Like so many great stories, the tale of jeweler Cassio Creations began as a love story. In 1991, owner Craig Cassio helped design the wedding ring for his future bride Michelle, now his wife and business partner. The ring would lead them to open the jewelry business that has served south Montgomery County for 12 years.

"I went and bought a diamond from a guy, and he recruited me," Cassio said. "I did some designs on a piece of paper and took it back to this jeweler. He built it for me and when I came to pick up the finished ring, he recruited me to work for him."

After originally studying to become an architect, Cassio bought his jewelry tools in 1992, set them up in his garage and began taking classes to learn the custom jewelry craft. After five years of studying and working for corporate jewelers, Cassio opened his first jewelry business in 1997 catering to other jewelers. He eventually opened the first Cassio Creations store in 2001.

"I always liked working with my hands," he said. "It was building in a sense, but on a much smaller scale than houses or high rises. And it just was a little more artistic than putting together beams and plywood and stuff like that. I felt I could be a little more creative."

Cassio Creations moved from the first store just south of the intersection of Rayford Road and I-45 to its current location in Oak Ridge North in January 2008, he said. Although the store provides several services, Cassio said the store remains best known for custom design and repairs, which makes up about half of the store's business.

"Everything is done in-house, which is definitely a selling point to customers," Michelle Cassio said. "They know that their jewelry is here. It's going to be worked on here. We're not going to send it off anywhere."

Michelle and designer Casey O'Bella work with customers to sketch out what a customer wants in a design. The design then goes to the CAD software designers, Christian Wilson and Cassio's son Josh, who model the design using the software, send customers renderings and make three-dimensional models for the casting process, performed by Cassio himself.

Not merely a custom design shop, the store provides stock jewelry, including top brands of watches, necklaces and rings, as well as watch repair, appraisals, accessories, estate liquidation and scrap metal purchase.

Cassio said the couple has had discussions about possibly expanding.

"We made it through the recession when hundreds of jewelers across the country had to close their doors," Cassio said. "We're just kind of waiting for things to settle down a little bit, let the economy be a little bit steady for a little bit longer [before expanding]."

Services, products offered

Custom design and repair

Watch repair

Stock jewelry, including rings, necklaces, watches

Debbie Brooks purses

Luxury jewelry boxes

Appraisals

Estate liquidation

Diamond brokerage

Scrap metal purchase

Cassio Creations

27622 I-45 N.

Oak Ridge North 281-419-4200

www.cassiocreations.com

Hours: Tue.—Fri. 10:30 a.m.—6 p.m., Sat. 10:30 a.m.—3 p.m., closed Monday