|
Contact Us
Whitmire Fine Jewelry
10880-2 Ocean Highway
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Call Us: 1-800-336-1767
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday: 10am - 5:30pm
Saturday: 10am - 5:30pm
Sunday: 1pm - 4:30pm
Credit Cards Accepted:
American Express
Discover
Master Card
Visa
|
Home  About John Henry Whitmire
Owner of Whitmire Fine Jewelry, John Henry Whitmire, has been designing and crafting jewelry in the Pawley’s Island and greater Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area since 1972.
John Henry Whitmire gets his design inspiration from nature and the many places he has lived over the years, which has given him the freedom to create without boundaries. Some local, South Carolina native places of inspriation include: Brookgreen Gardens, where he obtains inspiration from the many sculpture gardens; Huntington Beach where pristine natural beauty abounds; Pawley’s Island, where John Henry Whitmire enjoys long walks on beach, clamming, fishing and creeking in the saltwater creeks; Myrtle Beach, with its wide sandy beaches which continue to draw people there today; and North Myrtle Beach, with the liveliness and energy of the residents. Each of these places have served as the inspriation behind John Henry Whitmire’s three original collections: Treasures of the Sea Collection, Royal Sea Collection and Signature Cocktail Collection.
John Henry Whitmire attended the University of South Carolina, where he graduated in 1974 with a degree in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Metal Works & Design. He also attended the Penland School of Crafts, a national center for craft education located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, from 1981-1982. In 1975, John Henry Whitmire opened his Pawley’s Island store and made his first trip to New York, New York to purchase jewels, where he purchased a single pearl, a single ruby and a single sapphire for $75. In 1977, John Henry Whitmire began his Treasures of the Sea collection, with the first piece being the Pawley’s Island shell.
Throughout his career, John Henry Whitmire has been fortunate to create custom awards for multiple nationally recognized events. John Henry Whitmire custom handcrafted two Grammy awards: a Ladder Back Rocking Chair award cast in Sterling Silver for the 1981 Grammy Awards for the Gospel Singer of the Year and a Continental Trailways Bus award cast in Sterling Silver for the 1982 Grammy Awards for the Gospel Singer of the Year. John Henry Whitmire also custom handcrafted the Historic Restoration Award for the Florence Club – which was an octagonal cup cast in sterling silver.
In John Henry Whitmire’s spare time, he ran for the South Carolina State Senate in 1988 where he gave stump speeches in locations such as Gallivants Ferry where over 3,000 people were in attendance. While running for senate, John Henry Whitmire pushed for plans to create a new highway on the other side of the Intracoastal Waterway, which is now Highway 31. He also ran for U.S. Congress in 1992.
John Henry Whitmire is a friend to the environment and strives to volunteer for the greater good of the Georgetown County area. As such, he has served as the Chairman of the Solid Waste Commission for Georgetown County, where he started the recycling campaign currently in place for Georgetown County. He also served as the Chairman of the South Carolina Crawfish and Agricultural Fair from 1980-1988, where he helped to foster the sale of over one million pounds of crawfish grown locally in the salt marshes in Georgetown County In addition, he worked for the Georgetown County Board of Education for two years, fostering the institution of a more rigorous curriculum.
John Henry Whitmire is a proud member of the Jewelers of America and the South Carolina Jewelers Association.
|
|
