Thirty-five-year-old Chance Carpenter represents the next generation of goldsmiths at Hawai’i Island’s Big Island Jewelers. Situated in a prime waterfront location in the heart of Kailua-Kona, Big Island Jewelers celebrates 40 years of continuous family-owned operation in the same location this year.
Founded by his uncle Flint Carpenter, master goldsmith, and his father Gale Carpenter, business and marketing pro, in 1983, Big Island Jewelers specializes in one-of-a-kind, impeccably crafted pieces set with fine gemstones, all created on-site.
“It wasn’t until they were contacted by someone interested in purchasing the business several years ago that they really started to think about what retirement and succession looked like,” Chance says.
With a reputation built on centuries of jewelry-making traditions, defined by labor-intensive imaginative work, the duo was committed to ensuring that bespoke philosophy continued. The future they imagined would never include machine-made jewelry, collections or wholesale items.
Ultimately, they determined tapping another family member to take over the business was the right way to ensure that, and so the search was on. Flint’s grown children had no interest in taking over the store, older cousins – the offspring of Gale and Flint’s siblings – live on the mainland and never were involved with the jewelry store. Chance, Gale’s only child, became the obvious choice as put forward by friends and family. However, there was one challenge, Chance was busy, completely committed to his own career pursuits on Oahu. He had successfully launched two start-ups there, a boutique advertising and marketing agency, Silhouette, and a surf culture magazine, Trim.
After much thought, consideration and lengthy discussions with his father, Chance made the move from Honolulu back to Hawai’i Island in 2015 and began his four-year apprenticeship with Uncle Flint.
“I was so honored and humbled to be offered the opportunity to carry on their legacy,” Chance says.
The transition was easy, he says, having always been inspired by design and the creative process. In fact, prior to becoming an entrepreneur with his creative agency and as co-founder of the surf publication he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture from the University of Hawai’i, Manoa. Following an internship after graduation, he discovered it wasn’t the career for him after all. Taking his family up on the opportunity offered, Chance worked at his Uncle’s side 70-80 hours per week for four years as he mastered the craft, developing a style of his own.
“Our designs are really completely different, Flint’s are much more organic and bold typically showcasing big stones, while I use smaller stones in a more elaborate, intricate style,” Chance says.
During his apprenticeship, Chance spent two weeks in Australia immersed in an intense, 10-hour-a-day training program devoted to pavé stone setting – a highly technical skill.
“The experience absolutely changed my life! It was a breakthrough for my design aesthetic,” he says. Today he incorporates pavé settings in many of his pieces.
According to Chance, his goal is to create meaningful expressions of elegance, continuing the traditions his Uncle and craftsman around the world have perfected since the beginning of civilization.
Since taking over the reins as the owner of Big Island Jewelers with his wife Tammie in 2019, he also has applied much of his prior experience to the job, including marketing, branding, graphic design, photography and a keen business sense. Today, he focuses on creating while Tammie handles the business side of the operation.
While a large part of the business has always been custom commissions for local, national and international clients, it has grown from two to four commissions a month to about 19 a month with average price tags ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 per piece.
“For these clients, who are primarily part-time Hawai’i Island residents, being part of the process, collaborating with the maker to create the final product is extremely important,” Chance says. “For us, being part of the Big Island community and having the opportunity to give back through support of local charities is a critically important part of what we do now and in the future.”
For more details, visit BigIslandJewelers.com.
“Being part of the Big Island Community and having the opportunity to give back is hugely important to us, just as carrying on Big Island Jewelers legacy is.”
