How Does One Become a Celebrity Jeweler?

Andrea Pristine, manager at Pristine Jewelers, and Joseph Aranbayev, CEO of Avianne & Co., spend their days creating custom pieces that bring their A-list clients’ unique visions to life.

When working with celebrity customers, the key for jewelers is to build a brand over the years, Pristine explained. Designers don’t seek out these types of buyers — the stars typically come to them.

“People start to take interest in what you do,” she said.  “Just being creative. Just being unique. That all plays into how you can gain more clients, especially celebrities. The number-one aspect I would say is the quality of work.”

Pristine, whose company’s Instagram account numbers more than 1 million followers, observed that most celebrity customers reach out through social media. The manager, her two bosses and her coworker also post on their individual accounts, she added. Some people reach out through mutual connections instead.

Pristine Jewelers has created pieces for singers Meek Mill, Fat Joe, Mary J. Blige and Bad Bunny, as well as athletes Jadon Sancho and Allen Iverson, to name a few.

The process for creating a custom piece starts with the purchaser coming in with a few ideas, Pristine explained.

“It’s up to us as creators to think of something to make it [a] more unique, creative, one-of-a-kind type of style of what their looking for,” she said.

Star quality

One project Pristine Jewelers worked on was creating six pieces for Bad Bunny that each paid homage to a reggaeton artist he listened to growing up: Tego Calderón, Héctor el Father, Don Omar, Daddy Yankee and two pieces for Wisin Y Yandel.The rapper wore the resulting items on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2023.

This was Pristine’s favorite commission in her seven-and-a-half years of working as a jeweler on 47^th Street, she said.

“I got to make history and build pieces [honoring artists] that even I listened to growing up, and make them for the biggest artist in the world [Bad Bunny],” Pristine added. “For him to wear it…was super inspirational.”

Another design Pristine Jewelers worked on was Mary J. Blige’s Super Bowl LVI halftime show piece in 2022.

“We came up with the idea to put the roman numerals,…her logo MJB and in the back we put the description of the Super Bowl, the year, the city it was in and everything, and it was showcased all over TV,” Pristine said.

In general, Pristine Jewelers has a minimum turnaround time of around two weeks, with more intricate pieces taking at least three weeks.

Trust the process
Like Pristine, Aranbayev emphasized how important it was for clients to trust the brand.

The store’s first celebrity client was Ms. Casey, whose twin sons Brian and Brandon Casey are in the R&B group Jagged Edge.

“She walked in there [the Avianne & Co. store] as a humble human being,” Aranbayev said. She had received a quote for an “obscene amount of money” for the piece she wanted and was looking for another jeweler. “We were that other opportunity,” he continued.

Another of the jeweler’s first few big names was Cam’ron from hip-hop group The Diplomats. Aranbayev shared his philosophy for gaining famous customers, especially in the early days of the business.

“You give them the best prices and you also give them the best quality,” Aranbayev said. “Once you do that for one or two people, word gets around and next thing you know, you’re in magazines, you’re everywhere.”

The celebrity jeweler explained that stars like working with the company because of its “cutting edge” concepts.

Similarly to Pristine, Aranbayev said that the celebrity clients mainly come to him with an idea, which he will enhance and put his own creativity behind.

“I…analyze who this individual is,” Aranbayev shared. “I analyze their history, what their achievements are, and I try to bring it to the present day.”

Not ‘bad’

Last week, Avianne and Co., created a piece for Natalie Nunn, who was originally on the reality show Bad Girls Club. She now has her own series, Baddies, on the Zeus Network as well as a record label called Baddie Records.

Because he saw her career as an “infinite cycle”  — “everything has to do with bad or Baddies or Bad Girls Club,” Aranbayev said  — he decided to incorporate an infinity link. “The strongest and most successful necklace in my industry that has been sold is called the Cuban link. So I attached two Cuban links on the ends,” he related.

Lastly, he incorporated hearts into the piece to reference the heart from the show
Bad Girls Club.

Creating custom pieces requires not only design, but also engineering to make sure the piece sits properly, works properly and moves properly, he pointed out.

Both Avianne & Co. and Pristine Jewelers create a variety of custom piece from chains and necklaces to engagement rings and watches.

“We are constantly pushing the envelope in designs, in concepts,” Aranbayev stated. “We’re not afraid of failure. If it’s a failure, it’s a lesson.”

Main image: Joseph Aranbayev. (Jacklyn Pellegrino)