William Travis Jewelry

Sep 11

In their own words

“I’m a fifth-generation metalsmith. I have six siblings—my brothers are all metalsmiths, and my sisters married metalsmiths. We don’t just make jewelry, we entertain you. We have a full 12-foot bar. People come in, and they’re able to sit at the bar and talk about jewelry. We give tours all the time. You can see everything being done; you can see us building on the CAD machine—forging metal, casting, and all of this is happening behind glass, open for you to come and see.”

-Travis Kukovich

Jason’s Interview with Travis

Jason

Today we're talking to Travis from William Travis Jewelry. Rumor has it you’re fifth-generation jewelry industry. That's incredible.

Travis

Correct. I'm a fifth-generation metalsmith. Not just jewelry. Many years ago, 250 years ago, your local jeweler didn't just make jewelry. He made your candelabra, he made your wall sconce, he made your sword—anything. My grandfather used to say, "Anything that would fit in your arms." We still do that to this day. Tiffany & Co. made five Civil War officer swords for the North and they were all lost to history. One was recently discovered, broken, and they searched around for who could fix it in the world. There's a guy in Germany and us, and we ended up getting the job. We do all sorts of things. Mainly jewelry, but I've been working on cuckoo clocks from the 1700s, swords, candelabras, and all sorts of things my whole life.

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Jason
Tell us some of the fun ones, and how things were passed down generationally to you.

Travis
My family were Russian Polish Jews, immigrated here in 1943-ish. Came in through New Orleans. Everyone thinks that all immigrants come in through Ellis Island, which is not true. They come in from all over the East Coast. There was really no work for metalsmiths at that time, just after the war. They settled in Kansas City, where they were hand-forging drill bits and doing ornamental iron, very little jewelry work at the time. Our industry had taken a dive, so they were doing other things at that time, but they've been metalsmithing consistently. I'm one of seven. I have six siblings. All my brothers are metalsmiths and my sisters married metalsmiths. We talk a lot about metalsmithing.

Jason
Which family members work with you now?

Travis
I don't have any of them here in my store now except my fourteen-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter. They both work here at the store. I think it's important to get them started at a young age and keep them in the industry. They work here with me on the weekends. They love it. Family business is dying off in the world, not just in America, and it's a unique and beautiful thing. I cherish it very much.

Jason
Tell us about the store. Travis: I started William Travis Jewelry out of my garage. Making jewelry, saving up my money. I was doing some trade work to get it off the ground, to get my personal store going. My first store was 700 square feet. I outgrew that within six months and started building another store. I'm currently on my seventh store. This is my biggest store, about 4,500 square foot and almost half of that is dedicated to metalsmithing. I used to hide the shop in the back. Over time, being here in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, the Research Triangle, I had a client of mine, the Goodnight family, who owns SAS Institute. SAS was voted one of the best places to work in the world. I took a page out of Mr. Goodnight's book, he sat down and helped me, and I built a store that is made to entertain. We have a full bar here. People come in, they're able to sit, talk about jewelry, talk about what we're doing. The CAD area's right there. We give tours all the time. You can see everything being done. You can see us building on the CAD machine—we're forging metal, casting, and open for you to walk back and see. People come here because of the experience. When we design a piece for you, you're invited in when the CAD's done to see your wax being milled, grown, or hand-carved.

We're always doing something interesting. We have eighteen Spectrum Awards, which means we're always trying to be cutting edge.

Jason
In terms of other jewelry stores around the area, is that how you differentiate yourself?

Travis
When I moved into this last location, there were two other stores about my size here and they have since gone out of business. They weren't really doing anything custom.

Jason
People trust you. Tell us some core values.

Travis
Everybody does everything, including interacting with the clients. I know it's cliche. Everyone says, "Oh, we're a real family." But we really are. People like to see that. They'd like to see somebody get up from a bench and come help them. They feel closer to it. They understand it more, and they can see it happening. Different clients like different personalities. I happen to have a big personality. I have some people who work for me who have not such big personalities. We try to match the employee to the client.

Jason
When you look into the future, say five years from now, where do you think you’re going to be?

Travis
We think the future is going to be more customization. We think that customers want to be more involved. We're already doing a lot of stone cutting in-house, we would like to even do more of that. We believe in the experience and we know through studies that the generation coming up really values an experience.

We're going to be around forever. We're going to take care of you.

Jason
With that being said, why do you think people trust you?

Travis
I just think I'm genuine. They don't see a salesman in me. I think they see someone who's really excited about what they're doing. People can tell that I love what I do. And I think that is why they trust us.

Jason
When it comes to pricing, where do you think you stack up?

Travis
As my grandmother would say, "It's from soup to nuts." Our product starts at $20 and goes up to $200,000. The same person who might come in and buy his wife a $20,000 sapphire ring, might also want to get a pair of $20 earrings for his niece. And you don't want to send that person to someone else. You always want to take care of them. It's nice to have inexpensive, unique products, so we focus on that big time. So having something unique in every price range matters, and people like to make a little purchase here, something that makes them feel good, you know?

Jason
Are there certain designers that you like?

Travis
We do a lot of modifications for our lower end. Oftentimes, we will buy part of a silver line or a large antique collection, and we'll dismantle, adjust, and remake so that it has that William Travis feel. Ed Levin, perfect example. We buy a lot of Ed Levin pieces and then take them apart, dismantle, put them back together in different ways, and sell them in a lower price range.

Jason
Tell us some of the nonprofit organizations that you've been able to support?

Travis
We try to do as much as we can. I'm a big believer that little things matter. I fix eyeglass frames with our laser welder for every school in our community. We don't advertise it. If a kid breaks his eyeglasses on the playground, they bring them to me. I fix them that day. If I can't fix it, I buy the kid a new pair.

We also do it for the Women's Shelter and the Rape Crisis Center.

We don't talk about all that. Sometimes it's better to just do things. I had breast cancer when I was twenty-six and survived that as a man. I do a lot of breast cancer charities. We do a charity for the blind. I purchased a braille smartwatch and took it to the event. I got fifteen people to commit to buying these watches. We're giving them to the kids for Christmas. The people who purchased the watches will get a text or phone call from the child who received a watch.

Jason
Tell us about some of the awards your family is most proud of.

Travis
My Spectrum Awards. I have eighteen which I believe is the second most that anyone's ever won. I have some De Beers Shines. I like the Spectrum Awards because it's colored gemstones and I have a passion for colored stones. I love to design with color—sapphires, and corundum in particular. I'm most proud of that. I'm most proud of the awards that I've won with the least expensive pieces.

Jason
This is your time to talk about whatever you’d like to Meet the Jewelers.

Travis
I would go back to the service and why people trust us. Be genuine. Just be who you are. It's not brain surgery. I do what I say I'm gonna do, I do it on time, and I do it for a fair price.