MOUNT VERNON — Running a business for 35 years and doing what you love is something most of us can only dream about.

“It seems like we’re just getting warmed up,” said Diane Rundell who, with her husband, Fred, are the owners of Rundell Goldsmiths. They celebrated 35 years of doing business Friday with a gala bash attended by their customers.

The story began 40 years ago when two young teachers went on a blind date.

“We met as school teachers,” Fred explained. “It was on a blind date.”

“I was teaching and Fred was still doing his student teaching in Galion,” Diane added. “We met through my aunt, who fixed us up.”

Diane was teaching art and Fred was teaching business. They fell in love and two years later they were married. While it might seem a strange pairing, an art major and a business major, it worked out both personally and professionally.

It was a fortuitous match because art without business doesn’t always succeed.

“We got married in 1970,” said Diane. “We started making jewelry in 1971 and opened our business in 1973. Fred kept teaching for two more years because we didn’t want to really rely on just our business for our income.”

The original plan was for Fred to keep teaching for three years, but the business became too successful. Fred left teaching in 1975 to devote his full time to the venture and never looked back. Although Fred had no background in art, he mastered the skills needed to produce the objects Diane designed as well as keeping track of the business side of things.

The original name of the business was Silver Cove with a small shop on East High Street off Public Square. After a while they changed the name to Rundell Designers in Silver and Gold. In 1986 they moved to their present location on South Main Street and changed the name again.

“When we moved here in 1986, we changed the name to Rundell Goldsmiths,” Diane explained. “It was because we started focusing more on gold.”

It was also a time of learning for both of them. While Fred had no background at all in art, Diane had never worked in metal before. So both of them set out to learn more about their chosen craft.

“I didn’t have any experience in metal craft in college,” Diane said. “After we got married we studied under a private instructor. Then we went to a lot of workshops and things like that. And we studied under Don Duncan at Ohio State.”

Diane took on the responsibility of doing the designing. Fred learned the craft of working with gold and silver to produce the designs.

“Diane does all the designing,” Fred explained. “I do all the fabricating and casting and clean-up. And all of the precious stone setting.”

All the production is done in a workshop on site.

“Our lab is similar to a dental lab,” Fred added. “We start with a wax mold made from the design. We have a centrifuge casting machine, where we heat the gold like in a crucible. It spins with a lot of inertia and forces the gold back into the area where the wax pattern was. It’s called the lost wax process.”

Fred then does all the clean-up work which is the fine tuning of the piece.

It makes a one-of-a-kind piece that is never produced again.

“Then there is the matter of lots of hours cleaning up the gold; filing, polishing, sanding and stone setting. It’s intense but it’s fun.”

The model is made by directly working in wax. After the piece is cast, the wax melts leaving the metal piece. Hence, the name lost wax.

As with most new businesses, it wasn’t easy the first couple of years. The Rundells didn’t really have a business plan as such. They tried many things to make a go of it.

“We had to cut corners and do whatever we could,” Diane recalled. “We had our retail location of course and we did a lot of art fairs during those years. Sometimes we did 16 art fairs a year.”

But the business grew and doing the art fairs became much more difficult to do.

“We had to have double inventory and it was very tiring to do that,” Diane explained. “But it was a good way for us to establish ourselves and get money to buy equipment. And we still have customers we met at the art fairs who still come to us today.”

It all paid off, however. Fred and Diane figured they have done between 10,000 and 12,000 pieces of jewelry in their 35 years.

Of all the different kinds of pieces Diane and Fred make, their favorite is doing wedding bands.

“It’s great to get together with the couple and design something just for them,” Diane said. “The couple will come in, sometimes with a definite idea of what they want, but usually they don’t. They just know they want something designed just for them.”

This is Diane’s favorite part of the process. She gets to talk to the clients and get to know them so she can design something that is unique to them.

“We have these photo books we look through so I can get some idea of what they like,” Diane explained. “I usually make up three designs for them to look at in wax. Sometimes they will have family stones they want to use or we can supply the stones. It’s kind of fun to do that because it’s so individual.”

Although the Rundells produce a lot of “stock” jewelry, those are pieces Diane designs herself, about 60 percent of the work is custom order.

At the business end, Fred has to keep things balanced and make sure Diane doesn’t over buy when she goes to big gem shows like the one in Tuscon every year.

“We have to make sure the monthly cash flow is there,” he said. “And we have to make sure the inventory is adequate for what we make. We have an issue with the price of gold, too. When we started business, gold was $32 an ounce. That was a government standard. We’ve seen it go as high as right around $1,000 an ounce. So we have to constantly stay on top of that. Other cost factors we have to contend with are rare diamonds and semi-precious stones. Those don’t change that much. A little bit with inflation, but not like gold.”

And what is the best part of 35 years in business?

“It’s the interaction with the people,” Fred explained.

“Yes, it’s the people,” agreed Diane. “We get to know our customers and what they like. A lot of times now, when I design something for the case I’ll say, ‘OK, so and so will buy this.’”

“We have collectors from all over the United States,” Fred added, “and a lot of clients who come back to us. We think about half of our business comes from Knox County. And we get a lot of referrals from our customers, which we rely on.”

After 35 years in business, there’s one thing not in the business plan.

“It’s like being in a dream to be in this business,” said Fred. “Sometimes people ask us if we are ever going to retire. But it’s like we’ve been retired our whole lives. We’re never going to retire. We just love what we do. We put in a lot of hours, but it’s not like working in a factory.”

Diane agreed. “I feel like we’re just getting warmed up.”