The Family Jewels
Evan Yurman designed his first piece of jewelry at 12 years old. On an airplane, the antsy pre-teen sketched a pair of cable cuff links with a baseball motif and handed it to his father, otherwise known as David Yurman, the jeweler famous for his cable designs.
Evan had forgotten about the design the minute he touched ground, but five years later necessity kicked his memory into gear.
“I wanted a surfboard but I didn’t have enough money to get it,” the now 25-year-old recalled. “Then I remembered the agreement.”
Apparently Dad’s business sense passed on to Evan because the kid mentioned his royalty expectations — 10 percent — before deboarding the plane that day.
After a phone call to an attorney and a strong dose of rationalism, dad and son agreed the surfboard would be adequate compensation.
The only child of David and Sybil decided to leave his carefree surfer days behind a year later and try his hand at the family business. “I was 18 and rebelling,” Evan said. “I finally just said, ‘Enough. Get your (expletive) in gear and do it.’ “
That lasted about four years until business and family began butting heads. “They said I didn’t know how to work for people and that I should go work for someone else,” Evan recalled of his parents.
He took a couple years off from the nine-to-five world to travel and catch a few more waves. Two years ago, he decided to return, but this time around Evan found a way to practice a sincere passion for jewelry design. The formula was simple: use something he already loved and apply it to his role as the creative force behind the men’s jewelry line.
For watches, Evan looked to his Brooklyn garage, where he regularly toiled on cars. Rather than pay someone to do it for him, the designer prefers rolling up his cashmere blend sleeves and getting dirty under the hood himself. His extensive familiarity with a car’s mechanics have lent well to his craftsmanship of timepieces.
With the exception of his watches, Evan’s designs mostly carry an antique tone, but that doesn’t stop him from occasionally applying his admiration for automobiles to the men’s jewelry line, too. “I always use clean lines and borders,” he said of his jewelry designs. “Everything on a car has a border.”
He uses the ring he values the most from his personal collection, a black Ethiopian opal ring he designed himself, as an example. “It looks like a button from the seat in my ’68 Lincoln,” he said. The ring consists of a large, bold opal surrounded with a sleek, smooth border.
If cars can inspire jewelry design, why not let jewelry be the inspiration for cars? The Classic Car Club Manhattan asked Evan that very question. He answered with a customized Porsche GT3. The Phantom Belmont Chronograph served as inspiration for the David Yurman Porsche. Evan, the race car and his fall collection of men’s watches — the Titanium Chronograph, the Blue Phantom Belmont Chronograph and the all black Phantom Belmont Chronograph — have been touring various cities to promote the new line.
The collaboration has worked out well for David Yurman, the company. If men don’t express much interest in adorning themselves in fine jewelry, then the race car can act as the bait.
“I design for the guy who wants to get the ball rolling,” Evan said. “I want him to wear it and be comfortable.”
This line, which lacks flashy pinky rings or anything resembling a rap star’s embellishments, features pieces that whisper their style. Still, with black mother-of-pearl, pavé diamonds, an entire leather collection, titanium beads and an array of vibrant jewels, it’s a loud whisper.
Evan says that despite their initial differences in the family business, he and his father still have some things in common. “It’s natural for both of us to design, but we design very differently,” he said. “I’ve been totally inspired by my father. He’s a great man and his design is totally impeccable and original. He’s not just a good boss, he’s a good father.”
