Interview with Shahpour Jahan

One of the most memorable gemstones I ever saw was an unbelievable red diamond my father placed as the centrepiece for a magnificent jewel. It was one of the most extraordinary diamonds I have ever seen. Red diamonds are the rarest diamonds in the world, and this one was of an impressive size – around 10 carats. It had more lustre and sparkle than any ruby I had ever seen with a deep, pomegranate colour. I have never seen anything like it ever since, and I don’t believe another diamond like that even exists. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and it made me even more passionate about the world of jewels and gemstones.

I believe it comes from growing up surrounded by fabulous jewellery and helping my father at an early age. I always loved the creative side of jewellery and began designing jewels from the age of 10! My mother was an incredible artist and she helped me with my drawings. I would take my designs to my father, who would give me ideas on how to improve them and explain what I needed to do before he could make the piece. Even though I was a child, he would talk to me as an adult. I think receiving structured feedback helped me learn faster and shaped my ideas.

My father wanted me to start helping when I was very young, just like he did. As a teenager, he assigned tasks and responsibilities to me so I could learn every step in our trade. From sorting diamonds and cutting gemstones, to setting and polishing… I had to learn it all. It was a valuable experience that helped me appreciate the entire process of making a marvellous jewel.

My father’s devotion to his craft and attention to detail were truly inspirational. I also admired the deep connection he had with his jewellery. I remember watching him admire his finished pieces with such pride and feeling that I wanted to experience the same joy with my own designs. He would gently hold and carefully inspect every finished jewel to ensure it was perfect. But as soon as he was done enjoying his masterpiece, he would start working on the next one!

Although my father was the driving force behind our company’s success during his era, I observed how much time he spent with his staff and how careful he was to recruit the most gifted people. I learned that forming a talented team and nurturing your staff was the best way to grow a business. I remember that his salesmen were always sharply dressed, with perfect haircuts and a very kind demeanour. I never saw salesmen like that in any other store, let alone another jewellery store! With his artisans and craftsmen, he spent hours helping them perfect their technique and showing them how to improve every piece. They respected him immensely because he made jewellery himself from a very young age for many years. He knew exactly what needed to be done to perfect every detail.

My practical training started with my father. He taught me about all the different gemstones, from pearls to diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, coloured diamonds, tourmaline, turquoise… everything! I continued my training with the Gemmological Institute of America in New York. Even after working with so many phenomenal gemstones over my career, I am still in awe of these natural beauties.

One of my favourite things is presenting new creations to clients and observing their excitement. Jewels often become symbols of life-changing moments. When you see a client’s reaction you witness not only their admiration for its beauty, but their realisation that they are about to experience a wonderful occasion: their engagement, their wedding, their 50^th anniversary of marriage! I am fortunate to participate in these memorable moments and I cherish the responsibility of helping to capture my clients’ emotions, passion and love in a fabulous piece of jewellery.

I believe the foundation to our success is that we cultivate a passion for jewellery in our family. This helps nurture each generation’s devotion to our company and our craft. It also means that we can rely on passionate individuals to help our company evolve and overcome new challenges. Another important secret is that we do not compromise with our jewellery or when it comes to our clients’ expectations. This keeps the quality of our jewels and service consistently excellent. We also set ambitious goals for ourselves and work extremely hard to sustain continuous improvement.

Definitely. In fact, our clients tell me that they appreciate this aspect of our business because it provides them with continuity and exceptional dedication. Another advantage of working with family is it helps us adapt.  The insight and energy from younger members allow us anticipate new trends in design and technological innovations that help us provide an increasingly luxurious and convenient experience for our clients.

Switzerland is a marvellous country for many reasons. My father said that when he visited the country for the first time, he immediately knew it would eventually become our company’s base. What sets Switzerland apart is the incredible work ethic and attention to detail. I feel that these aspects of Swiss culture helped produce the world-class Swiss companies that lead the way in a vast number of industries. Geneva, in particular, has a proud tradition and long history of incredible craftsmanship. We feel Geneva, with its philosophy of creating world-class objets d’art, is the only place where we can realise our vision for the craft the world’s finest jewellery.

I think it helps to think of an orchestra if you want to understand our approach to making exceptional jewellery. For an orchestra to deliver a world-class performance, it needs outstanding musicians, beautiful music and a talented conductor – all working in perfect harmony.

Our artisans are the musicians and our designs are the music. No matter how beautiful the composition, you cannot make beautiful music unless the musicians can execute their parts flawlessly. Our artisans are the best at what they do, and that’s what helps us achieve the vision of our design. In this context, I see myself as both the composer and the conductor, creating the designs and overseeing the artisans to ensure there is perfect balance and harmony.

One thing that helps is that my father arranged for my siblings and me to spend a lot of time with the craftsmen in his workshop when we were young. We spent weeks and weeks quietly watching the setters, polishers and lapidaries at work. This taught us to respect each aspect of our craft and their importance in the process of realising a beautiful jewel. I feel fortunate to have this unique, nuanced appreciation for each artisan’s work, which helps me ensure perfection in every step.

A major differentiating factor is our heritage. I believe that new clients can immediately feel our experience from the first time they visit our stores. Our accumulated knowledge, network and passion combine to offer possibilities that clients cannot find elsewhere. I also believe we are unique because of the tailored experience we offer. We want clients that visit our stores to feel as though they are entering an incredible atelier – a place that creates the jewels of their dreams. This is important because jewellery should not only be perfectly crafted and designed but tailored to its future owner.

Our jewels are special because of the intent behind them. We seek to create pieces that are beautiful, unique and meaningful, not generic concepts destined to be manufactured in huge quantities. We design every creation to become the future owner’s favourite jewel, not just another trendy item that is fashionable but, in the end, forgettable.

My clients are an essential source of inspiration since I design most pieces with them in mind. I spend a lot of time learning about my clients, their personalities, and their unique sense of style. Like a painter seeking to bring out an individual’s personality using subtle nuances, I design jewels with several touches that bring out the unique beauty and qualities of its future owner.

My personal secret is to stay close to my clients and understand how to design a unique jewel that will thrill and fascinate them.

We are fortunate to have clients from around the world and our reach continue to grow thanks to recommendations, social media and our new website. We believe our creations have broad appeal because beautiful jewellery is like a universal language – it excites people all over the world. With new fortunes being made around the globe and various places becoming increasingly affluent, we are honoured to welcome new clients from an ever expanding list of countries.

Bespoke pieces and customisation is becoming more popular. This is good for us because we have mastered the custom-made aspect through decades of experience. What has changed for our business in particular is that customisation is becoming more popular across all categories of jewels. While some creations remain exclusive to our most affluent clientele, there is more demand for custom engagement rings and bridal jewellery than ever before. They want unique pieces designed only for them and that will reflect their personality.

The new generation wants to know everything about the jewel from the origin of the gemstones to how the jewel was crafted. Another change I noticed in recent years is the increased attention towards ethical sourcing. Finally, younger clients like to have a variety of jewels that they can match with different outfits and different moods. They often prefer more discrete jewels that they can combine tastefully. It was more common with previous generations to invest larger amounts in impressive jewels that would go with everything. The new generation tends to invest the same amount across a greater number and variety of jewels.

We have always been very careful about the origin of our gemstones, so we are very happy to see the rest of our industry adopt strict standards for transparency. For example, we exclusively work with diamonds sourced through to the “Kimberly Process,” a UN-sponsored initiative that seeks to ensure the diamond trade does not create or finance conflict in the countries where diamonds originate. We look forward to supporting similar initiatives that promote transparency and development around the world.

We are continuously searching for ways to improve our clients’ experience, especially through technology. We have regular discussions in our family about new tools and technology that could help in this regard, and I am proud to see the younger generation take the lead in these discussions. For example, we are constantly improving the content and service we are able to offer our clients via social media channels such as WhatsApp and Instagram. In recent years, we have also embraced 3D printers and powerful CAD software that help our clients visualise their bespoke pieces during the design process. The most recent technological development has been our e-commerce capabilities, allowing clients to order exclusive and authentic Jahan jewels for the first time ever.

First and foremost, we keep up-to-date with the latest guidance and best practise recommended by health experts – especially when it comes to ensuring the safety of our staff and clients in our stores. We have carefully implemented all the recommended measures and we train our staff to ensure their safety and the safety of our clients.

Second, we are improving our abilities to serve our clients remotely. Our new website is one way in which we are keeping our jewels and latest creations as accessible as possible. We are also arranging virtual appointments so our clients can discover our new collections from the comfort of their homes.

Finally, we have improved and expanded our delivery capabilities by leveraging our close relationships with the world’s leading logistics and transportation experts. This means clients from around the world can receive their jewels safely.

We have seen the value of remarkable and unique gemstones rise in recent years. One area that has seen a particularly significant appreciation in value over the last decade has been coloured diamonds, especially the most beautiful pink and blue diamonds. This is due in part to their rarity and beauty, but also because clever investors have learned that the future supply of such diamonds is running out very quickly. There simply won’t be enough beautiful coloured diamonds for all the wealthy individuals who wish to own them, so the price will naturally rise as demand far exceeds supply. The most magnificent coloured stones such as rubies, sapphires and emeralds have also appreciated a great deal and I expect this to continue given similarly favourable demand and supply constraints.

In the last couple of decades, rarity and quality played important roles in determining how likely a gemstone would appreciate in value. However, it takes a lot of expertise and experience to know what is remarkable and rare.

We are excited about the future and all the possibilities it could bring. The most exciting part of being a jeweller is creating new designs, discovering new gemstones and meeting wonderful new clients. We are thrilled to bring our unique jewels and services to new parts of the world and invite you to follow us to find out where our new adventures take us!