8 min
ExJewel was founded after a successful first story, and satisfied, client!
"I believe that jewelry is embedded with real memories and personal values that should be told, passed on and shared with other family members, future generations and eventually friends." Stephane Boghossian
Project #1 //
It all started with THE first client...
I was lucky enough to have probably the easiest first client, my mother. Easiest? Not so sure!
As I know her, she is hard to serve and satisfy as a client: everything needed to be perfect, the jewelry well crafted, the design at her taste, the event successful, knowing that I will have afterward her full support.
The former piece: We started from a simple 34 pearl necklace
My plan was to let her pick up a piece of her jewelry she didn't wear for a long time, transform it into something she would need and wear and throw an amazing event to share this special occasion with her friends and close ones.
I took this challenge and started the quest of repurposing/redesigning that specific piece.
We started with a simple 34 pearls necklace my mom received years ago from my dad. She did not wear it for a long time. It was actually broken, left away in her safe. But to be honest, the pearls were beautiful and big/good ( ?) enough to be able to aim for some new pieces of jewelry of good quality.
Handmade in LEBANON, from 100% sustainable materials
Following her few instructions and needs, with the collaboration of my brother Patrick, we designed 4 pieces using one string of pearl; refined and restored, we used in parallel the recyclable gold we collected previously from local jewelers. And to be honest, 24 out of 34 pearls were reused, 10 were returned to the client, waiting for a new life... The collection is inspired by all the struggles encountered in 2018 by my mom, her omnipresence in our lives (I have 2 brothers, John and Patrick) and of course, her natural beauty.
Another hard part: choose a suitable jeweler that shares the same values and convince him to come on board. In the heart of Little Armenia, Bourj Hammoud, he disassembled the pearls from the string and handcrafted the jewelry in limited time.
4 jewelry for her and only her
One pearl necklace gave birth to 4 pieces of jewelry:
- A beautiful modern ring
- A minimalistic modern long necklace
- 2 pairs of earrings with an asymmetrical design
An event was created to share memories with
Concept: Gathering with closed ones around a champagne glass, a speech, creative display, and small nuts
An event was created to share this moment with loved ones, close family and friends around a glass of champagne, a creative display and a pitch.
A big surprise for my mom: I could see how happy she was, impressed by the work, satisfied with the new jewelry, and I hope to believe proud!
On this special occasion, ExJewel collaborated with So… Card.
Well, So…Cards is a cool concept that aims to engage in deep conversation with someone in order to know him better; the interaction is based on a series of questions and answers. In our specific experience, people were chosen among the ones living around the Muzo area in Colombia, known for its mines of Emerald. The mines were corrupted by the government during Escobar’s time but are now perfectly controlled by the government who aim to improve the lives and living of the population in this supply chain. I had the chance to meet all kind of people from miners, gem cutters, traders, nearby villagers and clients: an amazing experience and beautiful feedbacks.
My goal is to bring up the storytelling aspect of ExJewel I am trying to focus on.
Diamonds are not forever as DeBeers once marketed, the earth is quite tired of sourcing gemstones, all materials tend to run out… knowing that 92% of the world jewelry inventory is not even worn, but kept in stores, or in the safes. A huge number I do hope to reduce in the long term with Exjewel.
My short-term goal is to revive as many old jewelry as I can, giving them a new life, suitable for its owner.
Learning from this first project, I ended up creating my own start-up ExJewel.