COVETED Colors Colorado

Diamonds will always have a future, thanks to canny marketing and a consuming public that thinks of them as rare. That's why fancy colored diamonds, which are the true rarities in the hierarchy of these grand gems, will continue to enjoy a steady and enduring growth.

We spoke to several retail jewelers who are watching the colored diamond portion of their businesses blossom. They told us about the increasing sophistication of their customers, and spoke of the loose and finished goods suppliers they have come to rely on for success in this market.

PRECIOUS PARTNERSHIPS

John James, owner of Heavenly Pines Fine Jewelry in Pinehurst, North Carolina, is a jeweler who likes to educate. "I do a lot of reading on colored diamonds and try to pass along my knowledge on a weekly radio show I do on Wednesday mornings. I tell people that out of the 155 million carats of diamonds mined each year, only a few thousand are high quality color, and that colors like green or purple are extremely rare. I'll talk about famous colored diamonds and invite listeners into the store to see what colored diamonds look like."

"Yellow is the color we sell the most, primarily because it's more plentiful," James says. "I have a pendant that Abe Mor sent me yesterday on spec that has a 1.5 carat pear shaped yellow diamond at its center, surrounded by white diamonds. Three people have already expressed an interest in it. It will not be a hard sell at all. We prefer to sell natural. Once you explain the difference, customers appreciate the greater value of the natural stones. Taking the time to explain things also builds the level of trust you always hope for when customers confide in you their budgets and tastes."

James is a fan of Abe Mor, as is Keith Hess, owner of Hess Jewelers in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. "They are a phenomenal company with regard to flexibility and their willingness to help out a jeweler," says Hess. "For example, if a customer I sold a .5 carat stone to five years ago comes back to trade up, Abe Mor will take it back in trade. I was a rep for 10 years and have been a retailer for 13, and in too many cases my relationship with suppliers has been a one-way street. Not so with Eric and Abe. They are genuinely interested in acting as partners."

"Another thing I like about them is their massive inventory," says Hess. "Their catalog is never outdated. They have what they say they have. I can go to their web site with my own password and input my parameters and find the perfect stone. Finally, there is their honesty. In my experience, when a manufacturer says one carat, they really mean .94 on up to, maybe, one. If Abe Mor says one carat, it is exactly one carat, guaranteed. You don't know how powerful a sales tool that is."

SUPPLYING A VISION

Buffy Hukle's clientele at The First Place in Wichita, Kansas, is very sophisticated. "Many customers buy their own diamonds," she says. "They want color—blacks, greens, oranges, and blues that often don't even look like diamonds. They want to be the first with unusual stones that nobody else has and are looking to stay completely away from white diamonds. Very popular and cutting edge right now are beads that run the gamut of colors, with organic slices of diamond materials set in subtle diamond bezels."

Hukle often relies on Manak Couture for finished jewelry. "I walked by their show booth six years ago and fell instantly in love. They were doing exactly the look I was looking for. They can take care of every segment of my clientele, from a plain white hoop to a 100 carat necklace. They see what I see—they supply my vision."

While Manak Couture offers finished goods, Manak Jewels supplies loose fancy colored diamonds, a fact Miguel Ramirez, director of inventory control at Molina Fine Jewelers in Phoenix, Arizona, relies on. "The most popular fancy colored diamond for us is pink. We do some fabrication here, but it's hard to find the intensity and quality we're looking for by ourselves. That's where Manak Jewels comes in. I've worked with them for seven years and I have to say that when we need help, they are a crucial, instrumental part of our solution. They make it really easy to find what is a hard-to-find product."

Ramirez adds, "In fact, it's kind of a game I play with them, because I'm always asking, 'How do you manage to have the goods you have? How do you do it?' Somehow they do. I can't tell you how much it means to me to not have to shop around and to deal with only one supplier that always gets the goods to me when they say they will."

A FAMILY ENVIRONMENT

Chad Hill, store manager and part owner of Southern Wholesale Jewelers in Jasper, Alabama, used to be a wholesaler but now operates a retail store. "We've carried a little bit of all diamond colors, such as black, blue, and pink, but yellow is what our customers prefer. We let them know that our stones are natural, not irradiated, and that the center stones come with certificates. Our price point, which runs from $1,500 to $30,000, depends on the intensity and size of the center stone and accents."

"We do a lot of sales in M.K. Diamonds & Jewelry's fashion jewelry with colored diamonds, mostly fancy yellows, in bracelets and fashion rings. We go up to 2 carat radiants on some pieces. Color just adds a uniqueness to a ring, and we get many comments from people when they see an M.K. Diamonds piece in the display with a fancy yellow already set in the center. We also buy a lot of loose from M.K. Diamonds. We've bought loose on-line, overseas, and from sightholders, but have never found a better price anywhere than with them."

Hill continues, "Their selection is extraordinary—any size or grade that you want, up to 10 carats, you can get right away from Moishe at M.K. Diamonds. We met him 15 years ago at an SJTA show when he was with another company. Since then we have come to know him as a gentleman and a man of his word. He focuses more on his customers than anybody else we've ever dealt with. He's as good as family and if I could buy everything I needed in this business just from him, I would. He also listens. If I tell him that my customers are clamoring for fancy yellow bracelets, he'll come back at us with some fresh bracelet designs. When I talk to M.K., I feel like I'm talking to family."

DISTINCTIVE DESIGNS

Gary Sanchez, president and owner, Diamonds Direct, St. Petersburg, Florida, likes that he's doing well with fancy yellows. "We're doing better as time goes on because the general public is learning not to confuse them with citrines. That education is coming both from us in-store and from the colored diamonds people see on celebrities in magazines and on TV. Pink diamonds, of course, are slower moving because of their greater rarity and cost."

"We're selling a lot of diamond pendants and fashion jewelry from Cherie Dori. One of the most popular pendant looks is the cobblestone look, where 15 or 20 differently shaped diamonds are clustered together. We also see some anniversary bands and rings in color, as people feel a little freer to get away from the traditional white diamond look as they get older. Occasionally on an engagement ring somebody might ask to surround the center white diamond with some fancy yellows."

Sanchez continues, "We started working with Cherie Dori 10 years ago after meeting them at an IJO show. From the start we liked the variety of their selection. You could find something different and unique from them to sell in price points that ranged from $10 to $10,000. The company continues to appeal to us. We like its fashionable collections and complex designs that turn heads. Many people just haven't seen anything like it before."

"Cherie Dori more than meets the three characteristics I look for in a supplier," Sanchez says. "One is service, do they deliver in a timely manner? Do they stand behind what they sell? Do they make it easy to trade back? Two, do they have great prices? Three, do they offer great value? Cherie Dori comes out well in every respect."

GLOBAL SPECIALIST

As consumers catch on to the beauty, and rarity, of fancy colored diamonds, manufacturers and jewelers are seeking out loose stone suppliers who can offer expertise, high quality, big inventory and fast, no-excuses service. Novel Collection, which is dedicated solely to fancy colored diamonds, already has earned a worldwide reputation for quick, outstanding performance and attentiveness to its customers' needs.

Founded in Israel and now established internationally in four major jewelry industry centers (New York, Hong Kong, Antwerp, and Ramat Gan), Novel Collection is able to buy colored rough in large quantities through its extensive industry sources. The company cuts and finishes the rough using the world's most sophisticated cutting technology. The result is quality loose goods that manufacturers and retailers on several continents have come to rely on without hesitation.

But the company goes an extra step: Besides its high quality loose stones, Novel Collection has made working with it straightforward and easy. Jewelry industry visitors to its web site at www.novel-collection.com can register for free and then browse the company's inventory of fancy colored diamonds. The database allows visitors to "drill down" in search of the perfect stone. They can sift through what's available by cuts (15 of them), colors (eight), certificates (five that are internationally recognized), and ask to have the results sorted by color, clarity, carats, or price.

That combination of large inventory and customer-friendly service has paid off. For many of the world's most demanding and prestigious colored diamond buyers, Novel Collection is now the first supplier that comes to mind.