private founded kerrville texas united states 1954 1954 founder james avery website http www.jamesavery.com james avery craftsman is a private company that designs manufactures and sells jewelry primarily christian themed . the founder james avery 1 started the business in 1954 in kerrville texas out of his then mother in law s 2 two car garage with about 250 in capital . 3 in 1954 james avery built a workbench and fashioned a sign to hang on the garage ; it read james avery craftsman and featured a candelabra logo . the business has grown to about 50 of its own stores in colorado georgia louisiana oklahoma tennessee north carolina missouri kansas arkansas alabama and texas . the company has five manufacturing plants in hondo fredericksburg kerrville and two in comfort texas . 4 the james avery jewelry collection carries 1 100 designs and 14 000 pieces made in sterling silver 14 18 karat yellow and white gold and gemstones . history edit in the first year of business avery sold 5 500 worth of jewelry and 7 500 the following year . he eventually moved his business to a studio he built in his house close by . by 1957 avery created his first catalog consisting of 16 pages and 39 items for sale . also that year he hired his first employee fred garcia . the business continued to spread throughout the state of texas with items being sold in clothing boutiques and church gift shops . by 1965 the jewelry store was incorporated into james avery craftsman inc. and soon after in 1967 avery bought 20 acres 81 000 m2 of land where the corporate headquarters would soon stand . by the 1970s the company employed 35 people and generated 400 000 in sales . avery s jewelry became very popular in camps in the texas hill country and still is today . in 1971 chuck wolfmueller a student at the university of texas working on a master s degree in business was hired to help grow the business . wolfmueller initiated a number of changes and the business saw a 40 percent increase in his first year of employment . 5 in 1988 james avery was named san antonio entrepreneur of the year . 6 later in 2007 avery was replaced as ceo by his son chris . the first retail store was established in kerrville tx in 1973 . citation needed references edit james avery enters colorado market san antonio business journal july 22 2005 retrieved march 7 2010 personal communication thiruvengadam meena 10 june 2005 . craftsman finds his calling in making religious symbols . san antonio express news via highbeam research subscription required . retrieved 5 december 2012 . thomas mike w november 26 2012 . james avery announces two new texas store openings . san antonio business journal . retrieved 6 december 2012 . rubin dana january 1991 . god s jeweller . texas monthly . pp. 86 111 . retrieved 5 december 2012 . about the business . james avery craftsman . retrieved 19 february 2013 . external links edit official website harris joyce 6 september 2000 . craftsman s drive for perfection is burnished by faith and failings . dallas morning news via highbeam research subscription required . retrieved 5 december 2012 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title james avery craftsman & oldid 744049636 categories american jewelry designershidden categories subscription required using viapages containing links to subscription only contentall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 20 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view