Roberto Stern
Roberto is CEO and Creative Director for H.Stern, Brazilian Jeweler. In this blog he gives an insight into his vision and talks about the collaborations he has with creative people from all over the world.
House of Design
“When I took over from my father Hans, the H.Stern company had already established itself as one of the world’s leading, innovative jewelers. In fact, Time Magazine had described Dad as “the king of diamonds and colored gems, capable of unveiling the personality hidden in every precious stone.” However, in 1995 I realized that it was time for a change and shifted the company’s focus.
Dad put us on the global map as a top quality jewelry firm – one of the innovators. He introduced stones nobody had ever used before. But times and our market were changing. Most importantly, women were changing in ways that were exciting for us. In the past, it had always been the men who had bought them their jewelry. Now they were choosing their own – and they knew exactly what they wanted! Interestingly – quite often it was completely different to what the husbands would have chosen!
Globalization was really getting underway too. It may sound contradictory, but consumers everywhere were and are looking for the same thing – originality and style. They want creativity, simplicity, and straight elegant lines. I realized that we needed to cater to these changes. If we did, we’d be bucking the trend, securing our future, and opening up a global market with huge potential. And so – quite quickly – I changed our focus from mainstream jewelers into a House of Design.
The driving force behind the House of Design concept is to surprise and delight people. Dad was an innovator and perhaps I’ve inherited some of his flair. I want to stretch the boundaries of our profession. The most striking way we do this is in our collections. We work with the widest possible range of people in the broadest possible range of professions – all the collections are based on inspiration from outside the jewelry world – and that created a whole new ballgame – we really changed the world of jewelry and design.
Our first collection was with the beautiful Catherine Deneuve, and that put us on the map. Since this kind of collaboration was not done in that time, it was something totally unexpected. Since then we’ve worked with all sorts of people and concepts – from brilliant architect Oscar Niemeyer to Disney and the inspirational Diane von Furstenberg to Brazilian cult figure Carlinhos Brown. Whatever we do, I want us to be original. Surprise people. Shock people. Hey – even surprise ourselves with what we can achieve. It keeps us young. It keeps us inspired. And it keeps the world interested. What more do you want in a world that is changing faster than ever?”
Read more stories:
Roberto and Carlinhos Brown – “anything but mainstream”
Partnering with Diane von Furstenberg
Roberto and Oscar Niemeyer – A legendary collaboration
“Strolling through São Paulo with the Campana Brothers”
Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland
The movement of Grupo Corpo
Roberto and Costanza Pascolato on ‘Katie Holmes campaign’
House of Design
Tags: Roberto Stern, Roberto, Stern, Alessandra Oliveira, Carlinhos Brown, Catherine Deneuve, Christian Hallot, Christiane Nielsen, Diane von Furstenberg, Alice in Wonderland, H. Stern, House of Design, H.Stern, H.Stern jewellery, jewellery, Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil, Brazilian jewellery, Brazilian jewels, Rio de Janeiro, Tim Burton, Ipanema, meeting Roberto Stern, Grupo Corpo, Campana Brothers, Ancient America, IRIS.
Roberto Stern 