RAPAPORT…
Lester Lampert is the name on the marquee, but the
four-generation family dynasty began in 1920 when Russian-born bench jeweler
David Lampert set up a small jewelry manufacturing shop in Chicago. He was
joined by his son Seymour, a jewelry designer, in 1944, and Lester, Seymour’s
son, came aboard in 1958 and gave today’s company his name.
Over the years, as the business expanded from its wholesale
and manufacturing base into custom design and retail, it moved from the city’s
jewelry district to retail space on Michigan Avenue and finally, in 1993, to
its own elegant, four-floor, 11,000-square-foot building on Chicago’s
prestigious Oak Street. Here, the company has consolidated all of its
operations, from on-site manufacturing and repair to custom-design and retail
sales. Lester, representing the third generation, holds the title of chief
executive officer (CEO) and his son David is the president. Another family
member, Lester’s brother, the late Dennis Lampert, also was well known locally
as a jewelry designer in the 1970s and 1980s.
The company’s tagline is “creating the exceptional,” and a
look at some of the original designs it has created and produced bears out this
claim. Among the signature designs are diamond rings with interchangeable
colored stone accents, interlocking rings of white and colored diamonds, and
rings in which a solitaire diamond slides on a channel across a background of
either pavé or baguettes.
In addition to the retailer’s extensive fine jewelry
assortment, there are hundreds of brand-name watches and a full-service repair
department. A large staff of bench jewelers and model-makers with CAD-CAM and
casting equipment translates customers’ ideas into finished pieces. “Our design
department is cutting edge,” says David Lampert. “There are very few places
where you can walk in and design a piece and walk out with the finished piece.”
Diamond Specialty
Diamonds and diamond jewelry are a specialty, says David,
contributing at least 80 percent to the store’s total business. Qualities cover
a huge range, “We have no limits —
we carry a little bit of everything,” he says. While the retailer offers a
selection of unmounted diamonds, none are sold as loose stones; when they leave
the store, they all have been set into finished jewelry.
Certs are a curious subject. “We have two types of
customers,” David says. “Some are just strolling Oak Street and when they shop,
they expect certificates for their diamonds. For others, who encompass
generations of clients, the certs are just an added fact.” Today, every diamond
comes with some sort of certificate, he says. But to most Lester Lampert
customers, certs are just paper. “We have a file cabinet filled with certs that
haven’t been picked up. Sometimes, we have to order duplicates for people who
have lost them,” he says. Clients span a wide cross section from celebrities
and athletes to newlyweds to established generations of shoppers.
In addition to its jewelry and watches, the retailer offers
a comprehensive corporate gifts division that produces a range of
custom-designed plaques and awards, as well as giftware and jewelry. Among its
larger clients are the Henry Ford Health System, Bendix, ABN AMRO/LaSalle Bank
and BorgWarner.
Reaching Out
Maintaining visibility and keeping in touch with clients is
an ongoing job at this store. Advertising and outreach include pages on Facebook,
Twitter and eblasts to its client base. The website is currently being
redesigned, but it features an informative video, narrated by David and
entitled “The Lampert Look,” that takes a visitor through the store’s
custom-design process.
In addition to trunk shows, personal appearances and charity
tie-ins held on the premises, Lester Lampert Jewelers has hosted big,
star-studded events that involve the whole city. Past events have included a
circus-themed party at the Navy Pier attended by 1,200 people and a Bellataire
Diamond event complete with ballroom dancers. The timing of the latter — just
after September 11, 2001— made the retailer consider canceling. But the event
was held as planned and attracted more than 1,000 people.
One of the jeweler’s most notable recent activities was a
partnership with Chicago’s renowned Field Museum. When the museum updated its
Grainger Hall of Gems, it offered Lampert the opportunity to design jewelry
showcasing some of the museum’s rarest gems. It took a full year to complete
the project, which opened in 2009 and which involved 27 gemstones and handmade
original designs for each. The gemstones them-selves are rare, and, in some
cases, huge in size, says David.
Among the notable pieces are the pear-shaped, hand-carved, 153.79-carat
“Green Goddess” peridot in a gold and yellow diamond setting; “Trilogy,” three
slices of watermelon tourmaline in gold-and-diamond frames on amatching gold
link chain and “Blaze,” a rectangular red topaz pendant encased in diamond pavé
flames. These pieces were designed by Lester Lampert but other Lampert
designers also contributed pieces. David’s own design, “Azzurro,” is a large
blue indicolite in a modern, industrial-inspired setting of white and yellow
gold, in which the center stone is framed with intersecting tubes of gold
filled with smaller indicolites. The entire 27-piece collection remains on
permanent display in the museum in its newly renovated gem hall.
