Who We Are

Kevin Potter founded Potter USA in 1997 from his garage. It started with silversmithing stakes and a dream to make jewelry tools more accessible and affordable to upstart jewelers like himself–a venture that cost Potter more than he earned from it. In 2016, Potter discovered the Parisi Tool & Die Company, a historic jewelry hub and die company in Providence, Rhode Island that was set for the graveyard. He couldn’t stand to see all that history get buried, so he brought the collection back home to Tucson, Arizona.

Ever since, Potter USA has become a repository for jewelry history with the largest collection of historic jewelry hubs in the world. We believe that anyone can achieve quality craftsmanship with the right support and that jewelry history deserves to be preserved. We strive to educate and support jewelers of all skill levels.

Meet Our Team

Kevin Potter, Founder and Co-owner of Potter USA. Kevin jokes that he’s “in acquisitions” and that his job is to spend money on new dies, but really, he’s the inspiration of the operation. His favorite jewelry style is and always will be art nouveau and if he could sell nothing else, he would.

Danielle Crounse, Co-owner of Potter USA. Danielle handles the financial end of things and has been making Potter USA run properly since 1997. She ensures that Kevin doesn’t set the shop on fire and, most importantly, that we all get paid.

Mitch Baker, General Manager. Mitch has been the General Manager since 2021, but has been working with Potter USA in the form of a website designer for much longer. His experience is actually in aeronautical engineering–rocket science!

Annie Pennington, Marketing Director. You may recognize Annie from the Potter People Facebook group, where Annie posts all the beautiful jewelry she makes with our impression dies. She also makes tutorials, plans the monthly box, and more!

Lynette Andreasen, Marketing Officer. Lynette is another accomplished jeweler on the team. She posts all her amazing work on Facebook and Instagram, makes tutorials, and even dedicates time every week making sure our customers don’t miss out on the impression dies they want. 

Aeden Soland, Marketing Officer. Aeden wears a lot of hats at Potter USA. They write articles, research jewelry history, plan and coordinate marketing events, design advertisements and logos, and put almost all the impression dies on the website. They use their experience as a journalist to make Potter USA as educational as possible.

Brianna Shephard, Marketing Assistant. Brianna posts jewelry tips on Facebook and Instagram and helps manage the Potter USA social media accounts. Brianna presented her jewelry at Fashion Week in Paris in October of 2024!

Athena Schmidt, Drafter and Customer Relations. In addition to making our customer’s days, Athena designs our pancake dies and pattern plates. She’s personally undertaken the project of organizing our impression die archive. 

Melanie Nelson, Customer Relations Representative. Our customers are always happy to hear Melanie’s voice on the other end of the phone because she strives to solve their problems and make them laugh in the same call.

Adolfo Murillo Chavez, Operations Manager. There are many, many, many background tasks that need doing in order to make Potter USA run smoothly from keeping inventory to keeping up with our relationships to other companies. Adolfo handles these for us and we don’t know where we would be without him! He also wants to state explicitly for everyone reading, “My name is spelled ADOLFO!”

Andrea Collelmo, Shipping Director. Andrea is new to Potter USA, but her ingenuity and performance promoted her to shipping director quickly. She loves the outdoors and has been learning how to cook!

Quinn Downs, Shipping Assistant. Quinn picks orders for the shipping crew and assists in producing impression dies. They keep the department running smoothly!

Sonja Baker, Shipping Assistant. Sonja helps coordinate shipping part-time. Her day job is a physical therapist.

Jovanna Santiago, Shipping Assistant. Jovanna, who packs your orders, is a mother of two whose perfectionism and organizational skills have made the shipping department sparkle!

Jacob Zimmerman, Production Manager. Jacob is a professional photographer whose talents uniquely translate to making our stock of products. Without him, you wouldn’t get your orders at all!

Eli Roepke, Production Technician. All day, all week, Eli stands at a big hydraulic press to make our impression dies. You have him to thank for your collections! He has formally requested that his official job title be “Die Goblin,” which we’ve taken under advisement. 

Jacob White, Production Assistant. He runs the CNC machines that are used to produce pucks for impression dies, and bracelet formers, saws, and other items.

Tim Kundrat, Machinist. Tim’s specialty as a machinist comes in great handy on the day to day and he also advises us when inventing new tools. You might know Tim’s golden retriever, Leroy, from our Facebook posts!

Ian Peterson, Tool Assembler. Ian has been working for Potter USA since high school and is the master at hydraulic press assembly. He assembles the more complicated tools and prepares those items for freight shipping. He sometimes brings his sword collection to work.

Jeremia Petz, Millwright. Jeremia saves old machinery. He’s the reason we can use antique machinery like drop hammers, rolling mills, and rose engines. He disassembles, cleans, paints, and reassembles antique technology for our use.

Vincent Potter, Apprentice and Owner of the Cranston Fancy Wire Company. Being Kevin and Danielle’s son, our long-time Potter USA customers have watched Vincent grow up. He manages the Cranston Fancy Wire Company at Potter USA and serves as a jewelry apprentice for the company, selling his work on the website. Outside of Potter USA, he owns his own studio printing company and hosts art galleries and concerts for the local community.

Kaitlyn Aglestos, Apprentice. Kaitlyn is Kevin and Danielle’s niece. She produces all our copper and silver stampings. She’s also being taught the art of jewelry making as an apprentice and sells her practice work at Potter USA.