Ivan Tibor Mate

Ivan Tibor Mate was born in Hungary right after WWII. After eight years of mandatory elementary education, his father Laszlo (m.h.r.i.p.) entered him in a three year apprenticeship contract in jewelry engraving with the Watch and Jewelry trading Company, a government owned and controlled giant firm under Communist rule in 1959. After three years and proving competency in the trade and in connected studies (Geometry, Mathematics, Art History etc.) by formal exams, Ivan earned Journeyman status in the craft of Jewelry Engraving. 

Two years later Ivan started engraving on his own in the private sector. In 1978 he immigrated to Canada. Employed by Henry Birks and Sons in the Phillips Square Engraving Department, Ivan met Mr. Frank (Frantz) Letschnig, a brilliant engraver of Austrian origin, who generously helped him with further guidance. Ivan refers to Mr. Letschnig as to his true Master in engraving. After one year with the Birks Co. he opened a modest workshop on Cathcart, the opposite side of the street from Birks, and offered his services for jewelry retailers and wholesalers. In 1982 he was granted an immigrant visa and entered the United States as a "craftsman skilled in a trade of demand." Renting a small office on Hill Street in the heart of the Los Angeles Jewelry Center, he received impulses from and exchanged ideas with accomplished engravers who practiced jewelry engraving by very high standards and with great humility. For Ivan, Los Angeles was the real test in flexible applications and challenging calls, as the jobs were never stereotypes, the next work piece could have been something never imagined or done before, and often it was.

After twenty years in L.A. planning "semi retirement," Ivan moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and five years later to San Antonio, Texas.  In Texas, while enjoying the liberties of that state's relaxed gun laws and the connected liberties Mr. Mate started to experiment with gun engraving. By then he was already sixty-two years old, with forty-eight years of experiences in the Engraving Craft. He believes that the ultimate purpose of ornamenting objects by engraving is to please people and to gain personal satisfaction during the process, which makes it similar to an act of loving kindness. Beside that satisfaction, as fringe benefits one might hope for earning a living, and have flexible time management if engaged in this beautiful and noble profession.

Besides his commitments to engraving, Ivan's interests include Journalism, Foreign Trade, Psychology, Counter Terrorism and National Security.

Ivan has become a naturalized Citizen of the United States, and practices his trade here for twenty seven years, first under the business name of Engraving By Ivan, and since 1994 as Engraving Studio. September 2009 marks his fiftieth anniversary in the craft of engraving.

To contact Ivan Tibor Mate directly, click here.