Fairchild & Co. says goodbye to storefront, but not to creativity
Fairchild & Co. says goodbye to storefront, but not to creativity
When Valerie Fairchild came to Santa Fe as a jewelry maker in the 1970s, she was not alone. Back in those days, she remembers, there were lots of artists who not only designed and crafted their own work on location here in Santa Fe, but sold it themselves as well.
Today, after owning and operating Fairchild & Co., for almost 30 years, Fairchild admits she’s one of the last of a kind, the artist who still makes her own jewelry and operates a retail store, paying employees and handling the dayto-day details of a business in downtown Santa Fe.
And this week, that last of her kind of merchant is ending when Fairchild, who was drawn to Santa Fe for its authentic Southwest spirit, will move on: Her gallery closes at 5 p.m. on Sunday, just a few hours before Santa Fe officials will converge on the Plaza to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
The final closeouts on pieces by her and the other artists she sells is underway with thousands of pieces to go before she vacates the lease on her store, 110 W. San Francisco St.
Many customers are already coming in to bid farewell. “I’m now making jewelry for people who were the grandchildren of my first clients,” said Fairchild, 64. “I call myself a short-order jeweler. I like creating lots of different styles.”
Trained as a classical goldsmith, Fairchild apprenticed in Portland, Ore., before moving to Santa Fe in 1972. She still finds the design and manufacturing of custom jewelry very satisfying and will continue to work in an upstairs space that is devoted to casting, stone cutting and fabrication of gold, silver and stones. The work will be done by appointment, and she will maintain a small staff to help her with production.
“It will be buzz in, buzz out by appointment,” she said.
Since being drawn to Santa Fe like others of her generation, Fairchild has embraced the culture. She continues to be a judge for international gemstone competitions as well as the annual Santa Fe Indian Market. She gardens, cooks, has been a foster parent and won a blue ribbon for her peach and apricot jam at the New Mexico State Fair in 2001.
In 1991, she entered into partnership with the local Kiwanis to sell Zozobra charms with a portion of the purchase price going to support the organization and its work.
Fairchild still gives generous tips to her workers at Christmas — even the UPS guy — and is proud of the fact that until last year she paid 100 percent of the cost for her six employees to have health insurance.
Still, since opening Fairchild & Co. in 1990, she’s also been outspoken about the challenges she has faced as a downtown business owner. She was one of the leaders in getting the city to enforce an ordinance against aggressive panhandling and has raised concern about stores that bring in imported merchandise and jewelry and then have what amounts to a yearround going-out-of-business sale.
All that has made customers more suspicious, she said.
The recent frustration has been parking, as the city has moved to increase the price at downtown meters.
“At the end of the day,” she said. “local people don’t want to come downtown because they’ll get a $35 ticket.”
There are also the economic realities of a significant rent increase and trying to sell finer pieces of jewelry at a time aging baby boomers like herself want to downsize.
Still, Fairchild thinks some of the trends will help her as she scales back to design work. People want more individualized pieces, custom pieces that are less formal. They are also looking to refit and preserve family jewelry, all work she has continued to do for her regular clients.
She remembers that when she first opened her store, she didn’t have a lot of cash or family money to fall back on. What she did have was training, and a talent for jewelry. “I had no credit, but I had faith,” she said. In that sense, Fairchild has come full circle. “I’m closing my gallery, I’m not taking it with me,” she said. “But I can still be very creative, make beautiful things and have a relationship with my clients.”