Five takeaways from our Instagram Live interview with Glenn Preus.
Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, Glenn Preus has been in the industry for more than 40 years. He started out as a gemstone sorter for Harry Winston in New York, where his interest in cutting was first piqued. However, it wasn’t until nearly 20 years later, after he spent time as a dealer and saw the need to learn the craft to stay competitive, that he realized his true potential. Today he is a lapidary artist who works solely with natural gemstones to create sensational works of art.
Here are five highlights from his interview on our Instagram account @rapaportjewelrypro.
1. A long time coming
“It’s kind of a long story, but I started cutting about 23 years ago. But I’ve been in the industry for 40+ years, so I came to it late, but came to it with an interesting perspective that is a little bit unique. Most people in the craft end of our industry, whether they’re bench jewelers or designers, don’t come from the business side of it. They come more from the hobby area of it and then make it a career. And so, I started differently, basically as a storyteller. I started my career at Harry Winston in New York, back in 1980. That exposed me to unique pieces of jewelry. Obviously, at Harry Winston, [I saw] some fabulous gemstones, diamonds and jewelry, kind of learning it old school.”
2. Finding your calling
“Harry Winston was Candyland for somebody like me, fresh out of college, just starting there. I would spend all my break time with the diamond cutters on the fourth floor, and watching them kind of held a fascination for me. And I really got into this industry because I love gemstones and just watching the cutters cut, and then the foreman or the shop manager, he was always kind with his time, would sit me down and would go over rough. He would show me why he was marking the rough in certain ways. This is before computerization. He hand-marked everything with what’s called Indian ink to where the stone was going to be cut or sawed, depending on the flaws and orientation of the rough. We would work with the rough, looking at it in three-dimensional schemes, because you have to determine what’s the best orientation for the rough. So that kindled this passion for rough stones with me, and for cutting. And I kind of held that forward through the decades. So that’s kind of the origin story of how I became interested in cutting. I didn’t actually start cutting till 20 years later.”
3. Paying attention
“If you’re brand new to the industry or you’ve been in it for a while and decided that you want to explore being a bench jeweler and maybe even a stonecutter, there are some foundational skill sets I think you need. You have to be willing to be very detail orientated. You’ve got to be really fastidious with your detail, because you are dealing in the gemstone world; you’re dealing with minutiae. So, every little flaw on a microscopic level has to be dealt with. You have to make that decision; either leave it in stone or get rid of it . So, you have to be fastidious with detail.”
4. Carving out a name for yourself
“My best piece of advice? I think there would be two. One, you’ve got to carve out your own style and taste, both as a gemstone artist and as a designer, obviously. But specifically, we are talking about the gemstone arts. So, you have to develop your own style and taste. It’s all about being in the right niche for yourself, because the world is so competitive. If you just want to cut and sell a stone, well, the whole world’s doing that. So, you have to create a unique brand promise for yourself, and that’s something that your customers can count on. Develop your own style and taste. The second part of that is you have to work harder than the next person. There’s no getting around hours and hours and hours of practice and trial and error. So, if you can combine those two things, then yeah, you can have a future. If you combine one without the other, it’s not going to work.”
5. Love versus labs
“For people who are going to get engaged, I’ll pose this question to you. If you’re thinking about a natural diamond versus a lab-grown diamond, and this could also be, you know, in the colored-stone world of natural ruby versus a synthetic ruby, [the former of] which has been around for over 100 years. And so, in the colored-stone world, we’re kind of adept at this already. But in the lab-grown diamond world, my question to that young buyer would be, would you rather have something on your finger or your wife’s or your fiancée’s finger for the rest of her life that was made in the earth 2 billion years ago or something that was made on a factory floor five months ago? And if those words don’t mean anything to you, buy a lab-grown diamond. If those words resonate with you about holding something formed 2 billion years ago in the earth, if that catches you, which I pray that it does with people, I mean, wearing a piece of Earth’s history, it should be an honor that we all strive for. If that resonates with you then yes, you have to buy a natural diamond.”
The full interview is online on the Rapaport Jewelry Pro YouTube channel:
Main image: How I Became a Gemstone Cutter with Glenn Preus. (Nicole Bednarz)
