Thirty-Three Years and Counting...

First, we'd like to welcome you to the Official Relios Blog, RelioSpace. We want to make this space a fun and fanciful source of stories and information about Relios, our jewelry, southwest culture and fashion, and anything else that tickles our fancy.

And what tickles our fancy today is Relios' 33rd anniversary! Isn't that awesome? For 33 years Relios has been providing top-quality sterling silver and natural gemstone jewelry to customers all over the country.

You could say that Relios really began when company founder and President, Bill Pollack, started fashioning jewelry out of his garage in the early 1970's. As an independent artisan, he started with lapidary, sawing, grinding and polishing stone and shell.

"I was always amazed at how beautiful the materials were, and the fact that they came straight out of the earth or bottom of the sea. I still get that feeling today with our new designs. Combining the art of jewelry design and the technology involved with the production processes is still very challenging and rewarding – even 30 years later," says the University of New Mexico alumnus.

In 1975, Relios was born when Bill had the opportunity to purchase a local jewelry manufacturer, Carlisle Jewelry Co. Together with his wife, Carolyn (Lead Designer and Vice President), the inspiration of the culture and environment of the Southwest, and the philosophies and principles that he has instilled in the company, Bill has led Relios to national renown.

Our philosophy

Part of the Relios frame-of-mind is a dedication to designing and manufacturing our jewelry here in the United States. As part of the Relios family, we employ nearly 150 U.S. citizens. And if you consider the average family of four, that means Relios is positively impacting the lives of nearly 600 people. If that isn't staggering enough, consider that with our suppliers, contractors and customers we're touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of people nationwide.

We do as much of the work here in our factory in Albuquerque, NM as we can, and we source most of our recycled silver here in the USA. But how much are we really doing here in our facility?

• Designing new jewelry
  
• Modeling the original piece
  
• Casting (lost wax method)
• Soldering
• Polishing
• Mosaic inlay
• Stone setting
• Assembling
• Stringing gemstone beads

As you can see, almost all of the jewelry-making process happens right here. We do source cut stones, like channel inlay cabochons, from overseas, but that's such a small part of the process that we feel confident we can stand by our claim that our products are American made. Sure, we could make all of our jewelry overseas, but we get more satisfaction from helping as many people as we can here at home.

Gearing up!

It's that time of the year. The new Fall Collections from Relios Jewelry are coming! Available to our wholesale customers on August 15th, and then to our retail customers on September 3rd, be sure you're ready to check out the Fabulous Fuchsias, Passionate Purples, Tempting Teals, Earth and Sky, Fiery Reds, Spicy Reds, and Gorgeous Greens when they go on sale!

Find us online

Did you know that Relios has a number of places where you can find us online? Shop on our website and interact with us on Facebook.

Psst! Don't forget that the holidays are just around the corner!