Sunday, March 18, 2012

Vintage Kim Craftsmen: Collector's Information


Founded by Carl and Marty Schimel in the 1950s, Kim Craftsmen was a household name for affordable and stylish jewelry. When the Schimel's started the company in 1950, they were doing wholesale jewelry in New York City. The brothers started under the name C & M Jewelry, and purchased finished goods from manufacturers to be resold to retailers. As C & M Jewelry gained accounts and clients, its resale product line expanded accordingly. Carl and Marty Schimel took naturally to the jewelry business and their wholesaling enterprise flourished in its infancy.



It didn’t take long, however, for the Schimel brothers to discover they should forge their own path. In light of increased markups and dwindling profits, they realized their role as a wholesaler was constantly shortchanged by the industry and felt the crunch on both sides. Their business instinct and artistic nature led them to venture from wholesaling to manufacturing their own line of jewelry.



Learning the nature of the jewelry trade firsthand, they began their manufacturing endeavor with confidence. The brothers acquired metals and findings to work with, good quantities of copper in particular, which was proving popular during the 1950s. They used raw copper, hammering and manipulating it into pieces like twisted upper arm bracelets and rings, abstract shaped pins, and articulated necklaces.

Unmarked, 14k Gold plated upper arm bracelet by Vintage Kim Craftsmen 1970s.
The trade name C & M Jewelry changed to Kim Copper in 1952. "Kim," the brothers felt, was a simple, feminine name, outlining exactly what they sought to achieve in the young women’s jewelry market. Around 1958, when the company expanded into materials beyond copper, the Schimels' started a second line called Kim Craftsmen.


The Schimel brothers were mass producing their designs and they used their own platers, hammerers, and solderers in the assembly process. They methodically trained all of their employees, and quality remained extremely important to them. Every piece was carefully checked before it was released to the market, and there was always an unconditional guarantee – any Kim piece could be returned at any time, for any reason. Customers could confidently buy Kim jewelry.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...