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FAMILY BUSINESS MOVES INTO CREATIVE DESIGNS
by Bernice Chan
South China Morning Post
November 21, 2011 Monday
HongKong
With his family's history of five generations in the jewellery
business, Roberto Boghossian feels a great responsibility to carry
on the tradition.
His family, with Armenian roots, has had a turbulent history. His
great-great-grandfather managed to survive the Armenian genocide and
escaped to Syria, where he worked as a waiter. One of his regular
customers eventually offered him a job - in the jewellery business.
He gathered the rest of the surviving family members in Syria and
then Lebanon. Boghossian's father then moved to Belgium, his uncle
to Geneva.
The dramatic story also coincides with the family's rise in the
jewellery field, starting out as a precious stones dealer before
focusing more on diamonds and coloured diamonds. About seven years ago,
the Boghossian house began presenting its high jewellery collections.
"We want to develop our assets as much as possible and then add a new
dimension. My father and uncle are open-minded and welcome change,"
Boghossian explained on visit to Hong Kong this month.
The company's jewellery line, called Bogh-Art, is carried by
Lane Crawford and was shown to well-heeled clients in Island Tang
restaurant in Central. Many tai-tais tried on the pieces and bought
a few signature baubles.
Bogh-Art is best known for its inlay technique, which Boghossian says
is inspired by the Taj Mahal, where precious and semi-precious stones
are inlaid into marble.
"We do inlays into hard stones and the precision required is like
making a complicated watch," Boghossian says.
He shows an oval pendant of pink siderite that has a Moroccan design
lined with gold and small diamonds. "We make small incisions into
the hard stone using a laser and then melt the gold in there and then
set the diamonds inside," he says.
Other variations include diamonds or other gemstones within
semi-precious stones such as aquamarines to give it a kind of
"floating appearance".
The craftsmanship is such that the diamond is integrated into the
host stone and when fingers run over the surface, they practically
feel like one natural piece.
The brand also does traditional high jewellery, and in its collection
has a rare 3.6-carat vivid blue marquise-cut diamond ring and a
15-carat D flawless diamond ring.
Boghossian shows a necklace featuring large round-cut emeralds
encircled by diamonds.
It has added beading work for a delicate finish along with matching
earrings.
Bogh-Art is also innovating jewellery techniques, working with carbon
and titanium to create very modern light pieces shaped like butterfly
wings and the petals of a flower.
by Bernice Chan
South China Morning Post
November 21, 2011 Monday
HongKong
With his family's history of five generations in the jewellery
business, Roberto Boghossian feels a great responsibility to carry
on the tradition.
His family, with Armenian roots, has had a turbulent history. His
great-great-grandfather managed to survive the Armenian genocide and
escaped to Syria, where he worked as a waiter. One of his regular
customers eventually offered him a job - in the jewellery business.
He gathered the rest of the surviving family members in Syria and
then Lebanon. Boghossian's father then moved to Belgium, his uncle
to Geneva.
The dramatic story also coincides with the family's rise in the
jewellery field, starting out as a precious stones dealer before
focusing more on diamonds and coloured diamonds. About seven years ago,
the Boghossian house began presenting its high jewellery collections.
"We want to develop our assets as much as possible and then add a new
dimension. My father and uncle are open-minded and welcome change,"
Boghossian explained on visit to Hong Kong this month.
The company's jewellery line, called Bogh-Art, is carried by
Lane Crawford and was shown to well-heeled clients in Island Tang
restaurant in Central. Many tai-tais tried on the pieces and bought
a few signature baubles.
Bogh-Art is best known for its inlay technique, which Boghossian says
is inspired by the Taj Mahal, where precious and semi-precious stones
are inlaid into marble.
"We do inlays into hard stones and the precision required is like
making a complicated watch," Boghossian says.
He shows an oval pendant of pink siderite that has a Moroccan design
lined with gold and small diamonds. "We make small incisions into
the hard stone using a laser and then melt the gold in there and then
set the diamonds inside," he says.
Other variations include diamonds or other gemstones within
semi-precious stones such as aquamarines to give it a kind of
"floating appearance".
The craftsmanship is such that the diamond is integrated into the
host stone and when fingers run over the surface, they practically
feel like one natural piece.
The brand also does traditional high jewellery, and in its collection
has a rare 3.6-carat vivid blue marquise-cut diamond ring and a
15-carat D flawless diamond ring.
Boghossian shows a necklace featuring large round-cut emeralds
encircled by diamonds.
It has added beading work for a delicate finish along with matching
earrings.
Bogh-Art is also innovating jewellery techniques, working with carbon
and titanium to create very modern light pieces shaped like butterfly
wings and the petals of a flower.