An important occupation at TeNo is the precious stone-setter, because without this we wouldn’t be able to offer any piece from the de Luxx-Series and no piece of jewelry at all with any sparkling diamonds. This position is filled internally at TeNo by Erich Kugele. I’m saying “internally” because we also work with some stone-setters who have their workbench at home and work from there.
The gemstone or precious stone-setter specialises in the setting, that is to say, on how the precious stone is set. If you’d like to know more about the work of a stone-setter, you can find an overview at Wikipedia and more information on apprenticeships, job opportunities and other possibilities here at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology.
Erich Kugele’s workbench appears to be overrun with organised chaos. Every visitor is amazed at how he can always pick the right cutter from among the nearly 100 different ones he has around him. (Click on the picture to make it bigger, then you can really see how many different cutters in different sizes are lying there and how tiny the difference is …) It always looks as if he doesn’t even have to think about it. Just one hand movement and he’s got the right tool in his hand. You have definitely got to have had years of practice in your job to be able to work so precisely and automatically. This experience is especially important if you want to set in stainless steel. Because this is not very easy.
The special thing about TeNo for a precious stone-setter is clearly the material. Compared to setting diamonds in gold or silver, setting in stainless steel is much more difficult. The material is harder and more brittle, and it means that you have to have a lot of skill at your fingertips if you want to set diamonds in hard stainless steel. And that is exactly the main task facing Erich Kugele. At TeNo we mill the pavée settings in advance on CNC machines and then, always by hand, Erich places the sized brilliant-cut diamonds, diamonds or precious stones, piece by piece, in the setting and fixes them manually, too.
