The Diamond Dynamo: Ori Vechler - Jewelry Connoisseur

Rare and breathtaking stones are on-brand for the founder of China-based Gemma Fine Jewelry, whose social media sparkles with bespoke creations for a high-end clientele.

Ori Vechler has accomplished a lot in his relatively young career. The gregarious 32-year-old founder of Shanghai-based brand Gemma Fine Jewelry is a self-professed lover of emerald cuts who sources diamonds from around the world to create his bespoke pieces.

“My brother-in-law works with A.A. Rachminov Diamonds, one of the largest wholesale diamond sellers in the world,” he relates. “At a very young age, he saw potential in me. The moment I finished my time in the Israeli army, I went straight to study gemology. I then worked as a trainee with the company, learning as much as I could about the diamond trade business.”

From salesman to sensation
Shortly after hiring him, the company sent the young trainee on a one-way trip to China — alone — to help build the business in the Far East. His role? A door-to-door diamond salesman.

“In my first year, when I didn’t speak a single word of Chinese nor truly understand the culture, I was basically taking a backpack full of diamonds all over China, knocking on doors, trying to sell them,” he reminisces.

After several years of personal and professional struggle, Vechler made connections and started to sell directly to end users. He eventually left the company and created his own brand, sourcing diamonds and designing jewelry for the high-society friends he’d made during his travels. Having arrived with a single suitcase, he now has two successful showrooms in Shanghai and Hong Kong and is a household name among many prominent families in the Middle East, the US and China.

“Everything is custom-made for the client,” he says. “Usually, we start by sourcing a stone or showing them what we have in stock in terms of loose stones. We then have full-time designers that create all the sketches for them. Every piece is bespoke, completely one-of-a-kind.”

His buyers are always on top of diamond trends thanks to his access to rare stones and his careful following of the design market.

“Diamond trends are heavily influenced by celebrities. Many are being proposed to with marquise and oval stones at the moment, so I expect a lot of those requests. When someone famous gets engaged with a certain diamond cut, it moves the market drastically,” he explains.

Big on Instagram
Vechler attributes much of his success to Instagram. His personal account on the social media platform has over 327,000 followers and offers diamond lovers an array of visual delights, showcasing the most beautiful stones on the market as well as dream rings that would make anyone say “yes.”

“At the beginning, I was just trying to kill time in the office,” he recalls. “With so many diamonds in front of you, it was just instinctive to want to photograph them. So I started to post a few on my account. Back then, there were not many jewelers on Instagram. I was getting two to three Likes a post, but then suddenly people started messaging to ask for prices. Once I saw that people were interested in purchasing the diamonds, I started to post pictures of my designs. My inbox was flooded with messages from people all over the world asking about purchasing opportunities. I saw a unique opportunity to enhance my sales through the application, way before the Instagram shopping platform that people use now existed.”

Little did he know that his office distraction would grow to become one of his brand’s best selling points. “Thanks to Instagram, my creations are accessible for the entire world to see and enjoy. Anyone from anywhere can purchase a piece through a single direct message to the account, and they have been able to do so for over eight years now.”

Helpful pointers
Unstoppable and growing, Vechler has big plans to expand Gemma Fine Jewelry to more regions by opening showrooms in Dubai and Los Angeles. He also plans to continue focusing on his number-one priority: e-commerce and Instagram sales. Here are some of his tips for jewelers looking to increase their brand presence on social media:

Be different
Every small gemstone dealer and jewelry store has its own account nowadays, and 90% of them repost the same material or their own material in similar ways. I think it is very important to find your niche. Find what you are good at, what sets you apart from the rest, something that other people don’t do.

Service, service, service
When you’re an account with a consumer product, it is inevitable that people will reach out and message you directly. When they do so, it is important to give each and every one of them the exact same amount of attention and positive attitude, no matter their budget. I once received a message from someone asking to purchase a blue diamond for $5. I politely apologized and explained to them the correct pricing for such a rare and valuable stone. In a roundabout way, that one message led to an email exchange with someone who ended up purchasing a stone for $5 million. So be nice, be patient, because you never know where a message could lead.

Presentation is key
It takes a lot of time and effort, but if you want to be very successful, you have to make sure that you shoot your products in the right way, with the right lighting and on the right hand models. Everything needs to be presented perfectly.

Create overlap between your personal and professional accounts
Something else that I do but not everyone does is mix my personal life with my business. I have two accounts: my business account (@gemma_finejewelry) and my personal account (@Vechler). When dealing with such a high-end product, I think consumers want to relate to the person they are buying from. So the people that follow me get to see a little into my day-to-day life as well as my business side. I reply to every single direct message I get on Instagram, without fail, so they can connect with me as a human being, making the experience all the more personal. If someone says, “Beautiful profile,” I always respond, “Thank you so much.”