Meet Our Instructors
James Friedman
Owner/Instructor/ Design consultant: With over 35 years of design development and production experience. James has been able to assist in launching multiple jewelry brands large and small and has a solid portfolio of custom design work. His ability to teach students and clients to reach for the stars has seen much success over the years. Book a private session or consult to make you design dreams come true.
Instructor: Wax Carving Private Workshops, commercial consultation and over all jewelry industry expert.
Edlynn Taira
Instructor: Introduction to Wax Carving
Edlynn has been designing jewelry for over 10 years. As an instructor at the Honolulu Museum of Art she fine tuned her ability to work with students to help them bring their dreams to reality. Easy to work with she is a powerhouse of knowledge and skills.
Lori Monmoa
Instructor: Metal Basics-Beginning Jewelry Making, Intermediate Jewelry Making, Prong Setting, Tube Setting, Spinner Rings, and Enameling
Lori has a wide range of jewelry experience and has much to offer for students new to jewelry making and to those with experience. Her methodical approach supports creativity in a safe environment to bring out the artist in everyone. She has been teaching at EDCL since 2022.
Mark Malenich
Instructor; Introduction to Wax Carving, Wax 1.5
Mark is a fine artist and has been a dedicated, life-long student of the arts starting from an early age. To formalize his pursuit of the arts, he attended and received his Master of Arts degree at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Having learned metalsmithing in graduate school and lost wax casting at Honolulu Museum of Art, he uses his cumulative knowledge across multiple disciplines to create engaging courses for El Dorado Casting Lab.
Nathaniel Breeden
Instructor: Intro to CAD, CAD 2
Nathaniel has been teaching CAD at EDCL since 2024 and has extensive work experience with CAD production for product and jewelry design. Professional work includes product conception, design, pre and post production and retail market.