OSCAR HEYMAN & BROS. (1912 - present)
Image courtesy of Oscar Heyman American jeweler and manufacturer that first gained attention in the 1920’s. In 1906, Oscar and Nathan Heyman immigrated to the United States from Latvia.
[1] Thanks to an apprenticeship at their uncle’s
Fabergé workshop, they arrived with a skill that made them instantly employable: they could work with platinum, a metal relatively new at the time. Oscar was hired at
Cartier’s first New York workshop at 712 Fifth Avenue; he was the first non-French bench jeweler hired.
[2] When the whole family moved to New York in 1912, the brothers opened a workshop of their own:
Oscar Heyman & Bros. Since then, the firm has been a self-proclaimed jeweler’s jeweler, producing pieces for, among others,
Cartier,
Van Cleef & Arpels,
J.E. Caldwell, and
Shreve, Crump, & Low. It also retails some of its own merchandise. The firm's reputation for craftsmanship is unsurpassed.
Heyman was reputedly the first American firm to master the invisible setting introduced to the United States by
Van Cleef & Arpels in 1936.
[3] Known for their floral-motif pieces, the firm won gold medals at New York’s World Fair in 1949 for a collection of orchid, pansy, and gardenia brooches.
[4] It also has been entrusted with important commissions. In 1969,
Oscar Heyman was asked by
Cartier to design and produce a setting for the
Taylor-Burton diamond, a task that the firm successfully completed with great fanfare. Today
Heyman continues to produce lovely pieces, specializing in platinum jewelry with
diamonds,
sapphires,
emeralds, and
rubies. The workshop creates their own tools, and the firm holds various patents for manufacturing techniques. The third generation of
Heyman family members now run the business.
Notes
- ↑ Healy & Proddow, 69.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid., 144. Date of the introduction is contested. See Van Cleef & Arpels.
- ↑ See website: http://www.oscarheyman.com/media.html. Page five of Vox article.
Sources Consulted
- Proddow, Penny & Debra Healy. American Jewelry: Glamour & Tradition. New York: Rizzoli, 1987
- The Oscar Heyman and Brothers website: www.oscarheyman.com
- This website features several articles containing information about the firm’s history. A
- commemorative book is planned for 2012.
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