From bench to business: How to thrive in a world of change

by emily_smibert | September 5, 2017 12:00 am

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By Kate Hubley

Once upon a time, the notion that if you built it, they would come rang true. It was possible to hang a shingle on Main Street and be the jeweller in town. Times, however, have changed.

It’s a whole new world

Over the past few years, the industry has shifted as a result of the changing economy. This  completely altered the way business is done. For many professional jewellers, change seems to have crept up stealthily, and they were blindsided.

Perhaps, they’d become accustomed to the ebb and flow of business and assumed ‘things would pick up again,’ as it always had in the past.

Whenever I bump into an industry acquaintance, the conversation inevitably starts with: “So, how’s business?” More nostalgic jewellers who long for the golden age of bench work might answer: “It’s slow. It’s not what it used to be.” However, there is a whole other cluster of jewellers, whether they be millennials, generation X, or somewhere in between, who always talk about a cool new project, a collection, or an opportunity with passion in their voice.

These answers are very telling as to whether they are shape-shifting in response to the changes in the industry and economy.

So how do you adapt to changing times? More specifically, how do you embrace the changes and create a business that will thrive in this new reality?

Certainly, things will pick up again if we can harness the powers and expectations of the new world order.

Welcome to Serafino Contemporary Jewellery

There have been times when I’ve needed a helping hand. Over the years, I learned to turn to master jewellers who share their problem-solving expertise, skills, and experience to help me find clever ways to streamline my production, reduce my overall cost of goods, and take my designs to the next level.

This willingness to share is the very foundation of Serafino Contemporary Jewellery, a Montreal-based contemporary fine art jewellery studio owned by the husband-and-wife duo of Annegret Morf and Antonio Serafino, a highly regarded Italian master jeweller.

Renowned for their sophisticated and expressive fine jewellery designs, Morf and Serafino took a step back in late 2016 to see how they could grow their business and strike a work-life balance that would continue to fan the flames of their creativity over the long term.

They emerged from their brainstorm with an inspiring and somewhat unconventional business model and philosophy: in addition to creating fine jewellery for customers, they would be a collaborative community-focused service provider for fellow bench jewellers and designers, specializing in both traditional and new-technology techniques.

Why help other jewellers and designers?

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The decision to dedicate a portion of their studio time to other jewellers’ projects was motivated by two factors. “This was a logical compromise for us. It would allow us to bring in revenues, which would give us the freedom we need to do what we love: create,” explains Serafino. Moreover, producing for others requires no investment beyond the tooling a bench jeweller already has in a studio. In other words, there is no risk involved.

The residual effect is a stronger local jewellery community, where more designers are getting more done, more efficiently.

Strength through collaboration

In April 2017, Morf and Serafino moved their studio to a bright, spacious suite in Montreal’s Cathcart Building, and brought in other bench jewellers, including Benjamin Rembeault, not as employees, but as collaborators. Together, they are colleagues who complement each other, and can offer a broader, more comprehensive range of services and expertise to their clients.

There are a few obvious reasons for collaborating, such as sharing the expense of a commercial space and overhead, which takes away some of the stress of an unpredictable market and slower times of the year. As an added perk, business continues to operate even when they go on holidays because there is always someone at the studio to answer the phone or door.

On a slightly more philosophical note, Serafino explains part of the rationale behind the collaborative approach is the simple fact that different clients will instinctively gravitate towards a different collaborator. By being a strong horizontal team, every client receives the very best in personalized service. It’s a win-win for all.

Sharing secrets

One of the key pillars of the Serafino collaborative approach is knowledge sharing. Everyone has their own unique expertise and they freely exchange information with one another. This openness to sharing is also extended to clients  like me, which means that everyone’s projects advance together, and we help build a stronger and more vibrant industry.

This outlook defies conventional thinking. How many bench jewellers work in a bubble and guard trade secrets for fear of being copied or for being less successful than another jeweller?

In my observation, wisdom of the industry’s new era would dictate when information and knowledge is shared, business is more successful because the exchange is bilateral. Simply, when one succeeds, we all succeed because it shines a brighter spotlight on our creative industry as a whole. This, in turn, creates greater consumer demand.

Brave new world

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Just as they bend to economic changes, the clever duo at Serafino is also open to discovering and incorporating new technologies in their line-up of services.

They tap into their engineering, creative, and business minds to determine if a traditional or high-tech tool will be the most efficient and yield the highest quality results.

Future forecast

Spending an evening with Morf and Serafino over a bottle of wine and a beautiful meal (Italian, as you may have guessed) was energizing. Their positive outlook and eagerness to keep broadening their horizons is contagious.

“Change brings new challenges,” they say almost in unison. They look forward to the evolution of the jewellery industry and are curious to see the innovative thinking of other bench jewellers who embrace the exciting new world of change.

Kate Hubley is owner of Montreal design house, K8 Jewelry Concepts Bijoux. She is also a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA) and a 2015 Saul Bell Award recipient. Hubley can be reached at kate@k8jewelry.com.

Source URL: https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/features/from-bench-to-business-how-to-thrive-in-a-world-of-change/

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