WATERTOWN — Local jeweler, Harutyun Arto Hachikian recently presented jewelry especially designed for the families of Boston Marathon Bombing victims MIT Officer Sean Collier and 8-year-old Martin Richard, as well as injured MBTA Officer Richard H. Donohue. “These are special pieces I designed for them from my heart. They are innocent victims of this tragedy,” Hachikian explained.
Hachikian was born in 1960 in the Bunyan Gigi village in the Kayseri Province of Turkey. His great-grandfather died during the Genocide. Since leaving Istanbul at the age of 17, Hachikian has worked as a jeweler, traveling to Greece, Canada and New York before settling in Boston in 1984. He has hand-designed jewelry for his Boston-based jewelry store, Anais Jewelry, and for retail stores throughout the country.
Hachikian is no stranger to loss and tragedy. In 2002, Hachikian was in a car accident and sustained a spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time… I could feel their pain through my own pain,” said Hachikian. But Hachikian hopes his story will offer the survivors and their families hope.
Through years of determination and perseverance, he has relearned to make jewelry from his wheelchair, despite partial paralysis in both hands. He relies on his wife Alice to help with his daily activities, but he has returned to doing what he loves — designing jewelry. Each piece is custom-designed and made by Hachikian.
“As Armenian-American citizens, we stand strong in support of our American heroes, including the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. We respect and honor the victims and their families. God bless America. Be Strong,” said Hachikian.
“They will always be in our hearts and thoughts as an American heroes for freedom,” he added.