Emirates Man, Lifestyle

Hemant Karamchandani has a cupboard in his jewellery shop in Dubai’s Gold & Diamond Park crammed with ledgers. These tattered old books contain thousands of business cards belonging to clients who have visited his store – Passion Jewellers – over the last 20 years.

“My job is about meeting the customer and understanding what they want – that’s something I really enjoy,” he smiles. “Last week for example, I met a guy from the Isle of Man and we talked about the place, it was fascinating. I told him that in 20 years I’d never met anybody from the Isle of Man.”

“We talk about jewellery, but also other things: what’s been happening, how’s work, how’s the family, have they travelled recently. Some of my appointments start at midday and finish at 5pm. Customers become friends, and then they become family.” Sales can happen fast. “Dubai is a very impulse buying market,” says Karamchandani. “Often customers see something priced at $100,000 and buy it within 10 minutes. Dubai has a very good reputation with tourists. They have high expectations for service, speed and variety.” Unlike customers spending $100,000 on a whim however, most of Karamchandani’s clients have budgets, which require skill and experience to navigate. “I can’t just ask the customer straight away what their budget is, it’s very rude. You have to do it softly.” One customer that requires a gentle approach more than most is a man buying an engagement ring. “Most guys walk in and say they don’t know anything about diamonds,” he explains. “When he tells me his budget and we start talking, that makes it very easy for me. I try to give him maximum value for money in terms of size, colour and clarity.” Some unscrupulous jewellers might be tempted to exploit a customer’s lack of knowledge. “That’s never been our mentality,” says Karamchandani. “I am very transparent with my customers. I simplify things and educate them about the four Cs—color, cut, clarity and carat. We then take them through the technical aspects of how the diamond has been cut and polished, and its symmetry. Within 20 minutes, they understand.”

Karamchandani is perfectly placed to lend his expertise to the debate about whether a couple buying an engagement ring together takes away the romance of the proposal. “I’d say about 60 per cent of men come on their own to buy an engagement ring,” he says. “Men these days do very good research and ask their girlfriend’s friends what design she wants. Sometimes they bring one of her rings to check her size. Only a few guys come back to change the ring design after the proposal. If a couple comes to the store together it’s because the guy wants to see how the ring looks on her hand, he wants to get the right ring for her taste and the correct fit. Some men are really not sure about what to buy and don’t want to risk it, so they prefer to come with their partner.”

CREATIVE PATH
Karamchandani, 46, arrived in Dubai from Mumbai in 2002 and joined the family manufacturing business in the Gold Souk. “At that time, everyone in India was going abroad to study computer programming but I didn’t want to pursue tech as a career. I wanted to travel overseas and do something more creative.” After observing his father at work and learning how Dubai’s business infrastructure works, he set up Passion Jewellers in Gold & Diamond Park in 2007. Back then there were just over 30 stores, now there are about 60.

Karamchandani’s team of 10 CAD designers and 65 goldsmiths work on bespoke designs, pieces inspired by major jewellery brands, or sentimental pieces that recreate a family heirloom. “When we started in 2007 the technology wasn’t available,” he says. “Computer design came along in 2010. Now we do 3D printing and make a model of a piece of jewellery in wax so customers can see its intricate visuals.” Also on the production line are diamond setters, polishers, quality control experts and diamond graders, totalling a workforce of around 200 people.

Karamchandani enjoys working with his designers and describes the style philosophy of his store as “traditional and timeless but also adapting to new trends.” He and his British wife Sabrina often play mystery shoppers and visit high-end jewellery boutiques in Dubai Mall for ideas. “We look at the jewellery of course, but we also watch how they serve the customer, how the boutique designed, the lighting, the chairs, everything,” he explains.

Having curated an inventory of 10,000 diamonds, Karamchandani is able to offer huge variety to customers. He rejects about 30 per cent of the diamonds he receives from manufacturers in India if they don’t meet his standards. Should a customer request a lab grown diamond, Karamchandani gladly sources it for them. He’s noticed lab diamonds are popular with people getting married a second time and remembers one wealthy Australian client who spent $80,000 on an engagement ring for his first wife but when he remarried he spent $9,000 on the ring. He adds, “When wealthy customers travel to Europe they take replicas of their jewellery made with lab diamonds for safety.”

The Mumbai-born jeweller says his customer base is 50/50 male and female. Karamchandani – who wears an impressive stack of bangles made from silver and his birthstones, aquamarine and garnet – believes men today are getting more and more adventurous with the jewellery they wear. “I noticed a shift around 2010 when men became more experimental,” he says. “A lot of big brands are making unisex pieces now.” One male customer in his 60s, Karamchandani remembers, bought a fivecarat diamond pinky ring for Dhs650,000. The next time the man visited the shop, Karamchandani noticed the ring was missing but he was now wearing a Richard Mille watch. “He told me he traded his ring for the watch!” he laughs. “Getting to know people and hearing their stories is what I love about coming to work every day.”

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Images: Supplied