About Us

Karen Christians

Founder & Creative Director

Curriculum Vitae

Art Gallery

Karen Christians teaches metalsmithing and designs jewelry tools to honor her trade. Karen has worked with her students since 1998 teaching and observing their behavior and techniques holding tools for jewelry fabrication. From this experience and her own benchwork she has developed many techniques and tools for making metalsmithing easier and better.

Previously she founded Metalwerx, a non-profit jewelry school in Waltham, MA. Karen is the author of the top-rated and widely referenced how-to book Making the Most of Your Flex-shaft, published by the MJSA Press, and she writes articles for major trade magazines, lectures at industry events, teaches workshops, and creates her own jewelry and art. She is a past board member of the North American Society of Goldsmiths and holds a BFA with multiple honors and distinctions from the Massachusetts College of Art.

Karen - What about those hands? I am fascinated by the way hands function - the nuance of an opposable thumb - how quickly they fly over a keyboard - or the way my hands grip a jewelry tool. I admire Shiva, the Hindu deity, for she has many hands. My passion at Cleverwerx is to make holding tools simpler and more comfortable for designing and fabricating jewelry.

As an artist, I try to use all my senses in everything I do to the fullest. A beautifully crafted tool, which fits in my hand comfortably connects my visual and tactile process into one perfect moment. There are no ordinary moments, and my philosophy is to make every moment count in what I do every day and honor all the senses in every task to make it purposeful and meaningful.

John M. Gitelman

CEO & GM

John Gitelman is a resourceful, entrepreneurial marketing and management leader with a flair for building and advancing innovative businesses. He joined Karen Christians at Cleverwerx because she offers something unique and special - a sincere interest, understanding and passion for helping jewelry designers and metalsmith enthusiasts advance their knowledge, productivity and creativity.

John collaborates with several established artists, musicians and creatives, to bring clarity, discipline, focus and sound business management to their craft. By providing marketing, operations and management capabilities he frees artists to maximize their artistic purpose.

John is a veteran product and brand marketer and retailer with extensive consumer electronics, semiconductor and medical device experience with large, medium and start-up companies including Bose, Polaroid and Bexy, a consumer electronics company he launched. He has operated several direct selling and ecommerce businesses marketing and selling his own and other manufacturers products to consumers and small-businesspeople that solve problems and enhance their lifestyle, productivity and competitiveness.

John received an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurialism from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business in New Orleans where he was awarded the Faulk Award, and he has a BA in Sociology from Tulane.