Another Great Gift Idea: Esquivel & Fees Custom Jewelry

By Iris Rush

Tucked in a quaint little shopping area on Rice Blvd resides Esquivel & Fees, a unique store that specializes in custom-made jewelry focusing on animals. While a quick search on the Internet may yield numerous animal-themed jewelry makers, you’d be hard-pressed to find something quite like this! Julian Esquivel and Ted Fees have been in the jewelry business for over 25 years, but just within the last 8 years they decided to focus their craftsmanship on animals and the people who love them. They make custom pieces specifically for YOU.

Take my case for instance. My beloved toy rat terrier Ginger, whom unfortunately succumbed to cancer at only 8 years old in 2008, was a very important part of my life. My husband and I were sitting outside mourning on the day she passed when a tiny dragonfly landed on my arm and sat there for quite some time. My Ginger had come back to me as a dragonfly! I knew I needed something in memory of her, but it was only recently that I was “ready” to face those memories head-on in order to yield something very personalized for me. So I set out to find someone who could assist me with this and was fortunate enough to find Esquivel and Fees. I told my story to both Julian and Ted, and I instantly knew I had found the right people to help me. Together, we designed a beautiful pendant of a paw print with a dragonfly coming out of it. Inside of the pendant, they painstakingly placed some of Ginger’s ashes. Now she will not only be figuratively close to my heart, but literally as well.

I understand that not everyone will want to go into as much depth as I did in making my pendant, so I’d like to point out that they have hundreds of already-made charms that include, but are not limited to, dogs, cats, wolves, dragonflies, butterflies, bears, pigs and more. Since Christmas is just around the corner, I thought that this would be a great time to let you guys know about this wonderful shop. And, when I told Julian and Ted about this article, they said they would be happy to to give a 10% discount to anyone who comes in and mentions this article.

I highly recommend that you check them out. It is very much worth your time!

Esquivel and Fees

2368-B Rice Blvd.

Houston, TX 77005

713-521-1544

www.efsterling.com

[Editor’s note: I received an early Christmas gift from Iris that she got from E & F. Since one of our Japanese Chins passed away a couple of weeks ago, she gave it to me early in his memory. It is beautiful and Chins are really hard to find in jewelry! It’s something I will always treasure.]