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Concept

Q: Is it necessary to read so much about jewellery just to buy a piece?

A: No, but it could save you a lot of money.

The service concept of Kirov Jewellery Studio has an avant-garde approach. It is based on three anchor points which differentiate it sharply from the main stream online and offline jewellery stores. These three points are:

•    Personal aproach
•    Appearance based choice
•    Value for money factor

The three points are interlinked in a system that delivers high quality product, tailored according to the customer’s specifications and budget, delivered on time at realistic, down-to-earth prices.

Personal Approach

While Personal approach is offered by many high end jewellers, very few are actually dealing with every customer from the first contact to the delivery of the piece. The customer is usually talking with a sales person who is passing the job to a designer, who is forwarding it to a goldsmith and then to the stone setter. Then is back to the polisher and it is reported ready for dispatch. In studio jewellery, this is done by one person. The designer is the sales person and goldsmith, gemologist, and polisher responsible for every single step of the process. Ordering your jewellery in a online studio might lack the glamour and sparkle of prime position jewellery store but it has two major advantages, often overlooked by the excited buyer:

•    If you go in shop with ready inventory, they will always try to sell you what they have in stock rather than looking for the best deal that suits you. The lack of inventory makes every deal equal so the studio jeweler can afford to offer you the best options tailored for your taste and budget without losing profit.

•    The inventory you see on the window has hefty cost generating monthly interest. This, together with the heavy running cost of the brick and mortar store calls for serious mark up.

Appearance based choice

Jewellery is a feast for the eye. If your jeweller is telling you that buying piece of jewelley is a good investment, he is either not honest or ill informed. This marketing approach is mostly applied to diamonds in order to justify the extremely high prices of this gem. A diamond is an investment in beauty and pride of ownership, but not an investment upon which one can reasonably expect to make a profit. While some diamonds are having good appreciation, their percentage is negligible when assessing the South African and even the Global diamond market. Only large diamonds with very high colour and clarity grade can generate proper returns, and they are hardly available locally.  By rough estimation if your diamond cost less than R300,000 it will take many years just to cover the profit the dealer made by selling it to you. Heaving this in mind, I am eliminating factors increasing the value of the diamond without contributing to the appearance and offer the customer the optimum quality and size for their chosen price frame. Educated appearance based choice of diamond and metal can make enormous difference to the impact factor of a jewellery piece in given price bracket.

Value for money factor

Cheap and jewelry are two ends that never meet. I am referring to genuine pieces made from precious metals and set with genuine stones.  Fine jewelry is meant to be expensive; it is a form of concentrated wealth and statement of status. The materials involved in fine jewelry are promptly classified and their prices hardly negotiable, so if the price of a piece of fine jewelery is too good to be truth, it most probably is. It is good to figure out first how cheap is cheap, and since people have different buying power this term is far from objective. If you see price tag of R700 for a diamond ring, you would think it is cheap and mentally pair it with bargain. This is a good marketing trick but is not entirely correct; cheap – yes, bargain – definitely no. If you strip the markup from the price you will most probably end up with cost of R150 and this is not a bargain. Yes, you could get something that can be lawfully called diamond ring with cost price of R150. Thin mass finished shank containing 1.3gr. of 9k gold set with 0.02ct. diamond of almost industrial quality and plenty of optical tricks to make it look substantial. Bargain is a ring with cost much greater than the markup. It is all in the ratio between these two values and the price itself is irrelevant. The formula of Value for money factor (VFMF) is based on this concept and it is applied to every piece I quote and to every advice I give to my customers.

How does it work?

Participating in the design of your customized jewelry is highly appreciated from the receiving side and not necessarily expensive. There is not commitment from customer’s side until all details are cleared and it is surprisingly simple. It all boils down to some quality 2 step communication.
Clearing the idea is the first and most demanding step. If it is properly done however it is more than half way there. If I know what you want I will help you to bring it to life. I know it is difficult task, that`s why I offer choice of two approaches:

1. Via “Find style“gallery

This is a visual approach. You use the “find style gallery” in order to find inspiration.
It is alternative to surfing the net for the right design with the difference that I have done the surfing for you. The gallery is packed with pictures of trendy designs conveniently sorted by category. Once you find something you like, and you think it could be used as a style template of your idea, click on it. You will be taken together with the picture to a page where you can describe what you like about it and what you want changed. Except if it is a love at first site you will probably end up with very different design but it is a major step forward. You can send me more than one picture (in separate posts) regarding one item. For example you send me one because you like the setting of this design but not the shank , then another one for the shank  and a third one for some detail that caught your eye. This will give me a good starting point. Go to find style

In the unlikely case you find nothing inspiring in the gallery, there is another approach:

2. Via pictures and e-mail communication

If you have a picture or a link from the web of something similar to the piece you have in mind, this is the right approach. I just need a starting point from which I will lead you to the different options available. This is done from “request quotation” page, where you can upload picture from your computer or place a link and provide as much information as possible about your idea of the piece. Go to request quotation page

Designing the piece is the step that naturally follows the clear idea. Here the advantages of customized jewelry are fully utilized. I will provide you with advice regarding metals suitability, diamond size and quality, trend and aesthetic compliance and fit everything into a comfortable budget. I will give you different price options linked to labor intensity and metal and gemstone quality, accompanied by advice on where is the best value for money.

I do not call for any financial commitment from the customer`s side up to this point. You can walk out of the project with a simple “no thank you” at any time and there are no bad feelings.

Once we agree on all points and the final quote is accepted, I require payment before commencing the manufacturing process.

The next step is the fabrication of the piece, which is fairly uncomplicated providing the first step is done promptly. It is very much linked to the skills and experience of the studio jeweler and seldom requires additional involvement of the customer except may be some patience. A normal time frame for manufacturing a ring with medium labor intensity is about 7 to 10 working days from the time of acceptance of the quotation to shipping and it is usually mentioned in the body of the quotation. I would estimate the entire process from first contact to the receiving the piece to +/- 3 weeks.