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Vol. LXV, No. 27
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
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Vol. LXV, No. 27
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
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 WEARABLE ART: “We offer a unique product, and we accommodate customers who are trying to find something new — things no one else has. We design nearly everything in the store ourselves, and it is really wearable art.” John Miller, jewelry designer and lapidary, and owner of Tomorrow’s Heirlooms, is proud to be celebrating 30 years in the jewelry business. |
John Miller loves what he does. A jewelry designer, lapidary (stone cutter), and gold- and silversmith, he creates unique, one-of-a-kind pieces from rocks, often millions of years old.
“I love what I do. The stones are so beautiful, and they have an energy,” says Mr. Miller. “My business is a business of love. My staff loves it too. I have two apprentices, who design, and they have been with me a long time. My wife is also a jewelry designer.”
Mr. Miller opened Tomorrow’s Heirlooms at 2 Chambers Street with his wife seven years ago. His love of jewelry design began many years before, however. As a boy in Illinois, he began to design wire-wrap pendants to earn extra money.
“I’m good with my hands — I have always worked with my hands,” he notes. “I grew up on a farm, and my dad was a wood-carver, and my mother was a cabinet-maker. My father-in-law was a stone cutter, and I learned from him.”
Jewelry Shows
After a tour in the Marine Corps, Mr. Miller came to New Jersey, where he met and married Peggy Milstein, when both were executives at McGraw Hill. They discovered their mutual love of jewelry design and began to have jewelry shows at shopping malls and corporate centers.
“We started doing arts and crafts shows, and our first was at a mall in Delaware,” says Mr. Miller. “Eventually, we traveled up and down the East Coast, from New England to Delaware. We developed a great following. People came from Boston, New York, Long Island, and Connecticut.”
Collecting rocks and gemstones became a passion, and tired of the corporate world, the Millers opened jewelry locations at Bridgewater Mall and The MarketFair in 1981. Their work became increasingly popular with customers, many of whom became regulars, and who often asked for custom designs.
Opening the store in Princeton seven years ago has given the Millers a permanent location to display their beautiful creations, which also include Mr. Miller’s carved stone animals.
Unique Craftsmanship
“We set up the store like a museum,” he explains. “Jewelry, rock and crystal specimens, carvings, bookends, rock lamps, etc. are all on display. You can come in and spend three hours looking, then come back the next day and swear there is a whole new addition to the selection. There are so many things to to see.”
What customers find so appealing about the jewelry at Tomorrow’s Heirlooms is the unique craftsmanship and unusual stones. “They are semi-precious stones, but there are several plateaus of value,” explains Mr. Miller. “We have 200 different stones available, including a lot of exotic stones, such as sugalite, rhodochrosite, and Labradorite. Then there is the classic lapis, amethyst, jade, and opal, and each is unique.”
Mr. Miller travels to South America, especially Brazil, to find stones, and also to Tucson, Arizona for quartzite.
“People ask ‘what is different about your store?’” points out Mr. Miller. “It is the quality of the stones. If it is not good quality, I don’t cut it. We specialize in having the best quality. And, everything is one-of-a-kind. Every piece is built from scratch.”
Mr. Miller’s respect for quality is reflected in the variety of pieces he creates, including earrings, pendants, necklaces, bracelets, and pins.
“One of my specialties is to bond two stones together,” he explains. “For example, rutilated quartz with gold fibers inside, bonded to lapis, which causes the rutilated fibers to stand out. Another example are tourmaline quartz and copper rutilated quartz, which can also be bonded.”
Picture Stones
Other stones he enjoys working with include Montana agate, tri-color tiger eye (very popular with Princeton University alumni), blue goldstone (strikingly beautiful, with tiny sparkles in the dark blue stone resembling a starry night!), and sun/moon stone, which sparkles and glows at the same time.
These amazing variations — almost transfigurations — of the stone result after the stone has been cut and polished, explains Mr. Miller. “I learned to cut in a certain way, and when the stone is cut and polished, the light is refracted differently. I especially love the picture stones, such as Petersite feldspar, which is almost like a hologram. You can see different images in them, including a landscape or waterscape when the stone is turned to a different angle.”
Tomorrow’s Heirlooms also features a wonderful selection of beads. Mr. Miller creates beautiful bead necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, including unique pieces made of the tiniest rubies and black diamonds.
His strong interest in geology and science is evident in the store, and he especially enjoys sharing information with school children. “Every kid who comes in receives a free rock, and they are also fascinated to see the fossilized bone from Tyrannosaurus Rex (found by Mr. Miller when he was 14 on a camping trip to California), and a hydro-thermal vent molten rock specimen from a mile deep in the ocean.
“I encourage teachers to bring classes here, and we’ll talk about rocks,” he says. “I love talking about rocks! People can look all they want here and also touch. They are welcome to pick up the rocks and examine them. This is a great place to get kids interested in nature.”
In addition to creating new pieces of jewelry, Mr. Miller redesigns and repairs jewelry. “ I enjoy redesigning family pieces, including one project in which I made earrings and cufflinks out of vintage fire department uniform buttons.”
Fine Reputation
He is proud of Tomorrow’s Heirlooms’ fine reputation and that he continues to have so many regular customers. “60 percent of the customers are repeat, and 40 percent are often word-of-mouth. I have customers from as far away as Toronto and San Diego.
“I remember about 30 years ago, a guy came in just before Christmas, and said, ‘I’ll take seven necklaces’. He needed them for his mother, wife, daughter, mother-in-law, sister, etc. I said, ‘Tell me about them, and I’ll help you choose something they would like.’ So, we settled on the necklaces, and they were a big hit. He called right before Valentine’s Day and wanted more. He’s from Seattle, and has come back a couple of times a year ever since, and has probably bought 500 necklaces over the years.”
There is a wide price range at the store, with rocks starting at $1 and jewelry going up into the thousands of dollars, and everything in between. “You can get a unique gift for someone hard to buy for at a reasonable price, such as earrings for $20,” says Mr. Miller. “You can get something spectacular for a lot more. There is something for everyone’s pocketbook.”
“My reward is how much people appreciate the beauty of what they find here. We are presenting nature’s beauty in a form people like and enjoy. And what I also like is that we are preserving for people a non-replenishable resource, something that took millions of years to create.
“I also enjoy the final piece when I am finished and see something I have never seen before. Sometimes, I can’t believe I made it!”
Tomorrow’s Heirlooms is open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (609) 921-9440. Website: www.tomor
rowsheirloomsnj.com.