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Show Thursday. April 20, 2006 OREM GENEVA TIMES ticker WHO'S WHO AND Jim has got a gem of Melissa Mayntz NORTH COUNTY STAFF Jim Thome knows more about Utah rocks than most ' people, a feat that is all the more impressive because he is a full-time full-time respiratory therapist at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. He is also the sole proprietor pro-prietor of Jim's Gems & Jewelry and makes customized pendants, pen-dants, earrings, rings and other jewelry pieces for discerning customers. Thorne has been working with rocks and gems for 35 years, and finally turned his hobby into an official business in 1993 to help defer the cost of materiaLs and equipment for his home-based office of-fice and workshop. First fascinated by the pretty rocks he found on hikes, Thorne began grinding and shaping them with hand tools and gradually gradu-ally progressed to more sophisticated sophisti-cated cutting equipment. Today he is a self-taught silversmith and experienced lapidary. "It's almost becoming a lost art now," he said. Thorne specializes in opaLs but works with many different types of stones, including jade, topaz, agate, hematite, snow-flake snow-flake obsidian, geodes, fossiLs, garnet, aquamarine, pearls, corals cor-als and more. "I work with every type of stone imaginable," Thorne said. Thome prefers to purchase his materials directly from miners in order to select the best stones with minimal price markups. His stones come from around the world, including Sri Lanka, Thailand, Russia and Afghanistan. Afghani-stan. Thorne also works with a variety of native Utah rocks, including red beryl which can only be found in Utah. "There's a krt of really beautiful beauti-ful rock right here in Utah," he said. The uniqueness of Thome's designs de-signs do not always come from the variety of rock, however, but from the way he works with the stone's natural characteristics to create a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry. Whereas many jewelers rSTAftl ISHFD 1956 r f A ft '-X i7Wffltii:IMllMlll ffif$iAfragfr 50 YAWb Of VILLAGE OUILT KSHOP ' , --.ii,,iirM ' i Visit our NEW store in Draper Peaks! GAKDNf.H VILLAGE liOO Wen 7800 Souih W. j(,rln - Hoi rt(h,tHlj ll.ui. to u, 8 DKAJ'I R I'l-AKH UI7 Lal 1'4'iOO Souih "200 Urajjrr tioi'.fio Hour 10 u, H WHAT'S HAPPENING Orem resident Jim Thorne, of Jim's Gems and Jewelry, specializes in aquamarine crystal he is displaying. strive for perfection and flawless flaw-less stones, Thome often uses a stone's imperfections as characteristics charac-teristics rather than detriments. "My jewelry is designed to enhance the stone," he said. "They're not flaws, they're part of a personality just like a human." hu-man." Thome's biggest challenge is competing with inexpensive overseas jewelry production. To promote his work, he attends several annual jewelry shows in Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, including local rock club I Fau - ING in Uovfc ifif-fq V f - - ' it V"y i; - $' y r y 1 If you go Where: 362 E. 1090 North, Orem Telephone: 225-2360 Web site: www.jimsgemsjew-elry.com www.jimsgemsjew-elry.com Hours: By appointment. events. Many of his pieces are also sold though his Web site and online auctions. ;-lllyyy wrm Single Level Luxury! STARTING These exquisite communities offers single level homes with wide open floor plans and open space. From the minimal maintenance yard to the oversized garages, each home has been carefully designed with you in mind. At Spanish Fields you'll find walking trails and community park within walking distance. Come fall in love with the convenience and luxury of a Desert Point Builders home. a deal for you unique and unusual gemstones Depending on the cost of the stone and the intricacy of the design, de-sign, a finished piece of jewelry may cost just a few dollars or up to a thousand dollars. "There's no price on beauty," Thorne said. "It doesn't matter if it's a precious gemstone, a semiprecious semi-precious gem or just a pretty rock." To keep pieces affordable, Thorne often works with sterling ster-ling silver and encourages customers cus-tomers to trade in their broken Life $250's IN THE MATT SMITHNnrth County like the semi finished natural or unwanted pieces of jewelry as scrap gold which he will use to fashion new pieces. He offers the trade as goods or labor toward to-ward new jewelry. For Thorne, the best part of the business is seeing how people peo-ple react to his designs and the unusual stones he chooses. "People who appreciate uniqueness and don't want to be another one of the crowd really like my jewelry," he said. "I take that as a personal compliment." is better when M i ' Doll line introduced Seasons Shared, LLC will host a "tea" to introduce Ginger Gin-ger Brook Hollow, a recently developed bxk and collector doll line, April 29 at 11 a.m. at the Alpine Arts Center, 450 S. Alpine Highway, Alpine. Tickets are $7.50 and must be reserved in advance by calling (801) 630-5037. For more information, visit www. gingerbrook hollow .com. Orientation class sponsored The Lehi Area Chamber Member Orientation Class will be on April 27 at 5 p.m. at the chamber offices. The 60-minute session will give new members an opxrtunity to learn what the chamber does and how a business owner can utilize its benefits to help a business grow and become a success. Those who would like to attend must respond re-spond to Rob Jackson at Rob. Jackson' morgans! anley com. Boy asks chamber to support Scouting Crispin Jones, Bov Scouts Pack 109, asked the" Lehi Area and American Fork Chambers of Commerce to support Scouting at a recent monthly chamber luncheon. The Scout packs are selling sell-ing $10 family passes for the 2000 Wasatch Front Scouting Expo on April 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Advertised as "The Finest Family Fvent in Utah County," it is sponsored by Utah National Parks Council Scouts and their leaders. Legacy Real Estate acquires building legacy Real Instate Partners, based in Lindon, recently acquired the .'W, 100-square 100-square ffxt. Wasatch Point Industrial Building from Summit Sum-mit Development and Management Man-agement . The building zoned for light industrial is located at 1350 W. 200 South, Lindon. Bryce Blanchard of NAI Utah Commercial Real Estate represented rep-resented the buyer in the $2.1 million transarfion. you're in A Z ' k ! . wv -set A gvNDALWCDD 2164 West 410 South nnnirn iit rnuvu, u 1 SPANISHWIELDS 632 S. Spanish Fields Drive SPANISH FORK, UT COPY |