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An emerging wave of fine jewellers say growth is being driven by Gen Z and millennial customers.
Young women in these demographics are set to lead the way for the $251 billion global fine jewellery sector, projected to grow a further 8.6 per cent this year, according to Euromonitor.
While emerging names are bringing fresh ideas to the sector, luxury jewellery remains dominated by the likes of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chopard and Bulgari. For luxury conglomerate Richemont, its jewellery maisons are currently the fastest growing division, with sales up 38 per cent in Q3 year-on-year. The market leaders are full of innovation — for example, in 2020 Louis Vuitton launched LV Volt, a genderless fine jewellery line, designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof.
That leaves plenty of challenges for emerging jewellers who want to carve out their own share of the fine jewellery market. Brands such as Bernard James, O Thongthai, Bea Bongiasca and Fraser Hamilton, all interviewed by Vogue Business, note the enthusiasm of their younger customers happy to invest, and are adopting new ways of interacting with them.
They’re right to put their faith in the young, particularly in China and the broader Asia-Pacific market, says Jean-Philippe Bertschy, executive director of wealth management at Swiss investment management group Vontobel. “The younger generation are in love with fine jewellery. It’s also linked to social media. They want to have iconic pieces and [showcasing their] social status is very important to them.”
Branching into fine jewellery
Brooklyn based jeweller Bernard James, who has been sold by Gucci Vault, Gucci’s concept store project, is leading the way for genderless jewellery brands. “There was a need for strong men's jewellery in the marketplace,” he says of his early collections, which have since evolved to tap a unisex customer base. “[Our customers] appreciated the sort of bending of gender a little bit, and experimenting and pushing the boundaries when it comes to aesthetic control.”
James recognises the need to educate young consumers about the level of craftsmanship that goes into producing a fine collection. “Our goal is to grow with a younger consumer,” he says. “A lot of that comes with educating and inspiring the younger generation to buy into goods that last a long time and are able to be passed down and treated as heirlooms.” A lot of the messaging takes place on Instagram, he explains. His handmade pieces in New York, incorporate black diamonds, sapphires and emeralds with stockists including Moda Operandi, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Gucci Vault.
Bertschy of Vontobel says younger, Gen Z consumers are more than ready to invest in fine jewellery pieces. “The younger generation or the Gen Zs prefer to save a bit of money to buy their first luxury product and to have something very iconic and something very high end.” He notes that many were incentivised in the Covid-19 pandemic to treat themselves as a reward or an act of sheer indulgence.
Developing a fine jewellery, rather than a costume jewellery, brand is a high-stakes move. O Thongthai founder and jeweller Chanyaporn Thongthai, who often goes simply by the name of O, originally focused on costume jewellery when she launched in Thailand back in 2014, but the collection was not as successful as she had hoped, with prices ranging from $120 to $400 and a synthetic pearl choker at $750. “As I'm self-funded, when I started I thought that I can't start with fine jewellery because everything is so expensive. Gold is just so expensive,” she says. She started with brass plated jewellery and reinvested the money back into the business, enabling her to produce more fine jewellery items, priced at between £575 to £20,000. Her designs are described as an unconventional take on traditional jewellery, with the All Ice with Blue Sapphire signet ring featuring a large sapphire surrounded by small white diamonds. Annual sales are now topping $1 million, according to the brand.
Branching into fine jewellery was a strategic move for Italian designer Bea Bongiasca, who has sales in excess of €2 million for her eponymous brand. The Central Saint Martins-educated jeweller started out with a demi-fine collection but found that retailers struggled to place her jewellery within existing categories. “I was on the cusp of fashion jewellery and fine jewellery,” she explains.
In 2021, Bongiasca took the decision to add fine pieces, an approach that appears to be paying off both with high-spending clients and her existing customer base. “It's a very gradual process,” she says. “You need to be able to build up your brand to have the credibility and recognition that you can make fine jewellery.” Her fine collection combines 18-karat carat gold with diamonds, with her signature enamel cutouts incorporated into most pieces. Bongiasca’s demi-fine range is priced between €240 to €1,300. Whereas her fine collection, which uses 18-carat gold instead of the usual 9-carat and incorporates precious stones such as diamonds or emerald, ranges between €5,000 and €7,000.
Marketing: the importance of close connection
Instagram is a powerful tool for connecting with young customers, emerging brand designers say. It’s how Thai-based brand O Thongthai secures many of its bespoke orders — every item is now made to order. “[Clients] prefer to talk to me directly because it's personal,” Thongthai explains. “It's kind of fun for me to talk to everyone and see who my customer actually is and what they want.”
High spending customers, particularly celebrity clients, also appreciate a close connection with the jeweller, she says. When clients are spending upwards of $20,000 on a ring, they want to have direct communication with the jeweller. These young consumers also want more involvement, even input, into how pieces are made. O Thongthai, which specialises in personalised signet rings and has drawn ASAP Rocky and Skepta, is 90 per cent direct to consumer and 10 per cent wholesale, according to the brand. With only one wholesale partner, Browns at Farfetch, the pressure falls on her to drive sales through bespoke orders or collaborative projects.
London-based fine jeweller Fraser Hamilton, who was another participant in the Gucci Vault concept store, says Instagram has allowed his customers to connect with him as an individual. Some 40 per cent of Hamilton’s customer base is 25 to 34 year olds, while 17 per cent are aged 18 to 24, he says. Typically, clients will send him a direct message on Instagram, requesting a custom piece of jewellery or enquiring about a particular item. He’s ready to send over a quick video and close the sale. “I believe a lot of people are coming to me because they like the fact that I'm clearly an individual who still posts cats and sunsets and leaves and a pendant on [Instagram] stories.” Hamilton is well-known for casting parts of the human form, such as hands, in gold and silver. He designs and handcrafts the jewellery in his workshop in London, distributing to 14 stockists.
Bongiasca’s physical store is setting out new possibilities for the retailing of fine jewellery. Her flagship store in Milan is an attractive location for younger consumers to shop: the store, modelled on her childhood bedroom, has fluorescent pink LED lights, bright pink walls and pink furniture. The unconventional, bold and playful nature of the store is drawing younger customers, she says.
Battling rising inflation costs in the fine jewellery industry
Inflation is an issue for all fine jewellery brands, but particularly problematic for young businesses. The cost of raw materials is challenging for Thongthai, who sources and produces all her goods in Thailand. This year diamond prices alone have surged by nearly 20 per cent, she says, forcing her to raise her retail prices.
Bongiasca says it’s a big problem for a young business. “If you're a big jewellery brand, you probably have all your batches of stones that you’ve bought over the years. You have all your diamonds, you have the best prices, you have everything,” she says. For now, in a volatile market, she hopes to avoid raising her retail prices. She says, ruefully, “I think we’ll just have to deal with it.”
Key takeaway: Emerging fine jewellers are finding new ways of engaging with young consumers through social media, creative ideas and materials. Their aim is to educate and grow with their young customer bases. Volatile raw material costs are forcing them to review their pricing strategies.
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