His jewelled empire extends from the Middle East, through Europe and all the way to Beverly Hills. He is Edmond Avakian, the fine jeweller who strives for nothing short of perfection.
With a head for engineering and finance, and a hawk’s eye for precious stones, Edmond Avakian is more than just a purveyor of luxury goods – he is a savvy businessman with a flair for design. Of Armenian origin, the early part of his youth saw the family living in Bulgaria before moving to Lebanon where the Avakians remained for the next 25 years.
His passion for stones was born out of the deprivation of living under Communism where luxuries were forbidden. Instead of dulling his taste buds, this denial of precious things sent them salivating in quite the opposite direction. “Stones are the only concentrated wealth that exists, nothing else is so precious and so tiny – and of course, so beautiful. It intrigued me”, says Avakian. Intrigue turned into education in the form of advanced training in gemmology from the Gemmological Institute of America; his last stop in the world of academia from which he’d already gained a civil engineering degree and an MBA in finance.
And so, a star was born – one with the determination to open his first jewellery workshop in Lebanon in 1976. This was a brave choice during a very turbulent time: the Lebanese Civil War had just erupted and wealthy families were fleeing the country in all directions. However, Avakian’s iron will ensured he remained undeterred. He opened two more stores in Beirut before moving to Geneva, in 1985, to open his first shop outside the Middle East. From then on Geneva, the world’s jewellery capital, would serve as the headquarters of both his brand and his family until this day.
“Although Geneva is my base, I spend more time on an aeroplane than anywhere else. One day I’m in Geneva, the next in Moscow, and the next who knows – my schedule changes constantly,” says Avakian. And so it would have to in order to meet the demands of a business run on the core principles of perfection and constant innovation, particularly in a world currently suffering a financial crisis.
The economic downturn has sharpened Avakian’s already formidable business mind, “Recession is good; it forces you to think outside the box, which can only make you stronger and more successful. While we have seen people deliberate, bargain and postpone purchases more, I’m an optimist by nature and a Leo, and I think the crisis will push the realms of our creativity, which will serve us well in the long run.”
“Given the present purchasing trend towards less extravagant pieces, we’re expanding our collections into new lines that fuse different metals and materials such as titanium and gold,” continues Avakian. However, gold will always remain in the mix as the brand does not wish to venture outside of precious jewellery. Survival is one thing, betraying your ideals, another.
Speaking of expansion, Avakian’s fleet of stores is currently includes locations in London, Moscow, Geneva, and Beverly Hills, but more are on the way. According to its shrewd, founding father, the Group has its sights set on China and various republics around Russia as potential locations and will be exhibiting in Shanghai at Top Marques in November.
Allied to the search for new locations comes the launch of an exclusive watch range released in Beverly Hills in the run up to the brand’s 40th Anniversary in September of this year. The range comprises of 40 unique pieces and although there is no big event planned to mark the occasion for the moment, an official launch of the range is due to take place in Geneva and Moscow.
For a jeweller, watches are a means to further international recognition, but Avakian’s aim is different. “My clients come to me because they want something exclusive, unique and high in quality be it watches or jewellery,” he remarks. There’s evidently a gap in the market for luxury watches designed with a healthy dose of panache. The appeal of his pieces is also evident in the fact that he is at the top of the market for men’s jewellery, a position which he attributes purely to creativity and the vision to recognise that there is a market for male customers if their tastes are catered to imaginatively. In other words, design it and they will come.
Looking towards the future, despite his plans for expansion into fields afar, Avakian is careful to retain his brand’s rare appeal by limiting the number of boutiques in any given country. “If you have too many boutiques, your jewellery loses its exclusivity, but of course there has to be a balance between preserving this identity and offering a range of items to suit varying tastes and budgets,” he says.
As the saying goes, great things come in small packages, and Avakian intends to enforce this principle.
CONTACT DETAILS
Avakian Geneva,
19 Rue du Rhone,
Switzerland
+41 22 819 6000
Avakian London,
165 Sloane Street,
England
+44 20 7235 0025
Avakian Moscow,
Ararat Park Hyatt
4 Neglinnaye Road,
Russia
+7495 783 1221
Avakian Beverly Hills,
The Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons,
9500 Wilshire Boulevard,
California, USA
+1 310 288 2100
