Creating jewelry and talking with customers about it

I usually spend most of my time doing things related to creating things.

I look at gemstones, go buying for gemstones, and think about designs while looking at the stones I have purchased.　Once the design is decided and production begins in the workshop, I also spend time consulting with the craftsmen to make the shape closer to my image.

In addition, I have been spending more time talking directly with customers over the past few years.　Although I am not very good at serving customers or promoting the appeal of OKURADO, I have come to realize how important it is to talk with customers.　　

In this journal, I would like to write about some episodes that came out of such conversations with customers.

This is a story about a customer who came to our salon after having seen our jewelry on our website, in a catalog, or in some other medium. I showed them our actual products and let them try them on to see the three-dimensionality and the atmosphere when they wear them, which could not be conveyed only by the pictures. Our jewelry is also finished on the back side, and some products are decorated, so I showed them the back side of the product when they tried it on.　They were impressed with the finish on the back side (which is a normal process for us). He liked it so much that he purchased it.

When I work with customers who are interested in rings with colored gemstones in the middle stone, I sometimes watch how the color of the stone changes under downlights and sunlight.　Colored stones especially change their hue depending on the light source, and in most cases, sunlight allows the stones to show their original beautiful hue.　The difference between the two is also of interest to the customers.　It is difficult to convey the charm of the color of such colored stones from photographs alone.

In the past, we had a secret production talk with another customer about why I chose this design, and in one case, the initial interest in a product turned into a custom-made production based on that product.　

OKURADO’s salon (Jewelry Concierge Okura) with its own workshop is located in Shiba Koen, Tokyo.

Not only a place to display and sell our jewelry to customers the salon is , but I also consider it a place to talk with customers and share with them the details of the actual products, the gemstones used, and the intentions behind their creation.　Furthermore, if customers find our jewelry beautiful, we consider the salon as a place to talk about “what makes our jewelry beautiful” and “how we make our jewelry (and sometimes the secret story behind the making of our jewelry). The salon is a place where we share OKURADO jewelry with you.　

Please visit us when you have time.　You can also catch a glimpse of the high jewelry making process.

We hold exhibitions in July and November each year.　There, as in the salon, we share information about jewelry with visitors.　Please feel free to come, we are waiting you.

Hitoshi Okura

OKURADO

the journal about opening of our new salon▼

“Jewelry Concierge Okura” is now open again