Michael Menbari found his true calling as a jeweler in the late 1970's shortly after graduating from Pittsburgh University of Kansas with a Master of Science degree and moving to California. Here, he became friends with a woman who made custom jewelry and introduced him to the craft. Passionate about making a life in jewelry design, Michael opened Chique Jewelry over thirty years ago in a small store in Los Gatos.

Short on experience, but brimming with enthusiasm, Chique Jewelry’s success led him to move into a larger store at Town and Country Village in San Jose. It was there that he met and became friends with Bill Hoffer, a fellow jewelry store owner and master jeweler with whom Michael apprenticed and learned the finer details of jewelry making. In 2000, when Town and Country Village was demolished to make way for Santana Row, Michael moved Chique Jewelry to Downtown Campbell where he felt the tight knit community complemented his business approach.

Michael loves jewelry design, and to him there is no higher compliment than to watch someone light up the first time she puts on a piece he has created. As Michael says, jewelry “is art that people wear and becomes part of them.” He lives in San Jose with his wife and has three children and a step-child. In addition to English, Michael is fluent in German and Farsi, having lived in Iran and Austria before moving to the U.S.