Jason G
IT & Technology support
CAD Modeler, Gold and Platinum Smith, Gem Setter
As one of the most tenured jewelers at Green Lake, Jason has been mastering his art with this shop for a decade. Though having started out years ago as a student of architecture at Penn State, Jason quickly gained a passion for metal arts and design and ended up graduating with that as his focus. Despite his role as a talented metalsmith and jeweler, Jason has recently taken on many of Green Lake’s technical responsibilities, from industry-specific CAD programs to general IT necessities.
Jason’s career as a jeweler actually began back in high school when he saw a listing on a job fair board for a ring cutter, etching names into silver rings with a hand saw at local amusement park. It all seems like a far cry from the dazzling mastery that leaves his bench today, but jewelry represented something structural and tactile that interested him, and it seemed in line with classes in computer aided design (CAD) and architectural drafting that he was taking at the time.
At Penn State Jason continued taking drafting classes as part of his architecture major, but to fulfill electives he enrolled in metal arts and sculpture courses. These electives opened his mind to all sorts of different possibilities and he decided to change his focus to metal arts and design—an intensive studio program within the School of Visual Arts.
One of his instructors soon put him in touch with a local artisan goldsmith where he began a three-year apprenticeship. There Jason eventually became the head goldsmith and would design and fabricate jewelry during the week in preparation for weekend art and trade events along the East Coast.
In 2001, he decided to relocate to the West Coast where he’s been a bench jeweler with Green Lake ever since. In helping our shop grow, Jason’s acquired new skills himself and has branched out in directions he’d never thought possible: Working in platinum, gold, silver, titanium, and stainless steel; setting all types of stones; making jewelry starting from wax models and following them all the way through to final setting; maintaining various machinery; and consulting with other designers on what will technically work for different pieces. Currently, he’s adding Matrix CAD modeling and information technology support to his list of skills.