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By Wren Propp Of the Journal Success looks like a circle,
not a triangle, says Reflective Image Inc.'s president, Marc
Choyt. Circles and triangles matter to Choyt, and
not just because much of the Baca Street company's handmade jewelry line
is based on flowing and circuitous Celtic designs.
After nine years of operation, Choyt is proud that the company follows a
circular design in which each employee in the 12-person company shares
responsibility for its continued growth. All of
the employees make a good wage, far better than the so-called living
wage rate of $8.50 an hour, and five have earned enough to buy homes
here. Over time, the company has become what Choyt
considers sustainable, because it pays for half of the employees' health
care, several holidays, sick leave and flex time.
The nature of the company demands creative risk-taking, and good spirits
fuel the day-to-day operations. Neither is fostered when monetary profit
is the single item on the bottom line, he says.
The relationship between metal and metalsmith— when the smith sits down
to work— is a subtle thing. Low morale can disturb it, he says.
Unhappiness rubs off on customers, too. His work
involves keeping experienced artists satisfied without trying to control
them. "They have to trust their intuitions and I
trust what they're going to do," he says. You
might see an organically curved triangle on the jewelry, but Choyt
shudders when he sees triangle-shaped companies.
In triangle businesses, many employees at the bottom work to the benefit
of a few at the top, in Choyt's view. "As if
you're better than them. ... In a circle model, everybody is invested.
... If they did that, they'd have such strong companies," says
Choyt. Although he measures the company's success
by the way it enriches the lives of employees, the company measures up
under more traditional views of success, such as landing on top of the
Google heap— with 2.3 million of "Celtic jewelry" matches from which to
choose. How about market expansion so steep that
double-digit growth is the norm? What about fans so loyal they visit
Santa Fe just to stop by and say hello? The
company was founded by Helen Chantler, who learned to make jewelry in
Santa Fe after growing up in England and the Far East and studying
Southeast Asian cultures at the University of Wisconsin. She opened the
doors in 1995; her husband, Choyt, joined the company a year
later. According to Choyt, sales are in the seven
figures, with 30 percent coming from the Web site, celticjewelry.com,
plus 200 galleries nationwide, jewelry stores, catalogs, shows and
corporate incentive companies. That success
wouldn't have occurred without the company's long-term goal of altruism
extended to employees, the community of Santa Fe in general and globally
to the environment. "My feeling has always been
that if you're generous and treat people well, it always comes back to
you," he says. Send in business tips and news to Wren Propp at (505) 992-6270 or
e-mail mailto:wpropp@abqjournal.com
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JEWELRY
BUSINESS PROSPERS IN CIRCLE
