Cicada jewelry design began as a manufacturing jeweler in Los Angeles California passing through three generations of jewelers.  Vartan came to the United States from Lebanon in the late 1970′s and began with a friend in the jewelry industry.  Vartan self taught himself gem cutting and inlay lapidary spending countless hours of practicing in the late nights.  Vartan taught his father the art of Inlay Lapidary as well.By the mid 1980's the business grew and jewelers in Los Angeles came to them for gem cutting and inlay lapidary work.  The business continued to grow and they employed around 15 employees in the 1990's even picking up clients in New York.  Sako, his son, also fell in love with the trade at an early age and learned the trade from his father.