changing the brand’s name to Yurman now that their son Evan is serving as president and leading it into the next phase of its development.
“My son has been campaigning for that,” David said, noting that the brand done surveys about the name change. “Now after doing this book and looking at the history, I think we’re seriously considering changing the name. Because it’s a family.”
David Yurman, who’s 82, emphasized that he is not retiring, though. “I’ll be doing less of the things I don’t want to do. Evan is doing more of the things he doesn’t want to do. It’s a legacy, and that is what comes with it,” he said.
Mallis asked the Yurmans to reflect on that company legacy. “We stayed true to a vision of what I wanted things to be,” Sybil said. “I could be described as tough or aggressive, but it was always around things like it being the right color pink or the right turquoise or the right feeling for an ad.
“If you have a vision, if something is touching to you, you know when it’s right or wrong. You feel it in your body. You don’t compromise.”
David noted that the brand was created in the spirit of devoting yourself to art, technique, and creativity. “We built this size of business without the intent of a money goal,” he said. “Learn your craft, put your time in, be open to collaboration. Sybil is my muse, but she’s also a great critic and editor. She knows what she likes and doesn’t like.… Don’t think it’s yours—you are guiding it.”
Sybil said the main thing they’ve learned in their 45 years of marriage: It’s better to be kind than to be right. She and her husband were born two months apart (he in October, she in December of 1942), and both grew up in the Bronx. They met in 1969 when Sybil came for an interview at sculptor Hans Van de Bovenkamp’s studio, where David was working.
For David, it was love at first sight. Employees joked that female applicants often were swept off of their feet by Van de Bovenkamp, but David could tell Sybil wasn’t going to fall for it.
“The door opens up, and she’s got this black hair like Cher and she’s wearing a Peruvian poncho on the top and another on the bottom, and she comes striding into the room,” he said. “She’s got black boots with red laces and these little bells on them. Who could not remember that? Cha-ching, cha-ching.… She was so assured of herself.”
Sybil recalled deciding to date David and asking if she could “come see his patinas,” as he was already making jewelry. Their affection for each other grew during a weekend trip with friends when her friend hit on David and his on Sybil—and it was sealed when David showed up at her apartment with a bottle of champagne on her birthday.
The couple refer to their work together at David Yurman as “B.C.” and “A.C.”: before and after the cable bracelet, the brand’s signature design, created in 1982. “How did that thing start?” David said, laughing. “There was a moment where I was twisting wires. It was very simple. I still wear the first bracelet. It was a simple helix.
“I had a friend who said you have to be known for something in the jewelry industry,” he added. In the years B.C., David had been making belt buckles and other accessories, and he won several awards for his pearl jewelry.
As for those famous black-and-white ads featuring the likes of Kate Moss, Gisele Bündchen, and Kate Upton, Sybil said the photo shoots were always fun because the Yurman team made it a party from start to finish. Supermodels who were known for throwing fits or showing up late on other assignments seemed to enjoy being there because there was dancing and a joyful mood, she said.
Looking back on how Evan got into the business, Sybil told a story about him as a child, when the family lived in a loft home where the large dining room table was often full of David’s work papers and books, and Evan would draw on the same paper with his father’s sketches.
“One day he drew a circle—a cufflink, but it had a cable on it,” Sybil says. “He asked David to make it, and he made it. Neiman Marcus was coming into the office on Columbus Day, and Evan was out of school that day. The buyer liked it.”
Evan negotiated with David for royalties on that piece, and years later upon graduating from high school, he reminded his parents about the money from the cufflinks. In the Yurmans’ new book, which is both monograph and memoir, they share those kinds of family memories—and perhaps some inspiration for young people moving up or into the jewelry business.
“I wanted them to know anything is possible if you follow a dream,” Sybil said. “Do whatever you can. Everything. Put all of your energy into it.”
Top: David and Sybil Yurman, the married co-CEOs of David Yurman jewelry brand (photos courtesy of Phaidon)
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