Company Profile

Phoenix Sterling, Ltd. is a young international company that has sprung from the decades of complimentary experience of its founders. The secret of the unique selection, quality and value we offer our customers is quite simple: Phoenix designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes the products it sells. This hands-on approach means that Phoenix customers receive products designed and made specifically with them in mind. We meticulously insure the quality of each piece that comes from our facilities. We stand behind that quality without reservation. When you buy from Phoenix, you are dealing with the actual people who designed and made the product, not with brokers, importers, or resellers...and you don't pay any middleman's profits. Our goal is to give you high quality products you can't get elsewhere at prices you won't believe...and not just once...we want you to come back again and again...and to tell your friends!

Facilities

Phoenix Sterling's design studio and manufacturing plant are located in Tonalá ("toe-nah-LAH") a suburb of Guadalajara in the sate of Jalisco, México. Tonalá is a well-known creative center for a wide variety of arts and crafts made in materials that range from clay to pewter and blown glass to hand-carved wood. Guadalajara is the third largest city in México with a population of over 5 million people. The Phoenix manufacturing operation is unique in México, however, in that its management, equipment, manufacturing techniques, quality control, and distribution systems are strictly European and American. Our silver comes from legendary old Mexican mines operated today by a company that was founded in 1887. That company is said to be the largest silver producer in the world. In order to provide the best service to our American and Canadian customers, Phoenix maintains a distribution facility in St. Augustine, Florida.  In addition, we have a distribution facility in the city of Toluca near México City to serve Latin American customers.

Principals
Creative Director - Design & Manufacturing 
Max Koekkoek(pronounced "Koo-KOOK")
Mr. Koekkoek was born and grew up in Holland.  As a young man he studied at the University of Amsterdam majoring in 20th Century Art, Philosophy, and Art History. Afterwards, he served an extensive and demanding apprenticeship under master goldsmiths in Belgium. He went on to study fine jewelry design and fabrication in Rome and Vicenza, Italy as well as in Pforzheim, Germany, the center of the German jewelry industry. Later, he worked for many years throughout Europe, Asia, North America, México, and South America. As a result, Mr. Koekkoek has extensive, first-hand knowledge of worldwide and regional fashion, fashion trends, and manufacturing techniques.Almost two decades ago, Mr. Koekkoek settled in México. He now resides in the city of Tonalá, in the Mexican State of Jalisco, just a couple of hours from the famous resort town of Puerto Vallarta. In Tonalá, Max spends nearly every waking hour in active design and  hands-on manufacturing management of the products we offer here. He designed, built, and equipped this facility to absolutely first-class, old-world standards and works hard to keep it that way! His meticulous attention to the smallest detail from design through casting and finishing to packing of the finished product guarantees our customers will be absolutely delighted with any Phoenix purchase they ever make. They have Max's word on that!

Director of Administration & Logistics 
John R. Leerskov(pronounced "LES-ko")
Mr. Leerskov was born in 1948 in Dallas, Texas of Danish descent. He grew up in Dallas and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1966 until 1969. He received his M.B.A. from East Texas State University in 1973. Since then he has worked in public and private accounting, industrial engineering, as well as in the design, development, installation and management of manufacturing plants, equipment and operating systems. He has also supervised and directed manufacturing research and development, established world-class quality control operations, and provided intercultural liaison among major U.S. corporations and Latin American manufacturers, contractors, and personnel. Mr. Leerskov has worked extensively in Latin America for more than twenty years. He now resides in the city of Toluca near México City. From here he coordinates Phoenix Sterling's international accounting and administrative activities and manages all customer services and distribution logistics.