Now that gold is at
US$308.10 an ounce, should
we be stocking up on
medallions or pinkie rings
or something?

Gold isn't really my
favorite substance. I like
platinum best for making
my jewelry.

How did you get into this
business?

It happened by a fluke. I
was a musician, and we
needed to make money while
we were on the road. I had
a friend whose father
owned a jewelry company.
And I loved jewelry —
I loved making them, and I
always designed my own. So
we worked out a deal where
I would give them help on
the legal end in exchange
for giving me a few
pointers.

Are you a lawyer?

Not at all. When I was in
college I worked for a
company that dealt in
commercial papers, and
worked pretty strongly
with the uniform
commercial code. So we
worked out a trade because
I had some legal knowledge
and they wouldn't have to
pay legal fees. That
started in 1990.

When did you start making
your own jewelry?

Around the same time.

Where did you get your
skills?

All on the job.

Who buys your stuff?

We sell to athletes,
musicians, people in the
motion picture industry,
comedians.

Name some famous people.

We sell to Master P. We
just redesigned all the
pendants for Cash Money
Records, so we worked with
Baby [Williams] and Slim
[Williams], the Hot Boys
and all them guys. A lot
of football players, a lot
of basketball players,
everybody from Juwan
Howard — Juwan
Howard's actually one of
our spokespeople right now
— to Shawn Kemp, Gary
Payton, Damon Stoudamire,
Michael Finley, Maurice
Taylor, Eddie Jones, Derek
Anderson. We've done work
for Steve Harvey; we just
did a movie that Oliver
Stone directed [Any Given
Sunday], starring L. L.
Cool J., Bill Bellamy,
Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz,
Al Pacino. We did the
jewelry for that movie....
Could you hang on one
second?...

[Pause]

That was Damon Stoudamire
on the other line.

Where do you get most of
your jewelry materials?

We get our diamonds from
Africa.

From De Beers?

No, not from De Beers.

That's good. Avoid the
evil empire, right?

Ha ha! I don't really
know, but we're not
getting diamonds from
them.

What's your price range?

We go anywhere from $75 up
to a million.

What can I get for a
million?

It would probably be a
platinum bracelet, with
the finest type of
diamonds, stuff like that.

What kind of design would
you get?

It depends on the
individual. We can go
several different ways. If
you want top-quality
craftsmanship, you'll
probably go up there, but
we have bracelets in the
$499 area and all the way
up. Everything is in
demand but at a higher
range, and not a lot of
people can afford that.
And those who can probably
wouldn't want to talk
about it.

What can I get for 75
bucks?

You can get a gold earring
with diamonds on it. It
could be white gold or
yellow gold.

Which do you recommend?

Personally, I love
platinum. I think once you
start wearing platinum and
get a feel for it you'll
agree. It's the most
beautiful metal.

I wouldn't even know
platinum if I fell over
it.

You probably see it
around. But because it's
not in your consciousness
you don't notice it.

I've got a 1985 Honda
Accord, and it's a tight
ride. You think there
might be some platinum in
the car? Maybe in the dash
or the hubcaps?

Platinum in your car, let
me think about that....
No, I don't think so.
Platinum is not like
silver, but it's similar
in color. But platinum is
not as metallic looking;
it's deeper and a pure
white.

You ever get people coming
in to rent jewelry for a
party or an awards show or
something like that?

We don't rent. Not at all.

Not even for the movie?

No. I was reading an
article in The Source
where somebody said a lot
of rappers come into his
store to rent. There's
never been one rapper that
came into our store to
rent. We sell to a lot of
rappers and they own their
jewelry. So I don't know
what kind of rappers go to
him, but the people we
know buy their jewelry.

Who was the guy in The
Source?

I don't know. He didn't
give his name.

You do any costume
jewelry?

No. We get requests
sometimes, but we just
tell people we don't do
it.

What's the most
interesting custom work
you've done?

That's relative, man.
What's interesting to one
person may not be so
interesting to somebody
else.

How about the weirdest?

I wouldn't even go there.
What's strange to you may
be normal to someone else.
The difference is in
taste. You might think a
small diamond is the most
beautiful thing; I might
think a huge stone is the
most beautiful thing.
Neither one of us is
necessarily right; it's
just preference.

What's your own
preference?

I like quality. The number
of karats doesn't mean as
much as the quality of the
karats. To me it's the
quality of the piece.

Well, leaving aside
"interesting" or
"weird"... if we say a
plain gold earring is at
one end of a scale of
usualness, what's at the
other end?

You know what entertainers
like. That's what I like
about them. They're not
mundane. That's why I like
my job, because we don't
have to do the same things
twice. Most of the guys
who buy don't want them to
look like anything else,
so we brainstorm with
them.

Any piece you're
particularly proud of?

I'm proud of all of them.
That's like asking a
parent which child is
their favorite.

But every parent secretly
has a favorite child.

But you can't tell them
that.

Have you had anybody come
in with a gold record and
ask you to melt it down to
make, like, a prince
albert or something?

Well, a gold record isn't
really made of gold. I
don't know, they look
yellow, but I don't think
they're made of gold. They
might be gold-plated.

What about a platinum
record?

I'd imagine they're
platinum-plated, and
that's a lot of money to
spread on a record.

How many months' salary
should I spend on an
engagement ring?

De Beers says you should
spend two months, so ... I
would ask you to spend
five months — that's
more money in my pocket,
right? I'm just joking.
Depending on the woman,
and depending on the
relationship, it's purely
a personal decision.

Yeah, I wish De Beers
would leave it as a personal
decision, those evil
psychos. They make
everybody feel like
cheapskates.

Well I don't know about
them. But I really enjoy
what I'm doing.