yay! third time's a charm!

InStore Magazine named Alara Jewelry in the top 20 Coolest Small Jewelry Stores in North America in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Today I received the letter letting me know I broke into the top 5 (#2 for 2010, to be exact), which means a huge spread in their magazine.

As I look at the other 4 in the top 5, I am humbled.

Looks like all those quirky little ideas about jewelry retailing actually add up to something kinda neat.

honored by my peers

It was incredibly flattering to be invited by one of my favorite designers, Sarah Graham, to participate in a seminar at the upcoming Smart Jewelry Show in Chicago. Sarah, her colleague Todd Reed, and my colleagues from I. Gorman (amazing and gorgeous store that, like Alara, has a strong designer theme), will be offering a panel-style seminar on April 26th at 11:15 am, in which we will delve more deeply into the particular segment of our industry in which we mutually participate.

I hope to see my industry colleagues, acquaintances, and friends in attendance!

Rather then reinvent the wheel, here's the link to Sarah Graham's blog regarding the details.

website kudos redux

Cindy Chandler, Manager of Education for The Smart Jewelry Show just sent me a very flattering and humbling invitation to speak at the upcoming InStore Show (The Smart Jewelry Show). Most specifically, about my website. Wowsa!

A brief excerpt: "You win "best website" as far as I am concerned." [insert blush here]

Please stop by the Cool Store Experience Area on Saturday, April 24th at 11:15am to watch me fumble my way through.

I guess I better start looking at my own website a little more closely between now and then...

website kudos

via email:

Love your website. Wow! I look at so many. You win!

Best,

Cindy Chandler

Manager of Education

The Smart Jewelry Show

a ring, a ring! a driftboat for a ring!

"Well, I have a really big anniversary coming up. My wife has a ring she hardly wears that contains some nice Yogo sapphires, and I really think her emerald-cut engagement diamond could look a lot better.

"This means I'm going to have to give up getting the driftboat I really want. So, I'm going to bring her in to make sure we get this right."

Kristin and JD could not be more lovely and charming. And as a designer who is very much touched by the human element, how could I resist the fact that he was foregoing something he really wanted so that he could get her an unbeleivable ring?

They both had so many ideas that contributed to this project. And it is truly sad that the photos cannot possibly convey the beauty and visual importance of this piece. As Brittany struggled to photograph it, she said, "You simply cannot capture this piece in one shot. There's so much going on."

So, in addition to the 2-carat center emerald-cut diamond, there are several significant, cobalt-blue Yogo sapphires, and then a plethora of green and blue Montana sapphires of many different shades, plus smaller brilliant-cut diamonds. All set in that most luxurious metal of all: platinum.

Oh, and by the way...

It was total horse doo-doo that JD forewent the boat. Ends up, he went ahead and got it for himself. Happy anniversary!

who says recycling isn't fun?

Hmmmmm, what to do with a diamond that has a little, um, baggage? Celebrate it!

This design feature's our lovely customer's initial, albeit disguised a bit due to the post-modern styling of the letter, and having the space occupied with a beautiful diamond that needed to come out of the "junk drawer" and into the light!

Crafted in brush-finish 14K X-1 white gold and 14K rose gold, and worn on a gorgeous multi-strand necklace of stainless steel.

paris meets bozeman...get engaged at Alara

French boy meets Bozeman girl in Paris. They fall in love.

Girl comes home to Bozeman for a visit, and strolls into Alara.

ENTER: dream ring

"Oh, I love it!" she exclaims.

****************************
one month later.

[telephone rings] **ring, ring, ring!!!** (That's how the phone sounds at every jewelry store, BTW)

Between and betwixt that obvious-overseas-delay, and embellished with a very charming but very heavily French-accented voice, Babs figures out that this is Bozeman's girl beloved Parisian sweetie.

"Do you know wheech ring she loved? Do you know her size? How much wiss a larger center diamond?"

"Yes and yes and about 30% more."

"I weel be coming to Bozeman for Chreestmas. I weel not be able to come see you wizzout her. Weel you have a way to have everysing ready, so I can ummm.."

"Propose?"

"Yes! Propose! On Chreestmas Eve." [I gulp on the inside, trying to figure out how to do that...]

"And where will you be proposing?"

"At zee Alara. Your store. Do you have a way to make it special?"

The mission: make a ring that would normally take 6 weeks to make, in 3, and during the busiest time of the year; and figure out how to carve out a place in the store that will be both private and romantic for this transatlantic couple.

How we did it: several little-sleep nights to get the ring just right, just in time. A bottle of Veuve Cliquot and two flutes. An arrangement of flowers from Fresh Designs. Light jazz music. And, our amazing, movable, flexible Softwall arranged like a cocoon around our glass table, and backlit (not quite as dramatically as the photo, but you get the idea).

There was shock. There were giggles. There were soft words uttered behind the Softwall, in the French language. And when they were ready to have the cocoon opened, we caught a couple great shots.
This is what proposing is about. Not a dry eye in the house, including the other customers that came in.