Stephen Webster is best known as the jeweler to rock stars. Performers such as Madonna, Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Bon Jovi and, most recently, Rag’n’Bone Man have bought the British designer’s jewelry. He even made Madonna’s engagement ring.
Now Webster is looking to broaden his appeal across the global luxury sector, including by expanding into homeware.
His decision to exhibit his works for the first time at the VicenzaOro gold-jewelry fair in September has underscored his ambition to attract buyers from around the world, not just in strongholds such as Russia and the US.
“Vicenza is a global show. The Italians have done a great job [reaching] out to the global market,” Webster says in an interview at his office in the London jewelry district of Mayfair. Pictures of rock stars and his latest designs line
the walls.
Webster exhibited at Baselworld for nearly two decades, but stopped a few years ago and has since decided to reach out to buyers from overseas by showing his latest collections at VicenzaOro instead.
His celebrated status in the international jewelry world — and his connections to the international “jet set” — ensured his stand was one of the prime attractions at the September show, even though he couldn’t attend personally.
Cocktail rings to actual cocktails
Webster presented three new collections at VicenzaOro: Vertigo, Astro Balls, and Mens.
Vertigo pieces are crafted to create an illusion, while Astro Balls are charms celebrating the 13 Zodiac signs, combining intricately carved gold and luscious pearls. The Mens line highlights Webster’s focus on masculine jewelry, which he sees as mainstream.
“We now feel that gold jewelry for young guys is massive,” he says.
A tantalizing feature of Webster’s showcase was his luxury homeware range, including his “bike bar” — a bicycle-shaped drink cart loaded with his line of high-end cocktail accessories — which sold well at the June Couture show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Stephen Webster has always been about lifestyle as well as jewelry,”
he says. “The landscape of luxury is changing. The concept is ‘beyond jewelry’ now.”
New horizons
Webster is perhaps better known abroad than in his homeland; the brand is export-focused, with its main markets in Russia and the US. One of the expected results of his participation in VicenzaOro was helping consolidate access to Russian and US buyers and potentially opening up Asian markets.
His next frontier could be mainland China, which is still enamored of corporate luxury brands but is becoming susceptible to the blend of attitude and humor that characterizes Stephen Webster.
Webster himself points to several mega-trends in jewelry overall: a shift into colored-gem engagement rings; the increasing allure of “sustainable” lab-grown diamonds; unusual diamond cuts that celebrate imperfection; and a resurgence of bespoke jewelry demand.
“We are definitely seeing a move away from perfection in diamonds,” he affirms. As for lab-grown, he believes this segment will bring opportunities for designers. Webster — who has already established a lab-created-diamond jewelry line for Swarovski — says there’s no turning back from a future encompassing these stones formed through “green energy.”
But bespoke natural diamond and gem-set jewelry lines will also have a great future, he adds, as they fulfill a requirement for personalization among middle-income and wealthy customers.
Image: Rankin (Stephen Webster)Article from the Rapaport Magazine - October 2019. To subscribe click here.