Warren Buffet, the billionaire and visionary businessman, said: “If you don’t understand jewelry, meet the jeweler.” Although his phrase was not said with a purely literal sense, in the case of Edith Miroznikcreative designer, current executive director and the fourth generation of jewels of Ruby Ruby (which currently includes the fifth), we wear “like a ring.” She, who studied Fine Arts and graduated as an English and Italian teacher, who grew up surrounded by precious metals and stones, which her father José transformed into jewelry with own designs, which accumulates public and private awards, as a personality and businesswoman, is the active engine that continues with the legacy. It is enough to see her, small and with that vibrant energy, together with her son Adá, tell her overwhelming enthusiasm, about the brightness of her new designs, on that unwavering generation It transmits from generation to generation. The brand has its own workshops in Santa Fe, two stores (in Buenos Aires and Punta del Este), official agents in most of the capital of Argentina, representations countries such as Brazil and Paraguay, and has its eyes on crossing the ocean, to reach the old continent with its creations manufactured by hand. Know the jeweler, to know the jewelry.
News: The Ruby was called the first jewelry workshop founded by José Miroznik when he arrived in Santa Fe in 1915 Why did he choose the name of that precious stone?
Edith Miroznik: It all started in a place in Poland where there was an goldsmith whom a character of the court went to ask for an alhaja for his firstborn. The design left him at the taste of the goldsmith, who did something very nice with a ruby as main stone, and the nobleman loved it. It became the goldsmith of the people. From there comes the connection of our family and our brand with that stone. José, son of the goldsmith and my grandfather, came to Argentina in 1915, like all Europeans after the first war. He came with nothing, just with his profession that he had learned from his father. Here they received him with his hands open and went directly to Santa Fe. He passed the profession to my father José, and then he to my sister and me. An unwavering legacy.
News: What is special for the ruby?
Miroznik: The precious stones are four: ruby emerald, sapphire and the king, the diamond. Then there are the semi -precious ones. Like every precious stone has the energy of the earth and the years it was formed. The ruby has been spiritually revered throughout history. His name comes from Ruber, which means ‘red’ in Latin. He has been attributed significant properties such as intense passion, burning love and vital energy. News: As a designer and director, he is in charge of a company with more than one hundred employees and that invoices 1100 million a year, what changes in the business when a woman handles it?
Miroznik: We can, we are not different from men. We can do everything we want, what we project, what we like. We can, along with the man, follow the path we choose. My sex was never a stumbling block when heading jewelry or feeling overwhelmed when I had to be the only woman somewhere dominated by men. So much I, who studied Fine Arts and I am an English and Italian teacher, as my sister Diana, who is a math teacher, we represent the fourth generation of the family at the head of jewelry. Being a businesswoman was not difficult for me, because I had the privilege of learning everything from my father. It was my mentor. He started very down and taught me that, with responsible work, good disposition and love for what one does everything can be achieved.
News: At some point it must have been complex to be a mother, study a career and work in jewelry how did it combine it?
Miroznik: Now that I think about myself! I was going to give chairs, I studied in Fine Arts, I also learned Italian and English to help my father to communicate in business with abroad. My mother also sent me to study piano, poetry and drawing. The woman has her home and can be a businesswoman. I think that when you do it with love and dedication, you can do everything.
News: How do they differ men and woman buying a jewel? What do they choose?
Miroznik: Women usually come with an idea, they know well what they want. The man, on the other hand, seeks to advise him. Men give diamonds, but every woman always wants to have her emerald!
News: Any anecdote to remember?
Miroznik: There are thousands! But there are not many that can be counted. In general we handle ourselves with great discretion with our clients, not only for the amounts that are handled but also by the referencers of the jewels. But it happened that a man made two rings, one for his wife and one for his lover. As the wife something suspected, she came to the jewelry without giving many details, and unintentionally they showed her the gift for the other … it was a barbaric mess! And don’t go to believe that only men can get into this double game, women also do their things!
News: Then it seems, there is also a market for male jewelry …
Miroznik: The man has become more flirtatious and elegant, he likes to wear jewels, so we are making more and more collections for them, and it is something that is growing. They look mainly bracelets, some rings and dare to pendants.
News: In addition to exclusive boutiques in Buenos Aires and Punta del Este, you export to Brazil and Uruguay among other countries, is the design different?
Miroznik: Design for classic women as extravagant. The Argentine is more sober does not like to show. Some people want something colorful, and choose us because they are designs that they will not see anywhere, because they are entirely Rubí Rubí. Brazilians like more colored stones and big things. But I do not do exclusive jewelry. What I do is not exclusively for them because I am very Argentine in my designs. I travel a lot in the country and I get excited about our landscapes, our nature and I begin to design. I never ask how much it can cost because I couldn’t design! They can’t limit me. I make a masterpiece or sometimes exclusive pieces in a collection, and then within the same line I make more accessible pieces.
News: Are jewels a good value shelter?
Miroznik: The high jewelry business, although it does not ignore what happens in the national and international economy, transcends that daily life and is a item that is usually installed in an area with relative stability and that can always project growth. Gold is an asset of savings, stable, and that tends to maintain its value over time. This can be added the added value that high jewelry pieces have for their artisanal work and the gems used. In skinny or fat cows, the jewel is always good, not only because it is a value shelter that can always make money again, but at the same time one can look. The jewels are eternal and I try to make jewels that pass from generation to generation. I do not want my jewelry to end up in the jeweler of the woman who buys it, but the daughter and granddaughter look with equal pleasure.
News: Who imposes the fashion of jewelry? What are the trends?
Miroznik: The brand is characterized by exclusive design, high quality and vast experience of goldsmiths. I like French jewelry that is more baroque and opulent and also the Italian that is more modern. I look at the trends and I base a lot on fashion, but also my limit is that it is always in force, that “I did not go out of style.” I look for designs that adapt to all times and tastes of the consumer, that are timeless, but with the versatility of the novelty. For this year, there are many trends, such as large pieces or the return of pearls. A lot of personalized jewelry, and in the materials the combination of gold tones and the use of precious gems in vibrant colors. I always look at the trends, but without losing the brand’s DNA.
News: What is the DNA of the brand?
Miroznik: The tone of Argentine that always have jewels, and playing with the stones, with their colors in the positions. Diamonds are not just white or sapphires only blue, so I like to play with the colors of the stones.
News: From that royalty goldsmith in Poland that Joseph who crossed the ocean and reflected a family business that grew, and today is directed by women spent 110 years How do they celebrate?
Miroznik: We started the year with a renewal of our premises in Punta del Este where Pampita, Valeria Mazza, Susana Giménez and many celebrities in a great party were. The idea is also to take an exclusive collection and make the great celebration in the month of November that the date is fulfilled. We always want more. We celebrate as a family to continue designing beautiful things.
