Our History

Neil Bell, founder and president of Red Sky Plating, was born into a family with a long jewelry-making legacy. Neil grew up working with his brothers and sisters in his father’s jewelry manufacturing and supply company. He began apprenticing as a bench jeweler with his father when he was only a teenager, and he worked as a professional bench jeweler at Granat Brothers Fine Jewelry in San Francisco for many years. When Neil returned home to New Mexico in 1975, he founded Red Sky to serve the jewelry industry in a new capacity.

Red Sky started out in a small office park, but outgrew that location after only a few years. Two moves later, in 1989, Red Sky arrived at its current 14,000 square foot facility which includes a large, well-lit and ventilated plating production area, a large, well-equipped chemistry lab and a comprehensive, award-winning water treatment facility.

Red Sky is proud of its dedication to the environment and its conservation efforts in what has always been a water-intensive industry. The City of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico have both recognized the company for its accomplishments in conservation.

Red Sky is very fortunate to have drawn together a group of skilled and dedicated team members over the years—many of whom have been here for more than a decade. We are proud to offer our employees a safe and gratifying work environment and a culture of collaboration where team members regularly suggest ideas that will improve work processes. Red Sky emphasizes shop safety and requires extensive safety training for all team members.

The team at Red Sky is proud to have offered world-class plating to the jewelry industry for more than 40 years.