From Tiffany to Graff, old fashioned diamond brands have long been drawn to London’s Mayfair. Lately, however, disruptors have come up with non-traditional strategies that include low-key, appointment-only showrooms and made-to-order jewelry. Some cut costs while trying to offer good value for money. Others focus on their sustainability credentials.
The American Lab-Grown Diamond Company diamond foundry sells its diamonds directly to consumers through its Vrai brand, which opened a low-key showroom upstairs in Mayfair last September. The plan is for this pop-up to stay here until a permanent space is found. Additionally, the brand is available online at department store Selfridges, and its London flagship store will start selling it early next year.
Vrai President Mona Akhavi says that for many clients, the jeweler’s sustainability credentials are compelling. “We are the largest vertically integrated producer [in terms of carats] in the United States and the first to be certified carbon neutral, using only renewable energy for production,” she says.
Vrai’s diamonds are created in a zero-emissions smelter in the Pacific Northwest using 100% hydroelectricity from the Columbia River. The company is also opening a foundry in Spain, which is why, according to Akhavi, the first permanent European store is set to open in Madrid this month.
In the UK, 60% of Vrai’s sales are wedding-related. Consumers choose their own diamond, customizing and personalizing the piece. It is then manufactured in the USA and delivered five to seven business days later. Much of the business is conducted via virtual meet-and-greets and the business operates primarily on order.
Baunat’s London space is similar. Two streets from Vrai, there is no exterior signage to suggest that the Antwerp brand’s tall office-showroom is here. But then, attracting passers-by is not the intention.
Classic tennis bracelets and diamond solitaires, created in its Antwerp workshop by goldsmiths and diamond setters, are Baunat’s stock in trade. Engagement rings represent 75% of its business, which has led to a largely millennial clientele.
The diamond jewelry disruptor and digital native brand specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and retail of high-quality jewelry that revolves around 100% natural, untreated and conflict-free diamonds.
Each diamond over 0.30 carat comes with a diamond grading certificate from the Gemological Institute of America, or the Diamond High Council HRD based in Antwerp, or the International Gemological Institute. Its ethical standards are certified by the Responsible Jewelery Council.
Baunat was founded by Steven Boelens and Stefaan Mouradian, two diamond industry veterans who intended to bypass the layers of the supply chain in order to cut prices from conventional luxury diamond retailers. “These customers aren’t willing to pay too much for inefficiencies or intangibles, which aren’t reflected in the finished product they buy,” says Boelens, who is also executive director of Baunat.
Customers follow an online process in which they can choose each item, including shank design, carat weight and stone shape, from the company’s main collection.
Baunat’s working capital is not immobilized in stock. Instead, once the piece has been paid for, the diamond is purchased and the finished creation shipped from Baunat’s Antwerp workshop, in a process that usually takes between 10 and 14 days.
When customers see gemstone sizes and cuts, cubic zirconia is used instead of diamonds. The same applies to all 12 Baunat showrooms, from Geneva to Shanghai or the two which are due to open this year in Luxembourg and Madrid.
Mayfair was also the launching pad for Hong Kong jeweler Boochier. Since exhibiting at the PAD design show in October, she has found a retailer at nearby Dover Street Market, selling pieces that combine pavé diamonds with 18-karat gold covered in colored enamel. There are 10 colors to choose from, from pastel pink to orange or yellow.
Boochier founder Melinda Zeman says 99% of customers are women who buy stackable items for themselves, like the $10,300 Fruit Hoops bracelet. It comes from the Ties collection, so named because of a recognizable signature that resembles a loose knot. Although it was designed to convey the vibrancy and culture of Zeman’s mixed Ghanaian and Chinese heritage, she concludes that it is a pattern that “celebrates the different bonds that help form one’s identity. “.
Sometimes, however, disruptors can come unstuck by being too ambitious. Vashi, a diamond brand founded by Vashi Dominguez in London in 2017, was known for the immersive retail theater surrounding its in-store jewelry production, involving 3D printing, casting, setting, polishing and engraving .
The craftsmen working on the benches and in the windows of its Covent Garden flagship store have certainly polished off its bespoke appearance. But a planned expansion to Old Bond Street never happened: the company went out of business on April 4, when Teneo Financial Advisory was appointed joint liquidator of Diamond Manufacturers, Vashi’s holding company.
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