In the early 1970's, he worked as an architectural draftsman while attended University of New Mexico's School of Architecture. While at school, he learned how to make turquise necklaces from his grandfather, but slowly taught himself silverwork. He allowed his minimalist architectural views to his jewelry, resulting in pieces that display purity, sparseness, and balance. Finally, In 1976, he gave up architecture work on jewelry full time.

His work uses irregularly cut semiprecious and precious stones and turquoise as an accent color to create contemporary pieces. 

He buys his owns stones and does all the work himself, from cutting, to polishing, to mounting, including inlay work. 

Richard's works have won numerous awards since his first competition in 1976. 

Please check back this summer, when we hope to have pictures available of Richard Chavez's work at the Robert Dean Collection