The group of diamond processing companies in St. Petersburg using the full range of diamonds in their work produce a wide assortment of goods starting with large polished jewelry diamonds and ending with diamond powder. The three companies work together to acquire rough diamonds of any quality, regardless of their size group, and each of the companies uses the desired range, which ultimately results in a waste-free production.
Nevsky Brilliant has been engaged in making polished diamonds of all categories for more than three years and mostly established itself as a manufacturer of large stones, second only to the largest diamond cutting company in Russia, Smolensk-based Krystal. The company’s international team of professional diamond cutters and manufacturing engineers made it possible to turn Nevsky Brilliant into a pace-setting leader in the Western Region of Russia not only in diamond manufacturing, but also in terms of turnover by value.
Aneli Irakli, CEO of Nevsky Brilliant, told our correspondent about his company.
How have you managed to achieve success?
During the short period of its existence the company weathered many crisis situations in the market, but we managed to stay afloat and I think this is our biggest achievement, especially as we managed to keep our entire staff, and exploiting the crisis period to advantage we succeeded in bringing together a team of highly skilled diamond cutters in Russia. Of course, if necessary, we also invite diamond cutters from abroad.
Please, say a few words about your production.
Our group of companies is running several workshops united in one area of the Sestroretsk Machine Tool Works, which was founded by Peter I as a weapons factory.
The Inreal Company is processing industrial diamonds, producing diamond powder, which is subsequently used for rolling into cutting discs or for making a certain range of diamond powders. The firm manufactures technical products from natural diamonds - diamond windows, diamond beddings, all kinds of diamond plates, lenses, blanks for ophthalmic lenses and crystalline lenses.
The New Diamond Technology Company is growing synthetic diamond crystals and enhancing natural diamonds by way of such modern methods as HPHT (high pressure, high temperature), when it is possible to improve or change the low color of a diamond making it more attractive for sale.
Our jewelry division turns out precious diamond collections, often on orders from customers requesting exclusive design.
Many of our clients jokingly call our Group a "diamond supermarket," where it is possible to find any product they are looking for, big or small polished diamonds, diamond powder or diamond paste, cultured diamonds, and all that you want. And it is most likely there is no other such company to be found anywhere in the world. Since all the tasks are being solved in the same Group, we have no problems with any kind of diamonds or with making something leaving little or no waste.
Where do you buy rough diamonds and in what quantities?
We buy rough diamonds from all possible sources where they may be bought. The first major source, of course, is Gokhran, the state depository. Our factory working for the three companies is able to process a total of up to five million carats of rough diamonds per month producing, inter alia, from 5 000 to 7 000 carats of polished diamonds. We also have a separate production unit that deals with automatic cutting of small diamonds by unattended machine tools manufacturing diamonds from 1 to 3 mm in diameter. But we have not been able to get our diamond cutting business into top gear due to the lack of appropriate quantity of rough.
Our company differs from other diamond cutting factories in that we can turn out diamonds of the Triple Excellent grade since we have very high precision tools and equipment making it possible to get perfectly round stones with perfectly round girdles, perfect shapes, perfect precision parameters, which take three to four times longer to make. It is such perfect diamonds that give you a chance to see the "hearts and arrows" inside.
In your opinion, does our Russian domestic market differ from the European or other foreign markets?
Proportionally, our Russian home market does not differ from any foreign market, like for instance the markets of Israel or America. The larger the stone, the fewer you have customers, the less you get money. And this dependence in Russia is practically the same. However, the purchasing power of Russian clients is somewhat even higher than in Europe - that's why many firms producing jewelry here do not even think about taking their goods abroad. On the one hand, this is a big problem going through all the customs procedures, and on the other hand, why have a headache, if your goods are sold so well here.
What is the attitude of consumers towards jewelry set with certified diamonds?
Let us remember why certified diamonds emerged in Russia, as a matter of fact. It was a way out from the existing situation under the applicable legislation. Under the Russian law it is prohibited to sell loose diamonds at stores, they can only be sold if set in jewelry pieces, because loose stones cannot be identified, unlike jewelry, where there is a stamp, hallmark, and price tag carrying all the characteristics of a stone. A certified document was needed to sell separate loose stones. Initially, there was established a certification center, which sealed diamonds in plastic boxes with a tag indicating their characteristics. This was already a product for a store and for any customer. At present, modern shoppers coming from abroad are well aware of such individual certificates for large stones and they ask whether such a certificate is available.
What labs do you use to certify your diamonds?
In Russia, there are several certification centers, which, honestly speaking, are in no way inferior compared to GIA, or HRD, or any other laboratory in the world because our experts are not at all worse than foreign experts. The equipment, which is used in such laboratories, is absolutely the same, made by Swiss and European firms. And the principles of operation are the same in each laboratory. First of all, it is a matter of prestige.
We offer several types of certificates to our customers. The most advanced laboratory is the Moscow Gemological Certification Center of the Russian State Assay Chamber.
There are also the Moscow Gemological Center of the Assay Chamber, then the Gemological Center of the Moscow State University, the Smolensk Gemological Certification Center, the Yakutsk Gemological Certification Center, which is a structural unit of the Russian State Assay Chamber.
At the recent exhibition, JUNWEX St. Petersburg your company launched a large collection of unique diamonds bearing attractive names - "Alexander Nevsky," "Suvorov," "Empress Catherine." What is the origin of these diamonds? And could you tell us how you came up with these names for them? Is there a registry for diamond names?
All large stones weighing over 10 carats are sold by tender. Moreover, it is necessary to earn an invitation to tender. These stones we bought from Gokhran, having won a tender. We manufactured and polished these diamonds in January 2012 and in early February we were able to show them at the exhibition. Moreover, there are several interested buyers in Russia for these stones and of course for us it's easier to sell them on the domestic market, and it would be even better if one of these stones remained in Russia as a national treasure. Certainly, any of these stones can become investments.
All the five names for these stones were given by me, personally. I wanted to give beautiful names, and in my opinion all turned out very nicely. There is no book recording the names of diamonds, in principle. Historically, starting from the famous Cullinan Diamond the common practice was that the owner of a stone gave to it a name he or she wanted to give.
Are there any fancy cuts for diamonds that you came up with yourself?
Yes, there are such shapes. Sometimes, there are stones which lose a lot of their weight if cut to a standard fancy shape or sometimes they even cannot be cut in a regular way at all. Then we have to invent some new shape for them, as for example we invented a "shield" - a pentagon stretched in one direction.
What do you think about investing in gold and diamonds?
Generally, of course, it is right to have something that is small in volume, but contains a lot of value. Because buying real estate, land and other tangible assets is always risky, since they are just getting cheaper in price. The most reliable thing is something you can carry in your pocket. Therefore, in this crazy world of today there is a trend to invest into the gold and diamonds, although it is not an indicator of life getting better. And we must remember that not all diamonds are worth to invest.
If you had an opportunity to start business in another country, what country would you choose?
It’s a difficult question. But I want to note that the greatest potential for diamond and jewelry business is in Russia, there is no other country better than this one. It has its own diamonds, gold, top quality specialists, and these are simple, honest and very nice people with whom you can make not only good business, but just make friends at dinner. There is no such practice anywhere in the world. This is a unique country, and I say this not because I am a citizen of this country.
On the other hand, the United States is noted for the best sales of jewelry. As soon as any kind of sales in the U.S. go down, the whole world starts burning with fever. So, if you are a merchant, then, of course, it is better to live in the United States.
If you want to do art, it is better to work in Europe. People there have a high taste for art.
There is another part of the globe and this is China and Hong Kong. No one works as hard as people work in China. Ten hours a day, six days a week.
What, in your opinion, hampers growth of the Russian jewelry industry?
You can complain about a lot of things. There are tons of various laws that may interfere. There are also global problems faced by the country, which hinder not only the jewelry industry, they interfere with all other industries. These are, above all, political and economic problems on a global scale, and they affect all. At the slightest change in market conditions the first one to suffer will be the jewelry industry, and this is because jewelry is the last thing people want in their life. If life goes generally better and people have a fridge full of food, cars, shelters and clothing, then they start to think about art, luxury, and things for the soul.
What are your future plans?
The plan is to save ourselves at this level, and that would be already a great achievement. It is not difficult to find funds and working capital; it is more difficult to find material supplies. Because in the long run the quantity of produced and mined material is limited.
I think that industrial-use diamonds are our future, because they are needed and have a specific price. A diamond plate like a window 10 mm by 10 mm in size of a good quality and having correct structure of the stone is worth one million dollars. If you take a diamond, from which it is possible to make a polished diamond worth one million dollars, you can make several plates out of it and thus eventually earn several million dollars. These plates are used not just to decorate the finger of some beauty; they will work for the benefit of mankind. These plates are used in electronics, laser systems, in hostile environments, in nuclear reactors, where any material is subject to destruction. Diamond is not susceptible to any radiation or high temperatures.
There is a joke, we often say: "The last thing you can do from a diamond is a polished diamond. If you cannot use it to make anything else, make a polished diamond."
There are so many areas in science and technology which can and should use diamonds.
Veronica Novoselova, Rough&Polished, from Saint Petersburg
