Workforce at Risk Roundtable to Kick Off 2025 Jewelry Symposium

By Karen Dybis | March 28, 2025

Addressing the challenges the jewelry industry faces in the hiring and retention of skilled labor, from bench jewelers to retail staff to manufacturing technicians, will be the first discussion at the 2025 Jewelry Symposium, organizers say.

Known as TJS, The Jewelry Symposium added the roundtable discussion titled Workforce at Risk to the May event. The annual event dedicated to the advancement of jewelry-manufacturing technology will host the roundtable on talent from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. May 17 at the Detroit Marriott Troy.

This discussion needs to happen so the industry can come up with remedies to the skilled-labor shortage and attrition of skill sets as talented craftspeople retire or leave the industry, says TJS chairman of the board Linus Drogs.

“We believe that the diverse gathering of industry professionals at TJS will provide a wonderful opportunity for analyzing, identifying, and clearly defining the challenges. We also hope to inspire brainstorming regarding how our industry might work together to address these issues,” Drogs says.

Tackling timely topics that affect every jewelry-related company is the purpose behind TJS, which also goes by the full name of the Jewelry Symposium for the Advancement of Jewelry Manufacturing Technology. This year’s event will take place May 17 to 20 at the Detroit Marriott Troy.

TJS attendee and founder of Chris Ploof Designs Chris Ploof says one of his company’s most difficult challenges is finding skilled workers.

“We’ve even modified our workweek to four days to keep our people happy and loyal, as well as offered other perks like free EV charging and extra paid time off,” Ploof says. “I am hopeful that this critical roundtable discussion at TJS will give me other ideas on how to find and retain talented and reliable employees.”

For TJS participants like Ann Cahoon, a potential solution lies in developing rather than hiring the right hands-on team. Cahoon is the director of manufacturing and repair at Long’s Jewelers in Burlington, Mass.

“Examining training and education in the industry as an ongoing, broad conversation is crucial for our shared success,” Cahoon says. “While finding bench jewelers and watch technicians is a pressing challenge for many of us, CAD designers, gemologists, and repair intake specialists can also be difficult to find. Even seasoned, effective teams and stores will face this challenge as experienced workers reach retirement age.

“We need to think collectively and creatively, and take a long view as we cultivate talent, especially before a huge source of our collective knowledge leaves the industry as they retire,” Cahoon adds. “I’m particularly excited to dig into this issue during the TJS roundtable event. I’m learning from our successes and failures in this area of the business every day, and I think that an open and honest exchange will help all who share this challenge.”

Now in its third 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 had hoped for, Drogs says.

Top: At the 2024 Jewelry Symposium, Legor associates Marisol Jiménez of Mexico and Andrea Friso of Italy received an award for sponsoring the event (photo courtesy of The Jewelry Symposium).