“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”― Aristotle
2001
Peter survives the 9/11 attack by escaping WTC1, a factor leading to his decision to leave New York City.
2004
Peter moves his family from New York City to Greece, where they have family already living in Athens.
Three days after the Olympics, Peter buys a Gerochristo cross, and successfully sells it on Ebay. "Athena's Treasures" is born and begins selling all types of Greek Jewelry by Gerochristo on Ebay. Soon after, he adds the work of Evangelatos.
2005
Peter is introduced to Damaskos by Gerochristo. The store now offers a world-class line of handmade 18k gold jewelry.
2007
Peter celebrates selling 100 Gerochristo pieces in one month by buying Spiros a bottle of Dom Pérignon.
He adds the designer Amanatidis.
2008
More designers are added to the store: Polemis, Kapsaskis, Korifidis, and Giampouras
2010
In a major setback, Ebay accidentally deletes Athena's Treasures store. Peter has to build an entirely new store with a new name that results in a 50% traffic loss.
The Al'Oro Collection is added.
Athena's Treasures launches on Facebook.
2011
Peter buys athenas-treasures.com to keep up with modern sales channels, and has to re-create his entire store (again) as he eyes his path back to the US...
2012
Athena's Treasures Facebook page receives over 20,000 fans/followers
Peter moves back to the US
2014
Peter meets Joanne!
First date: Pig and Prince in Montclair, New Jersey.
Second date: full day in Nyack, enjoying what they still love to do today: Visiting art galleries and eating sushi (with just a little bit of wine).
2015
Joanne, an established E-commerce professional, incorporates J Peter Bradley, with Peter and Joanne sharing ownership.
"The Summer of the Interns"
The store is re-built (again!)
TWENTY of Joanne's NYU graduate students sign up for the re-launch of Athena's Treasures on its new E-commerce platform with new design, SEO, and full social media presence. Eight interns make the cut and work hard to make the Sept 1 re-launch deadline.
2016
Joanne and Peter move further out west in New Jersey, allowing for a full photo studio and web production department to be onsite.
Joanne takes her first trip to Greece!
Peter introduces her to the designers and the workshop process.
Buddy the office dog is born! (English Black Lab). He makes it home at 8 weeks old, just before the New Year.
2017
Peter brings Joanne to her first Athens International Jewelry Show—Joining them is Employee #1, Håvard Wattum.
Buddy the office dog eats the office iPad, the 360 degree photography turntable, and a camera tripod.
2018
Buddy the office dog eats two chairs. He becomes the topic of many conversations with our pet-friendly customers.
2019
Athena's Treasures is featured in the Greek Jewelry "Businesses To Know" special edition of The National Herald.
Joanne and Peter attend their first ASCSA Gala in NYC, later to be invited onto the Gala's marketing committee.
Athena's Treasures gets re-branded!
Athena Gaia is introduced to the world
2020
2020 (never again!) This is the year we reacquainted ourselves with our pets, wore masks and "zoomed" people (yay!)
It turned out to be a very productive year for Athena Gaia: We added 3 artists to the store (Yianni, Stilvi, and Al'Oro) and then COVID-19 hit. The rest of the year for us was dedicated to taking photos and building out the store.
2021
The year of people who help us.
Rapid growth can be a little scary, so it's great to have people along for the ride who really care about what we're doing.
Hair and Makeup:
Andrea Saavedra (instagram)
Models:
Ageliki Vracha,
"Model M" & Elizabeth Reinertsen
Office:
Kristin, Melissa, and Amelia
Our Local Jeweler (alterations and more):
Everyone at Rick's Jewelers - Bernards, NJ.
2022
We said good bye to an old friend in Damaskos but picked up Maramenos & Pateras and Kouzoupis.
With these two we will have access to over 5,000 new designs
Our photographer is in the next slide ...
he's going to be busy!
The best news: These guys are hard working & capable professionals - we couldn't do it any other way.
2022*
A SPECIAL THANKS
Meet Orestis - our very busy photographer in Greece. He is one of the best jewelry photographers in the business and we look forward to every shutter-click. He joined us this year to help bring life to our newest designs in the store.
2022*
A SPECIAL THANKS
A second thank you goes to Quentin Hilman.
If you run a business and are constantly looking for ways to manage and streamline your information flow, optimize your efficiency and improve your customer experience ... call these guys!
Affordable, professional and effective help from some of the nicest people we've met in the IT industry.
To represent and cultivate a small but important part of the world’s artistic heritage and culture
while honoring the reason it exists in the first place (you).
Through hostile occupations by the Persians, Romans, Ottomans and Germans, internal strife, good economies and bad, the Greeks have been making jewelry.
Now the greatest threat comes from large fashion brands importing mass produced products. But we know something they might not; that the underlying “brick and mortar” of a tradition like ours comes from love, hard work, and the desire to please the customer.
So we've partnered with independent workshops who are dedicated to the tradition of hand-crafted jewelry making, and whose manufacturing happens entirely in Greece.
Perhaps most importantly, we only deal with family businesses —Those established enough to be great at what they do, modern enough to understand the demands of the digital age, but small enough to care about each customer. Because when you deal with a family business in Greece - that's exactly how you get treated, like family.
Only once we know your preferences will we create "your" piece, but we will always think of it as "our" piece too, as it will mark the time where it was our turn to carry this tradition.
18k gold loops are fired in the beginning of the Granulation technique.
"Socially Sustainable" refers to an environment where every party to a transaction is proactively respected. The heavy footprint of traditional retail costs are replaced with savings to the customer and better representation for the craftsmen. The goal is to create and maintain a business model that is durable, and that reflects the promise, efficiencies and transparency of a connected world.
Our founder Peter Bradley explains how "socially sustainable" benefits our customers on pricing.
Pete and Joanne at the annual Gala for American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA)
Peter Bradley
After surviving 9/11 Peter moved to Greece to discover one of the world’s hidden treasures; the artisans of the Greek jewelry industry. Over the past 18 years he has worked to bring worldwide recognition to their work with his inception of Athena's Gaia. He loves to personally interact with customers and collaborates with the craftsmen to ensure that each piece of jewelry is exactly what it should be; valued forever!
Joanne Borek
An established online development professional, photographer, and professor at NYU, Joanne has used her talents to help expand Athena Gaia's presence. Her data-driven creative spirit enlightens the personality for the store, and she energizes the business by providing customers with a seamless experience through all forms of communication.
Photography
Jan Greco
Orestis Rovakis
Makeup & Styling
Andrea Saavedra
Models
Elizabeth Conte
Micaela ("Model M")
Ageliki Vracha
Interns & helpers along the way:
Håvard Wattum
Kristin Sands
Melissa Silverstein
Thomas Athenasios
Julia Gagliardi
Thomas Ferguson
Our "local jeweler":
R. Weiss Jewelers - Bernards NJ.
Joanne and Pete at Απέραντο Γαλάζιο - ΝΑΟΒΒ in Várkiza
Peter and Håvard are preparing a video for the Gerochristo Page
Learn about the process of custom Greek Jewelry with Athena Gaia in this video featuring Founding Partner Pete Bradley. For this piece we modified our 18k Gold Diamond Block Chain Bracelet by Damaskos to accommodate 3 panels of hand painted Cloisonne Enamel on one side.
Athena
The goddess of wisdom and war. She is well known as the protector of Athens but was also the goddess of craftsmanship (how appropriate for us!).
Gaia
The ancestral mother of all life—the original Mother Earth. She was the deity behind the Oracle and oaths sworn in her name were considered the most binding of all. Gaia was also worshiped as the “sender of gifts” (again, how appropriate for us!).
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