Leon's a quirky guy, and his personality style isn't for everyone, but DAMN does the man have an eye for proportion - his pieces are exquisite. I worked with him on a personal piece once and it was magnificent. The center stone was a GIA L color antique asscher and every time I called the shop, they'd say, "Oh I know, you're the crooked asscher that's a little yellow, hang on a sec..."
He then went on to post some of my pics on his site, since he didn't do his usual photo shoot, but he had his photographer edit the warmth out of my stone. SIGH. Oh Leon.
Funny story. We were in Vegas for JCK last year and passed a booth with LM boxes in the window. So my partner Grace stops me and says, "Hey, those are Leon settings!" A gentleman stands up and says, "You know Leon?" So I say "Yes, he did a setting for me a few years ago, and we've been in touch off and on over the years, we're in the trade." This guy then gives us the 3rd degree - who are we, what did we order from Leon, etc. Finally he sticks out his hand and says, "I'm Leon, but I have no idea who you are."
After much memory refreshing, he finally remembered me. Not for my crooked yellow asscher, but because about 6 years ago I sent him an angry email criticizing the way his site was written - about how lower colored stones are junk, bad quality, no one would want them, inferior, etc. So he asked me to send him text of what I thought it should say, which I did, and he then posted verbatim on his site, lol. That made me happy, for those of us who love the warmer spectrum of colors. That's what he remembered, "You're the one who didn't like the way my site was written and yelled at me."
He's a funny guy
