A twisted diamond bracelet by CLUEV
Diamonds are everyone’s post-pandemic best friend. The luxury jewelry market has shown remarkable resilience last year and is on track to be the strongest recovery success story of 2021. Third quarter headlines prompted a great sense of relief within the industry. Richemont Group, which owns Cartier, reported that profits had “significantly exceeded” pre-pandemic margins. Signet, the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry, was performing “above expectations”. The iconic Tiffany & Co, now on the LVMH roster of legacy brands, boasted "remarkable performance". The ultra-cautious segment continues to thrive in times of economic uncertainty. The biggest story to emerge against the backdrop of such good news was a recent Sotheby’s auction of Russian royal jewels smuggled by the Romanov family out of the Bolshevik Russia in 1917. A sapphire brooch and earrings sold for almost $900,000, nearly twice the estimate, proving the world’s ongoing fascination with Russian jewelry history. I’ve been covering the Russian Jewelry Renaissance since 2019 and media moments like these draw due attention to the current generation of promising Russian jewelry artists. One of the names garnering considerable recognition far beyond Moscow is Ilya Cluev, founder of CLUEV, a contemporary jewelry house with a twist. It is a jewelry aficionado society where clients become club residents. However, it is not only Cluev’s marketing knowhow and one-of-a-kind designs that are powering his growing industry reputation. He has launched Russia’s most ambitious diamond cutting business breaking with decades of “tradition” that saw majority of raw diamonds excavated in Russia exported for cutting to Belgium, India, or the Emirates. I connected with the visionary designer to learn more about his groundbreaking Russian Cut initiative, what made jewelry market pandemic-proof and how intuition can drive a successful luxury business.
Ilya Cluev, founder of CLUEV, a contemporary jewelry house.
How did you get involved in jewelry making?
I truly believe it was my destiny. My parents dreamed that I would go into a useful profession for the love of the nation. Of course, it was the Soviet Union, and they could not imagine that I’d grow up to live in a completely different country and that my income and potential would not be determined by a government. Instead of geology I went into gemology to bring joy to the people. In retrospect, it seems the total of my upbringing, hobbies, character, influences, and friends… everything prepared me to become the designer I am today. Now every day is different: new emotions, people, challenges, discoveries, letdowns, victories. It's a very exciting, interesting life of constant personal development. I just can't imagine doing anything else.
How has your approach to jewelry design evolve over the 20 years you’ve been in the industry?
It was a full-circle hero’s journey! [Laughs] In the beginning, I was convinced that the only thing that mattered in jewelry was the most valuable precious stone available. My favorites to work with then were alexandrite, Paraiba tourmaline and pink diamond. Then I decided that the most important thing was complexity of design. I dove into technically intricate jewelry art like voluminous rings and transformers with nanoceramics, titanium, etc. Today I believe that the key factor is the personality and character of the client! Real art is inspired by and created with a unique person in mind. My favorite part of the process now is the collaborative creative effort between a client, my team and me.
Earrings by CLUEV
You’ve referred to your clients as “contemporary nobility”. Beyond the historical titles, what is the profile of such a client now?
Our clients tend to be people who earned capital with their ingenuity and hard work. They come from different businesses: startup founders, retailers, real estate developers, and so on. A respectful, transparent, and long-term partnership is as important for them as the value of stones or quality of service. They typically choose us not for one-off purchases, but to invest in creating signature family heirlooms. This sets the aesthetic and financial bar quite high for all involved.
In your experience working with Russian and international clients, are there differences in tastes or aesthetics between the Russian sense of beauty and other cultural perspectives in jewelry?
It would be tempting to suggest that our clients feel the famed “mystery of the Russian soul” in our jewelry, but I think the appeal is rooted in our approach to design. Each piece we produce is unique. There are no copies. The client is actively involved in many artistic decisions, including the selection of the stones. We monitor emotional reactions to ensure complete satisfaction from the creation and ownership of personal estate treasures. The only difference is that Russian clients tend to be bolder and more open to stylistic experimentation. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if our global clients are based in London, the Emirates, or Moscow, the CLUEV approach to jewelry design is rare and appreciated.
How has the pandemic impacted your business?
It may seem surprising, but jewelry remained in great demand. We explain this by the increased desire of people to share positive emotions, to communicate meaningfully with their loved ones near and far, to affirm “a normal life.” It has been a profitable period for the jewelry industry, our brand included. However, there were supply chain issues. For example, jewelry makers were running out of diamonds! Although Russia is the leading producer of raw diamonds in the world, it exports nearly all of them. There was a real void in the domestic market. We decided to turn the tables and set up a diamond cutting business in Smolensk, one of the oldest artisanal centers of Russia. First, we were able to fully meet the needs of our clients, and now we are working on creating the world's first direct-to-consumer diamond sales platform.
Ring by CLUEV
While artisans often work by themselves, “it takes a village” to run a brand. How did CLUEV weather the lockdowns and other restrictions?!
We employ about a hundred people. Even pre-pandemic our staff enjoyed freedom in choosing their work format. For example, the finance and legal departments were already working remotely. For many reasons, from technical issues to security, it was not possible to allow transfer of precious stones for our artisans to work from home. It created challenges and delays, but during the lockdowns we kept everyone on the payroll and fully preserved our entire team. We value our personnel immensely! The most famous Russian jewelers, Fabergé, allowed artisans to use individual stamps on pieces along with the famous brand name. In keeping with tradition, this year we gave five jewelry masters and two design artists the right to put their own seals on CLUEV jewelry. Heritage is not just expensive artifacts, but the valuable stories and the precious people behind them. Our artisans make history.
Jewelry is physical objects with time-based added value. How is your brand engaging in the digitization of creative and commercial processes?
Ok, social media is important. However, for millennia, jewelry has been a statement artifact signifying the wearers’ ambition, devotion, nonconformity, courage. Its value has been determined by the rarity and quality of natural stones and intricacy of artistic expression. At CLUEV, we think it should stay that way! [Laughs] However, we believe that the potential of diamonds as a financial instrument has not yet been fully realized. The main issue is ensuring liquidity and availability of diamonds for potential buyers. Considering that the price of any diamond can now be determined automatically, new blockchain and digitalization technologies make it possible to turn diamonds into a convenient investment management tool. Such a system does not exist yet, but we hope to help develop it.
Earrings by CLUEV
What is the ratio of technical knowhow, creative acumen, and luck or magic in jewelry business success?
To be free in your creativity, you need a team of highly skilled specialists: from gemologists to fixers. Otherwise, any great idea is shattered by the impossibility of its execution. As for luck and magic, that’s our credo. [Laughs] My name is Ilya, after an ancient Israelite prophet. I think a prophet is not someone who talks about the future, but someone who says the right things at the right time. Recently, I felt compelled to send a video of a rare stone to a client. It turned out she had been dreaming about it just earlier. When you are passionate about your mission of serving people, you are no longer amazed by the daily miracles. Luck and magic become a natural part of your life and business.
What is the most pressing question on your mind right now?
Aside from the daily creative, business, and family concerns?! [Laughs] I do have one extra plate of “food for thought”. I want CLUEV to become a jewelry symbol of modern Russia. To achieve this, I need to figure out how to motivate my children to become passionate about a family legacy. In the era of Internet and countless distractions, how is that doable? There are only about ten thousand brands in the world with a two-hundred-year history. My dream is for our company to join that list. I will not attend the 200th anniversary of CLUEV Jewelry House, but I can see and feel it today.
