Miniature versions of the heavy machinery found at a typical jewelry production plant can be seen throughout the workshop, such as laser engravers and sandblasters. One corner has a brick enclave where jewelers can torch items without scorching their desks. Next to a glass partition sits a series of old-school apparatus—chains, hand cranks and rolling presses—reminiscent of a medieval torture chamber. A separate room houses some of the latest technology: five 3D printers in various sizes for making wax or resin models.
The jewelers only need to make single items here. Work desks are cluttered with all sorts of torches, tweezers, drill bits, handsaws and polishing wheels. Gems and other precious materials are kept in a vault to the side. The whole area is secure, Naberezny said, thanks to cabinets that double as safes at each desk.
Everything that comes out of the center must translate to mass manufacturing, since most of what Tiffany sells isn’t one-of-a-kind. Making one of something is easy, said Naberezny. Making tens of thousands is hard. Tiffany brings suppliers to the workshop and sits them alongside jewelers who can display manufacturing processes right at their desks. All the conference rooms have microscopes hooked up to big screens for meetings with suppliers abroad.
So far, much of the work done at the studio has been for Tiffany’s mass-market and midlevel items, though they sometimes help with the jeweler’s fanciest creations. Uptown, atop Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue flagship store, is where the company’s most glitzy rings, necklaces and bracelets are conjured. They come up with exotic items such as a diamond-stitched collar connected to hundreds of golden fronds and a platinum ring adorned with a massive 26-carat yellow diamond.
But the new studio is where Bogliolo’s plans may live or die. While 50 of the 80 positions at the workshop have been filled thus far (mostly from staff at other Tiffany facilities), competitors with sharp employees should beware: Naberezny’s shiny behemoth is looking to grow.
“If the company wants it in one month, or if they want it in a year, I want to fill that need,” she said. “Whatever the new beautiful idea is.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.