Tucson business preserves the art of jewelry making

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A family-owned business in Midtown is preserving the history of jewelry making while keeping traditional techniques alive. Potter USA, located near Campbell Avenue and 18th Street, has been dedicated to craftsmanship and education for more than two decades.

The business specializes in 19th-century jewelry-making methods, using tools like drop hammers and hydraulic presses to create pendants, rings, lockets, and more. These techniques, now largely replaced by modern technology such as 3D printing, are at risk of disappearing.

“We’re one of the last—there’s only a handful left in the entire world,” said Kevin Potter, owner of Potter USA.

The classic die-striking method used at Potter USA has proven to be a durable and timeless approach. According to Kevin Potter, this method is the reason vintage jewelry, such as rings and bracelets from generations ago, is still around today.

“Die striking is really the Rolls Royce of jewelry making,” he said. “The reason that your grandma’s rings and earrings are still here today, 100 years later, is because they were die struck.”

Part of the family's mission is their commitment to preserving history. The tools and dies in their workshop represent millions of hours of human labor, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“To make a single hub and die set back then, it took an average of two weeks,” said Vincent Potter, a tool and die maker at Potter USA. “The only record of many pieces of jewelry from that era is in the tools we have.”

In addition to creating jewelry, the Potter family produces small hydraulic presses for jewelers nationwide, encouraging them to adopt these classic techniques. To share their knowledge with the Tucson community, they are renovating a new space to host classes, inviting the Tucson community to learn pre-industrial crafting methods. The building is set to be done at the end of February and classes will begin shortly after.