Where To Buy Yvel Jewelry
The art of designing jewelry is inspired by many emotions. Throughout history jewelry creations have been known as a means to express commitment & loyalty, commemorate lost loved ones, celebrate life achievements and glorify the beauty of gems. In these days of mass production, model makers and master jewelers are rare.
where to buy yvel jewelry
We at Yvel believe that each creation is a master piece and deserve to be taken care of only by skilled jewelers. Using tools that are manually controlled we transform gold and gemstones into wearable works of art. Each piece of jewelry is born from the inspiration of our designers. Like any great work of art, the journey of creation varies from piece to piece.
Each design is a song written from the heart. Some are created in just a few hours while others take a few years to bring from the realm of our imagination to reality. We invite you to join us and explore our jewelry making process combining traditional techniques like wax carving, soldering, welding, crafting, gem setting and polishing among new ones like CAD jewelry design and lasers.
More than 90% of its employees are Jewish immigrants. The Megemeria School of Jewelry and Art, established by the Levys in 2010, employs Ethiopian Jews, gives them a stipend and trains them in jewelry design and goldsmithing, but also in Hebrew and everyday-life skills to help them integrate into the Israeli society.[3]
Orna Levy (née Eliav) is a great-granddaughter of Shlomo Moussaieff, a rabbi and pearl merchant from Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan) who migrated to Jerusalem in the late nineteenth century and founded its Bukharim neighborhood. His sons became international traders in pearls and precious stones. Orna's mother Hannah, the eldest of 12 children, owned and operated a jewelry store in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem for 40 years.[6]
Isaac Levy's father, a passionate Zionist, moved to Israel from Argentina in 1963, when Isaac was a child. The family was poor, did not speak Hebrew and was new to the local culture. The memories of the family's hardships later motivated Isaac to create Megemeria. His father co-founded a sausage factory, but his partners stole the company's funds and fled, leaving him broke. Five-year-old Isaac vowed to recover the factory land. Today, it is the land where the Yvel Design Center stands.[1]
Since South Sea pearls were beyond their budget, the Levys started stringing freshwater pearls with gold beads and semiprecious stones such as lapis lazuli, coral, onyx and turquoise. They worked on the porch of their apartment in Jerusalem and started by selling their designs to the Padani jewelry company in Tel Aviv. In 1991, the company's name was changed to YVEL ("Levy" spelled backwards).[2][6]
In the 1990s and 2000s, the company spread its business across the world and attracted attention when celebrities started wearing its jewelry. In 2010, the Levys moved the company from the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot to their newly constructed headquarters: the Yvel Design Center.[2]
The Yvel jewelry design center and production factory stand on the slopes of the Judean Hills just outside Motza, along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. The 4,645 square metres (50,000 sq ft) complex houses a visitors' center with a 3D movie theater, where short films showing the company's history and mission are shown for jewelry shoppers, guests and visiting tour groups.[1]
The free 12-month course includes a seven-month introduction to the elements of jewelry making, including gem setting and the design process. The course is designed to enable the participants to undertake the five-month jewelry accreditation course of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. At the same time, they attend Hebrew, family budget management, mathematics and Israeli culture courses to help them become socially involved citizens. Mentors are chosen among the Yvel workers and Megemeria graduates. The participants receive a stipend equal to the Israeli minimum wage.[7]
Since most of the students have never received formal education and are living below the poverty line,[8] the courses are critical for their integration and employment.[6] Graduates can choose whether they want to join Yvel, stay at Megemeria and help it become a self-sustained business, or seek work elsewhere as goldsmiths, pearl sorters or diamond setters.[9]
The Megemeria jewelry collection represents the students' heritage and culture, as the designs incorporate inscriptions in their native Amharic. All profits generated by sales are put into a separate company, run by the graduates themselves, to help fund the salaries and running costs of the school.[1]
Yvel specializes in baroque pearls, which instead of being perfectly round and white, appear as they come from nature.[8] Isaac Levy described their method: "Most jewelry designers will design a piece of jewelry, then look for the pearl or stone. We first look for the pearl and create the jewelry around it. We let nature be the center of our design, to be enhanced with gold and diamonds." Orna Levy said, "We are not known for round pearl necklaces. Isaac and I go to pearl farms and auctions to buy pearls. We look for the striking color and shapes."[2]
Yvel has more than a dozen gemstone collections including the Biwa, Golden Brown, Rainbow and One of a Kind.[12] Their gold is not shiny but satin finish, evoking the desert that makes up most of Israel. The prices of Yvel's jewelry range from a thousand to millions of dollars.[2]
In 2005, a brooch made of keshi pearl blossoms and white diamonds coming out of an elongated stem won for Yvel the Town & Country Couture Design Award for "Best in Pearl Design". The company has been awarded six "Best in Pearl Design" awards, which are considered the Oscars of the jewelry industry.[13][2]
Israeli-born Orna Levy grew up in a well-known Bukharian family in the jewelry business. Her mother had the jewelry store in the King David Hotel. After the army, she met Isaac Levy, whose family had immigrated from Argentina when he was a toddler, and they decided to make pearl necklaces to sell. They took an office, and the manufacturing business grew. They moved to the Talpiot neighborhood in the south of the city before, in 2009, finding a unique building that had been an inn for travelers, then the home of a family and then a winery, in Ramat Motza, a suburb of Jerusalem. They renovated all but the winery part and established the Yvel factory.
Knowing the difficulties of being an immigrant, in 2010, Orna and Isaac created the Megemeria School of Jewelry and Art (megemeria means Genesis in the Ethiopian language of Amharic). The school, founded in September 2010, offers a program to 21 Ethiopian students each year, over the age of 35, to learn jewelry design, setting and manufacture, using Ethiopian motifs. Classes in Hebrew and math, a monthly stipend and employment opportunities after graduating the program are part of the program.
The 20-minute tour provides a glimpse into the factory, divided by stations. Approximately 90% of the workers are immigrants. Among the departments are: design, sorting of pearls and gems, cleaning, goldsmiths, masters and quality control. The showroom represents the Yvel and Ethiopian student Megemeria jewelry.
Off the showroom, in a stone-walled building with wood floors and arched ceilings, is a display room of the high-end jewelry. VIP rooms and the wine cellar are also in this building. Wine barrels can be seen through the glass floor; a wood bar has glasses hanging above; a barman offers 14 different wines from the Judean Heights for tasting and buying.
The Yvel Jewelry Factory and Visitors Center is a great place to visit to learn about jewelry making with pearls & precious stones. In addition to the jewelry factory there is also a jewelry school for Ethiopian immigrants.
A factory tour lasts for 1.5 hours. Watch a video about jewelry making and pearls, and walk by the artists as they work. You will be introduced to the Megemaria Program and the Ethiopian immigrants who are learning the trade of jewelry making, and then you will be allowed to roam the factory store.
Yvel is also a beautiful and classy venue for a party. The factory store, as well as a covered outdoor area provide an ideal settings for an intimate dinner or a cocktail party. Ask YVEL about their jewelry workshops for parties and the wine tasting tours.
This is a great activity to do with your teenagers or even just on your own. The Yvel Jewelry factory is a beautiful building with unique jewelry and a very customer service oriented staff. I enjoyed getting my engagement ring cleaned while I looked around the factory store.
As a Paris-based editorial consultant and translator, I have spent my career strategizing and creating content for organizations ranging from start-ups to multinationals. Ex-Condé Nast, I now help luxury brands define their positioning through editorial, and write about lifestyle and culture for international media titles, with a particular interest in independent jewelry design and diversity in the jewelry industry.
We purchase precious metals, diamonds, coins, estate jewelry, and even dental gold. Let us evaluate your items while you wait; get paid on the spot, or use the value toward a new purchase and get 20% more for your trade!
Michael Agnello is an award winning jewelry designer and would love to customize a piece just for you. Whether re-working an inherited piece of jewelry, creating a wedding band to compliment an existing engagement ring, or commissioning Michael to create a one-of-a-kind treasure, let Michael Agnello Jewelers bring your idea to life. 041b061a72