Valentine’s Day Picks from KAVADOR

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As a kid, I have always been attracted to glitter and sparkle – I made my own accessories, tinkered with colorful nails and clothes and hair… No surprise then that I married into a family of jewelers and gemologists!

My family has been in the fine jewelry business for over 40 years, owning and operating independent retail jewelry stores and developing relationships with jewelry lovers and buyers as they select and maintain jewelry for generations. I’ve personally watched how dramatically the industry has changed in the last decade, specifically the challenges faced by independent local retailers in the face of changing consumer buying patterns and reduced in-store foot traffic.

The concept of Kavador began at a family dinner – my father-in-law, who owns a number of local fine jewelry stores, was lamenting the outsized expense and poor returns of his recent investment in a new custom website. His expertise is in fine jewelry and in-person sales and customer service; digital marketing and e-commerce are not in his bag of tricks! Our family then began exploring the issue together: how could local independent jewelers reap the benefits of the growth in online jewelry sales without damaging their local brand and bottom line?

And from that dinner, Kavador was born…

We saw a startling need for an online marketplace specifically for fine jewelry which would give local retail jewelers and designers a platform to sell jewelry to a broad, national audience through a trusted brand with digital marketing expertise, and give fine jewelry consumers unique access to these treasures otherwise hidden in local jewelers’ vaults.

We launched Kavador in late 2015, and have been happily adding new retail jeweler partners and uniting spectacular jewelry with new owners since!

Kavador‘s audience is looking for pieces that speak to their individuality and style – statement cocktail rings, with colored gemstones and intricate designs, continue to be big sellers. More broadly, we have seen a real shift in preferences from mass-produced, generic jewelry from big brands toward vintage and estate pieces with bold colors, interesting settings, and… character.

A few of our most recent sales included:

Isa: a multi-colored pave sapphire bracelet

Phoenix: a 34ct cabochon cut Amethyst cocktail ring

Laksha: 15ct blue Topaz cocktail ring

Keely: a Tsavorite Garnet and Diamond butterfly necklace

We curate just one of each piece, so we shed a happy tear each time one of these standout treasures finds a new home – but we’re thrilled that our buyers have found their match!

These last 18 months have been such an adventure!! But my favorite Kavador treasure hunting memory, the one that really affirmed for me this concept of partnering with local jewelers to bring their treasures online, actually happened shortly before we officially launched.

We were out there pitching the Kavador idea to our family’s jeweler network and to local jewelers in our town, trying to convince them to take a chance with us, list jewelry online through our start-up brand as part of our launch collection… And one of those meetings, with a local multi-generation family-owned jewelry business, became less of a new business meeting and more of a jewelry gossip session. His collection included mostly estate jewelry, including some spectacular vintage and antique pieces – and the owner was so excited to talk about the unique design features and histories of every item, even flaws became assets (because it gave those pieces “unique character”)!! I think we were there for over three hours, most of it going through his jewelry piece by piece, as if he were a teacher talking about individual students.

This jeweler ultimately became part of our “launch crew” of retail jeweler partners, and we are thrilled to have his special treasures available for an online audience that would never otherwise have the opportunity to see them.

Kavador recently launched a new and enhanced website in November, and the momentum these last few months has been really exciting! We have been adding new retail partners and new jewelry at a steady clip, expanding our marketing campaigns and social media following, and absolutely LOVE hearing from happy customers – some of whom will soon be helping us curate their favorites on the website!

Our dream is for Kavador to become for small, local jewelers and designers what Etsy has become for independent artists and craftsmen – a trusted marketplace for selling special, standout fine jewelry. Jewelry consumers have a clear appetite for special pieces, and a preference for supporting small businesses. Kavador’s mission is to unite these consumers with specially-curated inventory from local jewelers, thus helping these jewelers continue to thrive.

This sponsored post was brought to you in collaboration with Kavador — all photography by Gem Gossip.