About Chimera - Location, Hours, etc.

NOTE: We will be closed until Tuesday February 6th when we re-open with our regular hours.

We meet with custom design customers and people with estate jewelry by appointment before we open. 

SHOWROOM HOURS

TUESDAY - FRIDAY 12 NOON TO 6 PM

SATURDAY 10AM TO 4PM

CLOSED SUNDAY/MONDAY

Custom Design Appointments Now available: Call us at 616-897-9480

Find us on Facebook

 

Chimera Design

208 East Main Street

Lowell, MI 49331

616-897-9480

            email: cliffy777(at)comcast.net

We left out the @ symbol to throw the bots off. :-)

Chimera is owned and operated by the husband and wife team

of Julie Claire DeVoe and Cliff Yankovich.

Julie is the benchie (bench jeweler) and she makes a lot of what is sold at the store and does almost all of the repairs. She started making beaded jewelry as a teenager. Julie studied at Kendall School of Art and Design and with Blaine Lewis at New Approach School for Jewelers prior to opening the store. She has earned certificates in Pearls, Jewelry Essentials, and Pearl and Bead Stringing from GIA (Gemological Institute of America).

This video showcases a few of the jewelry Julie has made over the last couple of years.

Cliff handles the front end of the store and he is the Official Watch Battery Installation Manager - OWBIM. He got his start in the jewelry business in the middle 1990's working for a small manufacturer with a trade shop. He traveled the Midwest and earned his Diamonds Graduate certification from GIA in 1998. He designs CAD/CAM jewelry with our associate Jason Simmons. Cliff's education with CAD/CAM jump started with 4 days of intensive training at GemVision in 1999.

Chimera Design opened on Main Street in Historic Downtown Lowell, Michigan, in November of 2002. It was originally more of an art gallery and at one time featured the work of over 30 artists in addition to the jewelry made by Julie.

Cliff and Julie love Lowell - Cliff has served on the Board for the Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce as well as the Marketing Committee and the Downtown Development Authority. He was elected to a four year term on the Lowell City Council in 2019.

Chimera supports many of the wonderful things that make Lowell a special community: The Pink Arrow Pride, Flat River Outreach Ministries food pantry, Lowell Arts!, the Kent County Youth Fair, and a number of clubs and teams at the Lowell Area Schools.

 

Cliff & Julie at a Fancy Pants Dinner

 

This good looking guy is Jere Keyes - he has been an official member of the Chimera Design team for almost a decade. Jere is a 3rd generation jewelry professional. He still uses some of the tools his grandfather used. He is a GIA Graduate Gemologist (which means he knows way more about colored gemstones than Cliff!) and a great stone setter. He is in our shop one day a week helping us with repairs and stone setting.

Drive or Ride an EV?

Thanks to the City of Lowell, Chimera Design, is very much Electric Vehicle friendly. There are two Chargepoint Charging Stations on Main Street in Lowell and one of them is right behind Chimera Design:

Charge your EV for FREE right behind Chimera Design in Lowell.

 

In his spare time, Cliff enjoys writing articles for our great home town weekly newspaper, The Lowell Ledger. The importance of local journalism cannot be overstated. If you live in the Lowell area, we would appreciate it if you subscribed to the Lowell Ledger - a great way to learn about the community and follow local and regional events. 

No matter where you live, support your local paper - now more than ever.

 

 

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