Sharron, When I first got the formula for Cupronil from Lawrence
Saufkie we decided to form a corporation. What would we call
ourselves? Lawrence seemed to be very secretive with his solution.
Whenever anyone would ask him what he was painting on the silver he
would change the subject. My partners and I started thinking. What
are we making? A silver solution. Where did we get the formula?
From Saufkie. And it seemed to be a secret. Well, how about S
aufkie’s Secret Silver Solution. That’s how we came up with the
name Four S Laboratories… Very scientific.
I have noticed over the past few years the wonderful variety
of names of the companies and businesses which you all have thought
up and have been using to show your work to the outside world
(read: public) (and on your web sites.) It would be very interesting
to me, and hopefully to others to hear how and better yet why you
chose this particular name.
Here’s my story. I’m very attached to my business name and the logo
I’ve chosen for it; for those who know me it tells a lot about me
personally. For those who don’t know me, I get a lot of weird looks
and “Huh?”'s and mis-spelled mail. This is what I have on my
website for the curious who want to know where the weird name came
from:
Feathered Gems started out in the late 1980’s as an aviary. I bred
and hand-raised cockatiels, jenday conures and cherry-headed conures.
The beauty of the birds led me to take up doing stained glass and
fused glass, to try to capture the gorgeous colors of the parrots’
feathers in glass. Doing glass work led me back to my lifelong hobby
of bead work, and from there jewelry making just took over much of my
life. At first, Feathered Gems only made parrot-themed jewelry, which
I sold at bird fairs and bird shows. My original logo for the aviary,
which was later used as the first logo for the jewelry business, was
an outline of a stained glass parrot that I drew years ago.
But then we adopted our first retired racing greyhound, I became
hooked on greyhounds as pets, and I began working greyhounds into my
jewelry designs. I needed a new logo that somehow depicted both birds
and greyhounds. When I first saw the antique woodcut of the winged
greyhound that eventually became “Caelestis”, I knew I’d found the
perfect logo for Feathered Gems Jewelry.
Ok, I’ll jump in here too. The name I gave my musical theme jewelry
business and website is Stringfields. I design jewelry for the
string instrument player (violin,viola,cello, bass). That’s where
the String part comes from. I live in Iowa surrounded by corn and
soybean fields and grew up on a farm and that’s were the fields part
comes form. Stringfields. Also I hope my business continues to grow. Annette
My business is “The Knight ‘N’ Gail” It has several meanings; my
favorite childhood story is The Nightingale; I have always admired
Florence Nightingale, and the Knight is my husband (we are a
partnership and he is my knight in shining armor) and my middle name
is Gail (for my grandmother on mom’s side)
Howdy: Let me jump in on this too- When I was in my late twenties, I
was in an accident and needed to get braces on my teeth. Well,
friends, coworkers and family started teasing me with Metal Mouth
jokes and eventually I was nicknamed “dedemetal” (my name is dede)
hence the name of my Jewelry Line later: dedemetal jewelry. When I
opened up a shop that features my work and the work of others I was
having a really really hard time coming up with a name- so I decided
on FIVE ONE SEVEN- named after the number of my building where the
shop is located: 517 East 12th Street…
I love these stories- I can not wait to hear more from the rest of
the gang
Many years ago when it was time to ‘become and organization’ I faced
the not uncommon dilemma of coming up with a name. In a flash of
brilliance, I thought of my middle name (Charles - which I almost
never use and no one knows about) and my wife’s middle name (Belle -
a beautiful Italian name that has been in her family for many years)
and simply put the two together. Charles Belle, has a sort of nice
RING to it eh?
Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where simple
elegance IS fine jewelry! @coralnut1
For ten years, my business has been called Full Moon Gems. It was
especially appropriate when I was working only in silver, to have a
big silvery moon as a logo. I was always surprised when people
snickered at the company name (usually at mall shows, rather than
gem and jewelry shows).
This year, I’m dropping the company name and will do business under
my name, instead. This was suggested by my friend, gem carver,
Thomas Harth Ames. I think he’s right when he says that no one needs
to know my company name. They need to know MY name.
Hi gang, I came about my business’ name in an interesting way, too.
About six years ago, after the effects of a divorce and a robbery
had closed the lid on my old lapidary-to-the-trade business, I was
having lunch with my father, telling him how utterly lost I was
feeling, at the time. After a few minutes, he reached across the
table, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, “I know it all looks
pretty gloomy right now, but I have alot of faith in your
creativity. In time, I’m sure you’ll come up with yet another one of
those bright ideas of yours, and you’ll get back up and running,
just like you always have. Just you wait and see!”
As such, my company’s name is both a tribute to Dad and a reminder
that there’s always a silver lining, no matter how grim things may
seem. And, as it turns out, it has the additional benefit of being a
name that makes most who hear it smile!
23 years ago after returning from 2 years in South America on my
Beemer I started doing the gem and mineral business. I too had to
come up with an interesting descriptive catchy name. At this time I
was selling cut stones and rough gem materials from Brazil and
Mexico. All at once it dawned on me while driving my car. ( I still
remember the exact spot on the road where I thought of it.)
“Rough and Ready Gems” \
It was catchy, descriptive and has always seemed to fit my
character.
We are currently establishing a second company for a newly-developing
line of fused glass and metal. In dreaming up a name, I kept
remembering one of my most memorable art moments as a teen. I was on
a field trip to Florence, Italy and was totally enthralled by the
baptistry doors at the Florence Cathedral made by Lorenzo Ghiberti.
So I decided Ghiberti Art Glass & Metal would be perfect. It’s so
impressive and romantic sounding, I might even consider changing my
name to Daniele Ghiberti. Gives me goosebumps! And just so you know
we’re not too uppity and have a sense of humor… notice the
initials which were also carefully thought out. G.A.G.M. Heehee.
My husband had a hobby of brewing his own beer a few years ago (at
the time when a lot of little microbrews were popping up across the
country). We were sitting around one evening trying to come up with
clever names for his beer brand. “One-Eyed Collie” was the winner
that evening, named after our collie, Sadie, who in fact is blind in
one eye. He never did brew enough beer or use the name - so when I
decided to start my jewelry business I told him it was mine! So,
“One-Eyed Collie Jewelry Design” was born… If he ever does decide to
brew beer (or start a business of his own), “One-Eyed Collie
Enterprises” will be the parent company!
Annette