The Gentleman Magazine Issue 6 | December 2017 | Page 58

VASHI : The Source of Diamond Excellence
Ah, the diamond engagement ring. Source of joy to betrothed
couples everywhere – but only after becoming a source of terror
and anxiety for nervous would-be grooms, desperately seeking
to fulfil their beloved's wildest dreams at price that won't forfeit
the inheritance of potential children.
Do your research on buying diamonds and you will be beset
by an array of challenging dimensions to this larger-than-life
ordeal. The Four Cs are only the beginning – you've also got to
consider everything from the type of metal in the ring to the
size of the lucky lady's finger. And then the hunt begins. You
trek from store to store and one website to another, in search
of that one perfect stone that will take her breath away without
room for even the tiniest niggle of disappointment.
But there's a better way, according to an enthusiastic 39-year-
old. Vashi Dominguez grew up in Tenerife and has spent most
of his professional life selling diamonds. With his latest retail
venture, simply called Vashi, he reckons he's found the solution
to the infamous stress of the diamond-buying game.
“We don’t really want to sell you what is on display,” he says
of his business model, which the company pitches as the most
disruptive new idea for diamonds in living memory. And it's
right: Mr Dominguez is onto something.
Vashi has been operating online since 2013, but now it has a
brick and mortar premises in Mayfair on Piccadilly. Although
“brick and mortar” is a prosaic underselling of the futuristic
new store, which features a piece of raw kimberlite for a door
handle (the rare igneous rock in which diamonds form). The
store, as Vashi puts it, is “disarmingly relaxed and friendly”.
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No
more peering through cases to find the closest
approximation of the ring you want – Vashi doesn't even keep
its diamonds behind glass.
The idea, is one of pure customization. The customer, aided by
in-store helpers – branded “Guardian Angels” – is able to find
the precise stone he or she desires, and can then choose the cut,
fitting, ring type and a host of other personal touches to forge
their jewellery to their exact specifications. He or she is then
whisked to the Vashi lab, where they can watch as an expert
jeweller – or “Alchemist” - makes it before their very eyes. They
can even help out, the whole process being immortalised on
film or in a coffee table book for posterity.
The Vashi ethos doesn't sound much like the diamond industry
we know of old. Consider this pitch for the Vashi vision: “We
are all about helping you recreate the sort of raw, intense, pure
emotion and overwhelming love that brought tears of joy to
your parents’ eyes as you proudly presented your first love
letter to them.”
But for such a major, life-defining choice (both financially and
emotionally), what Vashi offers – new though it may be – is
going to hold a lot of appeal for even the most hardened cynic.
This is an opportunity to no longer buy a statement of one's
love, but to craft it – literally, with your own hands, setting a
stone in place that will hopefully be handed down to future
generations. It's not unfair to boast, as Vashi proudly does, that
this new concept in diamond retail allows you to “finally put
your own heart into making your ring”.
And it's not just engagement rings – you can make any kind of
jewellery at Vashi, as long as it involves diamonds.
, Security in Motion”