Jewelry part of Carillo’s heritage
Vallejo shop owner followed relatives into gem business
By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN. Times-Herald staff writer
If it’s possible to have jewelry in one’s blood, Cesar Carrillo does.
The American Canyon resident recently opened C & M Carrillo Jewelry in Vallejo. Though it’s the first store he has owned, it’s the latest in a long chain of such enterprises in the Carrillo family, he said.
“I started working with jewelry at age 9 with my family in Mexico,” Carrillo said. “They’re jewelers – my grandfather, uncles, aunts – going back three or four generations. There are many mines around there, and that’s where they get the raw materials.”
Carrillo said he took to the work like he was born to do it.
Though his father died before Carrillo’s first birthday, nearly all his relatives were already deeply in-volved in the trade, he said.
“My eight older brothers all dedicated their lives to the jewelry business, and I learned from them and my grandfather and uncles,” he said. “I grew up in it, in the shops of my brothers, my uncles and my grandfather.”
It was under his family’s tutelage that Carrillo learned all facets of the jewelry business, from design to casting to seating stones and repair, he said. But for good measure he also earned a degree from San Francisco’s Revere Academy. The 41-year-old married father of two said he’s been in the United States since 1987.
“Jewelry is part of my family, part of my life. I spent my life working in jewelry,” Carrillo said, though it took him seven years in the United States to save enough money to open his own store.
“The first job I got in the U.S. was in construction, and I started saving. And I started making contacts with jewelry stores, selling our designs,” he said, adding he maintains contracts with various jewelers in San Francisco’s Gift Center.
He always knew that eventually he’d have his own jewelry store, Carrillo said.
Carrillo said he chose to open C & M Jewelry, named for he and his wife, Marivel, on Broadway in Vallejo because the area boasts a large Hispanic community, but his clientele already includes members of many other ethnicities.
“Specializing in Hispanic – that was my original idea, but now I have all sorts of clients, because the other local jewelers are recommending their clients to us for jewelry and watch repair,” he said. He added that though he’s not especially worried about thieves, he did have window bars and a door cage installed as a deterrent when he remodeled the former Pluto’s Hot Dog shop.
One recent local customer said he likes having a convenient place to find nice jewelry.
“It’s good. It’s clean, and the merchandise
is nice,” said Fernando Espinoza of Vallejo.
Carrillo said his favorite part of the jewelry-making process is design.
“That’s exciting for me. When I see the face of the customer and they look happy. That’s the best part,” he said.
It’s that artistic component of the process that seems to have passed on to his 7-year-old daughter, Alexis.
“She’s really creative. She draws designs on paper. She draws mommy and poppy wearing charms. She tells me what she thinks of my de-signs. It’s really fun and easy for her to do,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo and his wife design rings, earrings, charms and pendants in several grades and shades of gold and platinum.
They also use diamonds and natural South and Central American stones such as rubies, emeralds, sapphires, opals, topaz and pearls, in their work. Examples include butterfly and dolphin pendants made of three colors of gold and a 14-karat gold flying eagle charm with a red ruby eye.
The store carries charms, necklaces, bracelets and medallions like one created from a Mexican coin and another inspired by the Aztec culture.
“I can design any kind of jewelry,” Carrillo said. “If you bring me a picture of Laura Bush and she has a nice pendent, I can recreate it.”
The Carrillos’ older daughter, Scarlett, 10, on the other hand, is more the technician. “She’s really fascinated with the soldering part of the process,” he said.
Prices for merchandise at C & M Carrillo Jewelry, which includes designer colognes and perfumes and the sale and repair of name-brand watches, start at about $9. Ear piercing can also be done at the store.
Carrillo said business is already better than he’d expected and he hopes to be able to open another location in a few years.
“My dream was always to find a way to open a jewelry store,” he said. “When you work seven years to do your dream, you feel really, really good to achieve it. A part of your life is complete. But once you do, your dream never stops.”
