began my jewelry career in 1970. Following college and a tour in the US army, where I was introduced to jewelry making at an on-base crafts center, I opened a studio-workshop in the University District of Seattle, WA. During my several years in this location I began classes with the G.I.A., [Gemological Institute of America] studying diamonds, colored stones and gem identification. The first few years in the studio were hard. I worked on jewelry during the day and studied in the evenings. My friends had 8 to 5 jobs and were buying their first new cars. I had what seemed like two jobs, with little income, and was buying the first carpet for my showroom. My social life consisted of what happened during the work day because in evenings and on weekends I was back in school studying economics and gemology. In 1973 I moved to a new location in the center of the University business district where I opened a small jewelry store with wedding rings, watches and employees. This store was called Dick Paille Jewelry, inc. As business grew so did all the requirements of management which greatly lessened my time making jewelry. There were customers to see, a news letter entitled 'Keeping Posted with Paille’ to write and publish, trade shows to attend and what seemed like endless sales 'reps' stopping by. Although the years I operated this store were very demanding they were also rewarding times in my early career. Eventually an inner call to design jewelry for a national market led to a decision to sell the store and and ‘get back to the bench.’ In 1991 a new opportunity arose, which would, in the months to come, focus my future jewelry work. Returning to the US following three months in Australia filming a documentary on opal mining, entitled "Fire Down Under... The Hunt For Australian Opal," we stopped for some R&R in the Cook Islands, South Pacific where that countries’ Black Pearl farming industry was beginning to emerge. Through some luck with local officials I was granted permission to visit Manihiki Atoll in the remote, Northern Cooks where the farms were located. That first week on Manihiki completely changed my focus in the jewelry business. I knew before I returned to the US I'd found a new direction for my work." Read more about filming the opal documentary plus a second project another crew and I filmed in the Cook Islands entitled "A Gift From Neptune... The Black Pearls of Manihiki.” Also see: “Documentaries” "Working in the Craft marketplace has given me the opportunity to grow in my awareness of design. Competing with other artists for a chance to exhibit in events around the country has also helped me become a better jeweler, both technically and aesthetically. I've met many talented artists, seen a lot of the U.S. and, in a way, come full circle in my jewelry career ending up the way I started ... making handcrafted jewelry." Richard Paille Richard lives in Seattle, WA and still exhibits his work in a few events each year. In 2006 he started a marketing venture, Pacific Digital Studio to continue his interest in multimedia. In 2008 Richard converted his studio into a teaching space offering jewelry making classes and other services. See Learn2MakeJewelry.com * Richard is available for speaking engagements, please contact the office.About_Me_2.htmlOpal_Mining.htmlhttp://livepage.apple.com/Manihiki_Atoll_.htmlManihiki_Atoll_.htmlDocumentaries.htmlhttp://www.learn2makejewelry.comshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6

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