A jewelry experience brand with a mission rooted in humanitarian work is making its Texas debut. According to the brand’s own website, Gem Studio plans to open at 2601 Preston Road, Unit 2096, within Stonebriar Centre in Frisco.
Founded in 2017 by Matt James in a college bedroom in Provo, Utah, Gem Studio began as a fundraiser to support a primary school for at-risk orphans he co-founded in Uganda. What started as a silversmithing workshop with friends quickly grew into something unexpected.
James dropped out of college, renovated a shed in a friend’s backyard, and began teaching full time. He met his future wife Lauren at one of his own workshops, and together they built Gem Studio into a fast-growing jewelry experience brand with locations across the United States and Canada, according to the brand’s website.
The concept centers on hands-on jewelry-making workshops: torching silver, welding permanent jewelry, and building charm necklaces, designed to be social, high-energy, and genuinely memorable.
“Our goal is to make it unforgettable, and make sure you leave with a new friend, and something you are really proud of,” the brand says. The humanitarian roots remain central: Gem Studio continues to donate a meaningful portion of revenue to its nonprofit, 1 Heart 1 Mind, which supports over 250 at-risk children on a five-acre campus in Mbale, Uganda.
The Frisco opening would mark Gem Studio’s first Texas location, placing it inside one of the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s most visited malls.
