Take TED-style education and a networking extravaganza filled with friends and colleagues who love to problem-solve for one another, and you have the elements that make this year’s Jewelry Symposium a must-attend event, organizers say.
Known as TJS, this international gathering of jewelry industry professionals and interested parties that focuses on the advancement of jewelry-manufacturing technology will be held May 18-21 in Troy, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.
The 2024 symposium opens May 18 with a networking dinner—think pizza and great conversation, not black tie, says Linus Drogs, chairman of the TJS board and owner of jewelry-maker Au Enterprises, based in Troy. On May 19, 20, and 21, multiple 45-minute presentations are held, with speakers bringing expertise in their respective fields along with a passion for jewelry and the business.
Drogs says the TJS board has curated talks on current tech trends, including artificial intelligence, 3D printing, watchmaking updates, and jewelry forensics. After the educational sessions, attendees socialize and network. Many participants have come to the event for decades and have genuine affection for fellow attendees, he says.
“It becomes an open exchange of information, techniques, and conversation about the pitfalls, stumbles, and failures we all experience,” says Drogs. “We cover all of it. It has created this jewelry family of people who have attended for numerous years who are willing to help, mentor, and grow our trade.”
Now in its second year, TJS is a successor to the beloved Santa Fe Symposium. Founded by Eddie Bell and Dave Schneller, the Santa Fe Symposium sought to eliminate barriers and create friendships among industry experts, Drogs says. It was held for more than 30 years, but with business changes, including the sale of Rio Grande, the final Santa Fe Symposium was set for 2020—the pandemic pushed that last gathering to May 2022.
Rather than allow such a rich experience to end, Drogs and other key players agreed it needed to continue with a new name but the same spirit, Drogs says. A board of directors was organized, and the symposium was relaunched in 2023 as TJS. Its inaugural event had over 90 participants, more than double what organizers hoped for, Drogs says.
The Jewelry Symposium will take place at the Detroit Marriott Troy, an upscale hotel in the heart of this business-friendly city near many of Metro Detroit’s cultural and retail hubs, including the impressive Somerset Collection shopping center.
In addition to Drogs, TJS’s board is composed of Jim Binnion of James Binnion Metal Arts, Bellingham, Wash; John Berg, consultant and a former vice president at David Yurman; Ann Cahoon of Long’s Jewelers in New England; Chris Corti of the U.K.’s COReGOLD Technology Consultancy; Stewart Grice of Virginia-based Hoover & Strong; and Jason Yakubovich of MJJ Brilliant, New York City.
Attendance at TJS is open to anyone and is not restricted to the jewelry trade. Cahoon says she hopes industry member will participate and support the event because it changed her life in jewelry. “Coming from my background, I was terrified [at my first Santa Fe Symposium],” she recalls. “As a bench jeweler and an art school graduate, I had no grounding. The only words I understood were ‘if,’ ‘and,’ and ‘the.’
“I credit the Santa Fe Symposium for advancing my technical knowledge so much so that I became a presenter and am now invested in this new event because I know its value,” Cahoon says. “It changes the trajectory of someone’s career.”
For Grice, the collegial support makes TJS like a family reunion each year he attends. Plus, he says, he appreciates that the presentations are noncommercial and aimed at sharing knowledge.
“It’s like giving people access to your personal database of your mind. Everyone is that welcoming and friendly. We’re like family,” Grice says. “It breaks down barriers. You talk to people about your problems there, and afterward and you can get help for any issues you’re having. It’s an open sharing of ideas and information.”
(Photos courtesy of the Jewelry Symposium)
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