A banker with a passion for jewelry. Every morning Andrew Glassford goes to the office, where he holds a prominent position: he is vice president Chief Risk Officer for Small Business Banking at Wells Fargo, a banking giant in the United States. But three years ago he discovered that money is not everything. There is also a passion for jewelry: for years, he says, he cut out photos of rings, bracelets and necklaces from newspapers, fascinated by the design. And so, after attending the École Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris and learning about the opportunities and pitfalls of gems at the Gia, he founded his own Maison in Dallas, Texas. An unusual profile, but Glassford has managed to convince everyone with his second job.
In addition to his passion for jewelry and his poodle named Mack II, Andrew loves orchids and is an enthusiast of the Asian world, after a recent trip to China and Japan. He found design ideas in unlikely places during his travels, such as the architecture of Beijing’s Forbidden City, brass candles in churches around the world, and baskets of rambutan in fruit stands in Asia. But for his jewelry he seems to have a strong predilection for art deco, with precise lines, confident geometries, enamel separating gold and precious stones. Who would have thought that a banker could have such a profound aesthetic sensibility? Raised in Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border, which inspired a sensitivity for color.
