by Bernadette Finnerty
endy Silver-Gordon had spent quite a few years as a jeweler and Judaica artist before she met her future husband. Along with her father and business partner Arthur Silver, she had built a thriving business as a silversmith living and working in New Jersey. But a meeting with one of her buyers, Traditions Jewish Gifts, would set her on a new path — one that has allowed her to start a family, yet still explore her creative and business interests.
 |
| Wendy Silver-Gordon and husband Bradley on their wedding day. |
“I met my husband through his mother,” she laughs, recalling her meeting with Louise Gordon, who had started Traditions Jewish Gifts in a 10-foot by 10-foot kiosk in 1991. A few years after she started the business, the kiosk was traded for a 3,000 square foot space at the same location. Traditions now has three locations in South Florida, including the original store at the Festival Market in Pompano Beach; plus stores at the Aventura Mall in North Miami, and Rizner Park in Boca Raton. Louise Gordon runs the Festival Market store, while her sons Bradley and Jeff run the Miami and Boca Raton stores, respectively. Traditions prides itself on its vast selection of Judaica items, from expensive handcrafted pieces made by American and Israeli artists, to less expensive, manufactured items. Offering a wide range of prices brings customers from all economic levels into the stores, says Silver-Gordon.
 |
| Work by Wendy Silver-Gordon. |
By 1996, Traditions had been selling the Silvers’ work for three years. Silver-Gordon would stop in occasionally when she was in Florida to show her new work. “I had gotten to know Louise through business, and one day she suggested I meet her son, Bradley, who was single. Bradley runs the Aventura store, so she suggested I head over there to make a sales call.” Silver-Gordon says the meeting went well — of course Bradley knew she was coming — and he asked her to have dinner.
“We had a nice time, but since I lived in New Jersey, I didn’t think there was really a future in the relationship.” The two kept in touch, but it wasn’t until about a year later that Silver-Gordon or Bradley realized that their casual, long-distance relationship was turning into something more. Silver-Gordon decided she was ready for a change, which would involve moving from New Jersey to South Florida. The couple married in October 1998.
Silver-Gordon was and still is partnered with her father, but she says the business has been scaling down significantly over the last few years, and luckily her decision to marry and move to Florida came at a time that was good for everyone. “At one point in the mid-1990s we were really doing a lot of production work,” she says. “It was a great time for the business, but it had peaked. I realized that after 13 years, I was getting tired of doing production work. At the same time, my father knew he wanted to scale back a bit. He still takes on enough design and production for one person from his studio in Princeton, N.J., and mostly I handle the business end of things for him from here in Florida.”
Silver-Gordon says she doesn’t miss the production work, but occasionally sits down at the bench to create a one-of-a-kind piece for one of Traditions’ clients. Her main focus — aside from caring for her and Bradley’s four-year-old daughter — is building www.traditionsjewishgifts.com, a comprehensive Web site that features hundreds of the items available at Traditions’ three locations.
“I’ve really enjoyed creating the Web site,” says Silver-Gordon, who works most days in her home office while her daughter attends a local pre-school. “It allows me to be creative, but try something totally new and different from making jewelry. It was time for a change, but I’m glad I’m still close to it.”
“At this point, most of our online customers are people who’ve been in the stores while visiting South Florida, but who choose to buy once they get back home. Besides, a lot of people are really into online shopping, so I’ve spent a lot of time working with search engines to make sure we’re the first site that pops up if you enter a keyword such as ‘Judaica.’”
In addition, Silver-Gordon recently launched a Web site at www.shmatawear.com. The site features a line of novelty t-shirts and baseball caps for adults and shirts and bibs for children featuring Yiddish-inspired, comical or whimsical phrases, such as “Got Chutzpa?” or “Go Ahead Bubeleh, Make My Day.” She says the line has been selling well since it launched just a few months ago.
For Silver-Gordon, being involved in Judaica has come full circle. “When we first started, we (Wendy and Arthur) were just a few Judaica artists at craft shows. Then at one point [around 2002-2003] the market exploded, it seemed like every artist, no matter what medium, had added some kind of Judaica items to their lines. There was just so much out there.” It was a good time to think about new directions for both Silver-Gordon and her father.
The artist says she’s really happy to have made a name for herself before she decided to stop making jewelry full time. But she’s thrilled to remain involved in the still growing, still exciting market for Judaica and gift items inspired by Jewish culture.
Bernadette Finnerty is a contributing editor to The Crafts Report.