Gemlust | Rénee Kubryk

 

About Rénee Kubryk

Rénee Kubryk has always had a passion for Gems. At a young age Rénee found herself working at a jewelry store owned by her parents. She received her degree in nursing from City University of New York City College and later a Master’s in Human Resources & Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco. Rénee had a booming career in the furniture industry where she helped design high end furniture. After moving on from the furniture industry, Rénee became the owner of Gemlust, a jewelry store focused on procuring high end gems and jewelry for clients in the upper 2% tier. Rénee uses her vast knowledge and connections in the gemology industry to help her clients procure jewelry while bypassing commercial price markups. Renee operates an eBay store called Vintage Diamonds, (//stores.ebay.com/Vintage-Diamonds) she can also be reached for private appointments at renee@gemlust.com

 

Interview Transcript:

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Rénee Kubryk, she is the founder and owner of gem lust, local to the San Francisco Bay Area. Rénee, welcome to the show.

Rénee
Thank you very much pleasure to be here.

Alan
So, Jim, les by the name of, you know, what you do you run into antique type jewelry, or both. Tell me about the how you got into a shoot.

Rénee
First and foremost, it’s gems, I’m passionate about gems and gemology. And I seek out the top 2% of gems for private individuals, either as a piece of jewelry or just something to hold on to as a hard asset. But generally, we’re not talking about the kind of things that you find in a jewelry store. That includes antique jewelry, which is very hard to come by, and today’s marketplace.

Alan
Now, how did you get started in this? You know, the jewelry market? And especially what you do is very specialized industry and is it something you you can you go to school? Or do you just do it by the?

Rénee
Well, I actually was a nurse, I went to college to become a nurse. But I grew up in the jewelry business. My mom and dad were on the business. And they had a couple of stores in the mountains of the Catskills in New York. And so at a very young age, I was working in store selling jewelry. And I always had a passion for geology. My dad was very kind and used to ask people who would come to the hotels to bring me rocks and minerals that had crystals in them because I had a collection going when I was very young. And I was always amazed that the earth could create these incredible, beautiful, glittering, you know, objects that once you faceted them turned into extraordinary beautiful, like the rarest things on the planet. And so at an early age, I got an exposure to it. But I didn’t think I wanted to do that as a living.

Alan
Okay, so your dad was in the industry, and you converted from being a nurse? Because you had more passion and to the gyms?

Rénee
Well, no, actually I had I’ve had three careers after I was a nurse, I worked in the furniture industry for that 20 years, I did product development and design, and visual merchandising. And I used a lot of inspiration from jewelry, and our company was smoking hot for like 20 years. Because our we specialized in one thing, which was tables. And they were objects of art on display as a table. So you might have like a metal bracket that held together and Ancient Coin on display as part of a base with a glass top. And we just did things that nobody else did. It wasn’t the run of the mill kind of furniture you could buy in typical retail stores. And again, my most of my inspiration came from jewelry, because jewelry has so much that you can be inspired from I mean, it’s ancient, even the cave people were adorning themselves with something.

Alan
So you know, most people when they when they look at the jewelry industry, you either know what you’re doing? You don’t. So I imagine there’s a lot of deception that people think they’re buying something precious, and it’s really not. How do you? How do you advise individuals as you’re going about it?

Rénee
Well, you’re absolutely right about the fraud, there’s so much fraud, you really have to have a professional with you that knows a lot of edge genealogy knows how a stone should be cut. In terms of diamonds, you can get the biggest loss on buying a diamond that isn’t cut properly, or there’s head treatments to it. And generally, the way that you stay safe is to buy from an accredited dealer who adheres to a strict code of ethics. But also you have to buy stones that are certified. If you get a stone that’s certified that guarantees you that you’re getting what you paid for. It’ll tell you if the stone has been treated, it’ll tell you the origin. But most importantly, it’ll tell you if the stone is synthetic. Or if it’s you know, from the earth.

Alan
What does it mean when them oftentimes you’ll see descriptions This is not heat treated, or what is all that about is it does it less than the value to have heat?

Rénee
Well, anytime you buy a stone, if you’re buying it for investment, you want it to have no treatments whatsoever, but it’s very rare that most gems are not treated, especially something like an emerald, which comes with a lot of inclusions. So there are acceptable practices for each gem. Like it’s very acceptable to heat a Ruby or to heat a sapphire, because that removes a lot of these little silk inclusions that tend to disappear when it’s heated. And it only enhances the color, which really gives it a lot more personality. But it does diminish the value not as much as you would think. But that does diminish the value to have any form of treatment at all. If you were going to invest in a stone, you’d want to buy something with no treatment, but again, you’ll pay four or five times price for something that’s unneeded. So it gets to be out of somebody’s range, especially if they’re going to wear it. They were going to put it in a safety deposit box for 20 years. Did you know they might want to make sure that they had a stone that had no treatment?

Alan
Visit here today with Rene Kubryk, she is the founder of Gemlust. And Rénee, I need to take a quick break. And we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back and visiting here today with Rénee Kubryk and she is the founder of gem lust and emanate. This gem gemology always fascinates me, but gem list. Tell me about the name how you came up with that?

Rénee
Well, I guess I’m passionate about gems, probably more than most people. I think that they’re the Earth’s greatest miracle. They come from geological events that are cataclysmic like one continent collides into another and the ocean gets sucked into the ocean of the Earth’s crust. And gems are formed in that alchemy. And it’s amazing how you know, rare they are and how many millions of years they take to create. And when you facet them and turn them into something that as sparkle and shine to it. It’s just something that is preserved forever. It never is loses its value, it’s always something you could pass down for generations, things go in and out of style. But a precious gem is something that’s rare is always rare. And there’s always a buyer for a great example, that is rubies rubies are the most rare gem on the planet, other than maybe green, Imperial green shade. The reason for that is rubies are can only be formed in the absence of carbon. And as you know, the earth is full of carbon. And so for some cataclysmic event to happen, it has to eliminate all the carbon from the environment. And that comes from induction, when the ocean gets sucked into the Earth’s crust, which only happens maybe once in I don’t know how many millions of years. And so when that perfect alchemy is created, and you get a small amount of rubies as a result, and it’s only in one place in the world, there are people who are going to want those rubies. And generally the crystals are very small, they don’t they don’t grow to large sizes. So to get something over two or three carats, the price goes up exponentially. Diamonds on the other hand, that are made from carbon are plentiful. Because you know everything is made from carbon. I don’t know if you know this, but you could even have your deceased pet made made into a diamond. There are companies that do that they take the carbon from, you know, a deceased loved one, and they turn it into a diamond but it’s diamonds are plentiful. They’re rare, because DeBeers created a monopoly and the only time that I would ever like seriously invest in diamonds, if I was going to you know, have a portfolio of gems would be if it was a colored fancy diamond something that was naturally colored, not enhanced by heat, because the rarity factor. And that’s what makes a gem so spectacular, is how rare it is. A beautiful emerald that has no inclusions is so incredibly rare. There are a lot of emeralds, 99% of them have terrible inclusions in them. They’re not attractive. In fact, 80% of the gemstones that are available on the commercial market are just commercial gemstones, they’re not worth very much the top tier go to dealers and people who, you know, are in an inner circle of gem, you know, business. And that’s the business that I address the top 2%. So, you know, the commercial stones that you see in Macy’s that are on sale for 50 off and then another 20 off when you get to the counter really don’t have any value they might be pretty to look at, but they’re not rare. They’re not as beautiful, as you know, a natural Ruby that is large and has no you know, inclusion Senate. So it just, you know, depends on the rarity factor. Like Imperial green shade. Almost all of it is hoarded by the Chinese and Japanese they value it more than they do gold or any other currency. Because for them they believe it has you know properties that brings them abundance. And that’s the other thing about gems. A lot of people believe that these crystals contain some form of metaphysical powers, if you will, that I just know that they make people very happy.

Alan
So Rénee, in the world of gems, you’re I here today with you know, it’s a specific segment of the market, the demographics, more high end a lot of individuals are concerned about it You know, the currency markets and what’s going, what’s going to happen? And so oftentimes they look at well, let me get an investment of gems in case I need this and, and when you’re looking at the rarity or from an investment quality, how do you advise your clients?

Rénee
Well, again, you know, the things that maintain the most value over the long term are things like antiques, and like an antique car, or an old antique gun. There are collectors for these there are collectors for gems, and collectors for antique jewelry, antique jewelry that’s made with diamonds from the late 1800s to early 1900s, is extremely rare and hard to find. Because diamonds were just found in the late 1800s. And the only people who could afford them were very wealthy. So to get an antique diamond ring is an engagement ring, which a lot of my clients actually I specialize in that I might have an eBay store that I sell those and called Vintage diamonds. And I Googled did some research the word vintage diamonds is Googled over 90,000 times a month. So there’s a huge market for young people that want to return to you know, at an age where it was a little bit more romantic. These antique diamond rings that were from the Edwardian period, early 1900s to the Art Deco 1930s are so collectible and so sought after. And they have appreciated and value greatly in the last 10 years because demand far exceeds the supply. And so a lot of my clients or young people come to me for engagement rings. So they’re either one an antique diamond ring, which is a specialty, which is something that I’ve been specializing in most of my life because my parents, they specialized in antique jewelry. And so I grew up with an appreciation because you can see a lot of different pieces of jewelry when you go to a show, but an antique piece is one of a kind and you’ll never see it again. And if you pass on it, you’ll never see something like it’s so if you want it, you have to buy it then. And it fuels the philosophy of you have hard assets that you know, when you pass on, you can pass something valuable onto your heirs that has so much more meaning than, you know, money in a bank or paper goods. It just really there’s a psychological element to owning a great piece of jewelry, or an antique treasure that you know is made with craftsmanship that you don’t see today. Or a very rare and elusive stone gem that you know, you just don’t see it everywhere.

Alan
So Rénee needs to take a quick break em and visiting with Rénee Kubryk and she’s the founder of gem list firm that specializes in antique jewelry, and we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back and building here today with Rénee Kubryk, she is the founder of Gemlust. And you know, Rénee, we touched on the rarity of jewelry and you know that you know how it has its value. Talked about your clients, how do you how do you get new clients?

Rénee
Okay, so I do a few different things. I buy it from my clients, I sell to my clients and I trade with my clients. And it’s mostly through word of mouth or through referral. So for example, I have a client who recently I got her a 10 carat emerald and it was an amazing price. And, you know, I’m always trying to buy something that’s undervalued when I purchase it so that when I present it to my client, it becomes a no brainer. It becomes emerald, yes, it was a $50,000 emerald and I sold it to her for $20,000. And it was set in a beautiful setting. Even though she she bought it for the the Emerald. Anyway, she was on a flight. She was in first class and she was wearing the emerald ring. And some woman was sitting next to her the whole flight and said, I just have to ask you, where did you get that emerald i in the market for one myself. Then I won at an auction and it’s something like 30 to $40,000. Well, my client didn’t reveal what she paid. But she gave her my number. And she called me and she told me that she was considering buying this expensive emerald at an auction house and she was going to be paying a 25% buyer’s premium on top of whatever was and so we had a long conversation and I told her that the way that I usually approach things is if I knew she was looking for an emerald, I wouldn’t buy a finished piece of jewelry. I would go to a gem show the biggest one in the world. And I would go to the best dealers that are you know direct from the mine the guys who Cut them from the country where they’re found. And I would procure one for her and charge her, you know, a small buyer’s premium. And that way, she would be sure that she would be getting something from an accredited, you know, resource that, you know, adhere to a certain code of ethics, and it would be coming with a certificate, and she would be able to buy it at the low wholesale. And that is something that most people don’t know, you really can buy gems and jewelry at below wholesale, you’re never going to make money or even catch up to what you paid for if you pay retail. And I don’t care if the retailer gives you 50% off, because there’s always marketing scams 50% off. But jewelry has such a high markup, it’s three times what it costs. And if you include all the middle people that are involved in the process, because, you know, it’s not just the mining, it’s the cutting, and then it’s distributing and then selling to wholesalers and the wholesale or sell to manufacturers, then the manufacturers sell to retailers, and then the retailer sells it to you. So when you have all that chain of, you know, people that in the supply, you’re going to pay sometimes 10 times more for that, then you really need to. So if you paid retail, as soon as you buy it, it’s worth half of what you’ve purchased it for. And I unfortunately have to be the bearer of bad news. Sometimes when people bring things to me, and they say I spent $20,000 on this. And it’s not worth more than four or 5000. And I show them look, this is what we can get for you for and it just becomes the kind of thing that you really have to have the resources and I’m fortunate that I have ones that I have, because I’ve been doing it for so long. And you know, I don’t like to pay for unnecessary things. When I’m dealing with young clients who are very, very astute, they know what the cost things are. And they’re gonna get everything reappraised. And my goal is that it appraises for double or triple what they paid for it. And that’s usually what happens. And that’s why I get repeat business. And it starts out with an engagement ring. And then it becomes you know, the wedding jewelry, and then it’s the push present after they have a baby and then a special anniversary. And then they tell their friends and you know, I become a lifelong friend. And I love it. I love the process because it brings so much joy. But it got to the point where you know, 30 something year old clients, how much more jewelry can they buy. I have one client, she’s 32 her husband has bought her jewelry for the last 10 years. And she’s got a suite of everything. And so now I think I’m just going to be putting together gem portfolios for them because she loves gems. And we’re going to pick out those kinds of gems that will have appreciation value. And instead of looking at a computer screen looking at their portfolio, they’ll have a few gems in the palm of their hand that they can look at that all appreciate and value and make them feel very happy.

Alan
You love what you do. And I can see it with the passion in your voice. So So what’s your typical process a new client comes to you they do they do they typically come with a specific request or they say, Hey, Rénee, just just go find me something that makes money for me.

Rénee
Well, it’s usually some young guy who’s found out from a relative or whatever, that I’m a knowledgeable resource and somebody that can be trusted and they’ll contact me and they’ll say like my last client, he was from Georgia I’d never met him. He’s got a very wonderful girlfriend she does sign languaging for the deaf and she uses her hands a lot and he wanted something that was very understated but he wanted top top top quality upper 2% And so he said I can buy a diamond here in Atlanta we have you know a Merchandise Mart here but I’m coming to you because I know you will prevent me from making a mistake. And so basically I went on her Pinterest page because I had not I said I always asked for him to send me a picture of his fiancee to be and a picture of her hands so I can see what she looks like and then fortunately she had a Pinterest page and when you go on Pinterest you can see all these different designs that women are pinning and all their hearts desires and their biggest wish list and I saw what was important to her and I designed a ring first I picked out a diamond and I knew since he wanted something small. It had to be the upper upper tier of the best cut the best color so I looked at hundreds of diamonds I called my diamond dealer I told him when I was looking for I looked at hundreds of diamonds. I have a very good eye I picked out one that was just in a league of its own. I mean I took them outside I look at them in every different light inside outside bad light good light. The cut is most important thing on a diamond besides the four C’s because well cut diamond sparkles like crazy and really that’s what most people want a diamond for is that sparkle factor. And this one was just amazing. The cut on it the clarity. Everything was superb. came with a GI certificate. So he came out with his dad and looked at the diamond under a mile microscope, a 900 powered microscope to make sure that it was the diamond that was in indeed in the certificate. And then talk to me about what kind of mounting and we decided together, knowing that she was using our hands a lot and didn’t want a flashy ring. And I make suggestions. I’m very opinionated. And generally people are I’ve yet to have a client that wasn’t happy with, you know, something that we’ve created for him. But I love the idea of buying the stone and then making the piece of jewelry because I think it’s so much better of a value for my client, they get a much better deal. There’s a lot more personally invested. It’s it’s so much fun for me and the girl really seems to be happy.

Alan
Really, this has been a lot of fun and, and what we’ll do for the listeners, before we wrap up the segment here, but how does the person reach you?

Rénee
Well, I can be reached on I have a store in Lafayette called Jim lost and it’s a 3529 Mount Diablo Boulevard. And it’s mainly by appointment only. Although I am open, you know, several days a week. You can reach me on my private line 209-609-2548 or you can reach me at Renee r e n e at gem lost GML us t.com I have an eBay store called Vintage diamonds. Which you can google I’m sure you are you can go on my website and there’s a link to that.

Alan
And we’ll have all this information on our rebrand broadcasts on the website of gr o co.com. And you can see more, more about today’s show and also contacting Rene Rene, I’d like to thank you on being on today. And we’ll be right back after these messages.

 

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This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

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