Askew Jewelers Owner Dave Askew is our featured St. Cloud FL Business Spotlight this month. Jeanine Corcoran broker for Corcoran Connect interviews Dave Askew in this month’s episode. Welcome to the 40th episode of Discover St. Cloud Florida.
Kristin asked Jeanine which local business owner in Saint Cloud FL she spoke with for this month’s featured business spotlight and Jeanine said it is Dave Askew owner of Askew Jewelers.
Jeanine started by asking Dave how long he has lived in Saint Cloud and how long has Askew Jewelers been in business? Dave replied that he moved to Florida in 1988 and then to Saint Cloud in 2005. He said he opened the jewelry store in March 2009.
Jeanine then followed up and asked Dave how he got started in the jewelry business? Dave said he was running the Indianapolis Zoo as Director of Park Operations. He was there on a two-year contract and had another child and to him, family is more important, so he became a Mr. Mom. He raised his 3 kids with his wife.
Dave said his wife’s family owns a jewelry store called Settle Jewelry in Bloomington Indiana. He said he started to poke around in their store and the next thing you know he found himself polishing rings and sizing rings and learning to do various things in the store.
Jeanine said so you become an apprentice. Dave replied that he did become an apprentice for 3 years under a woman named Joan Howell who was a bench jeweler which was very rare. He learned a lot from working with her in the jewelry business.
Jeanine asked Dave to explain the Askew Jewelry special process. Dave said they are a jewelry store, and they sell a lot of jewelry. They have premade stuff, and they also make custom jewelry. The people who purchase custom jewelry don’t really understand so that’s why he was explaining the process to Jeanine.
Dave gave an example of the custom process, somebody brings in a stone and they want something special to be made with it. Dave said a person brought in a stone, it was their grandmother’s and they wanted a cross made with it. He designed the look on the computer, and we put a bunch of diamonds with it once the customer approves that look Dave prints a wax example of the piece.
He then covered the process of how the piece is made starting with the wax and going through the heating process and finally with the injection of gold, silver, platinum, or whatever the customer had chosen. It is quite amazing.
We hope you enjoyed Jeanine interviewing Askew Jewelers owner Dave Askew as our featured St. Cloud FL Business Spotlight this month. This will continue to be a monthly focus for local business owners in Saint Cloud Florida on our podcast. You can visit their website to see all that they offer, the link is below.
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