A&E Interviews: Yeprem’s Creative Director Virna Chakardemian

  |   12-11-2015

 

Behind a counter at Harvey Nichols, in Dubai, an elegant lady with striking purple hair that’s cut in a modern, contemporary yet classic bob shuffles behind the Yeprem fine jewellery counter. She doesn’t look like an ordinary saleslady; she has natural presence, some element of importance, standout style that’s a fusion of classic elegance with a fresh, individual, subtle, punk rock identity.

 

This woman looks daring and bold but has refined natural grace and an air of demure; quite a rare combination. As I walk towards the counter, I’m introduced to this silhouette wearing a Giorgio Armani navy, silk, high neck ruffle top and a chic pencil skirt adorned with sparkling diamonds on her hands, wrists and ears. It is in fact Virna Chakardemian, the creative director of Beirut-based label Yeprem.

 

The brand’s known for their diamonds and innovative jewellery. It’s been established for half a century now; set up by her father, Yeprem, who she speaks of with such high regard. It’s admirable when she describes how he founded a company that started from humble beginnings, with one gold bangle that was given to him by his mother. It’s a family business which Virna stresses is an important factor to remember. Family means a lot to her and she prides the company’s success on hard work, determination, good ethics and family solidarity.

 

Your hair is rather fabulous. What made you dye it purple?

My hair is my identity; it is my trademark. It’s been purple for 15 years. Purple is my favourite colour so ever since I started dying my hair it has alway been purple. Purple or pink. Recently, last summer I decided to remove the colour and keep it natural just to prove to people that this colour really suits me because everyone asks me if I’m bored with my colour all the time. So I took off the colour. Then everyone was saying after I took it off that purple or pink really looks good on me because it just doesn’t look right any other way.

 

Purple or pink hair is my identity. I like these colours and I feel very comfortable having my hair dyed. I feel like me when I look at myself in the mirror. When I took the colour off, it’s as if I was someone else. I also love amethyst. It’s a purple crystal and it’s my favourite semi-precious stone because it gives positive energy, good luck and enhances creativity.

 

Tell us about your company?

It was founded in 1964. My father was the founder. His name is Yeprem. My two brothers and I joined the company a few years ago. The three of us came together to push the brand further. My father only did wholesale and he was also a designer. But we wanted the Yeprem brand to be internationally recognised and that’s when we decided to create a new understanding of jewellery and be different so the Yeprem DNA could be easily recognised for its own special style.

We created this new concept of multi-wearable decorative hand-pieces and ear cuffs and now it’s easy to recognise a Yeprem piece because it has a unique identity. We use the marquise cut diamond in most of our pieces. Although the pieces are modern and innovative we use the marquise cut to give it a classic and elegant touch; so our pieces are contemporary in design with classic cut diamonds.

My older brother is the engineer of all our products. He designs the complex pieces. He works so many hours into the craftsmanship of the jewellery. And my younger brother handles the international side of the business and I like to design.

 

Virna Chakardemian

 

You seem very creative, how did that develop in a household that must have been filled with creativity?

I studied interior design. We all grew up with jewellery around us because of the family business. I decided to study jewellery design after interior design. Then I studied gemology. So this whole thing was a passion for all of us. It wasn’t just doing a business in jewellery; jewellery wasn’t something that we were obliged to do. It was just that we grew up in this whole jewellery atmosphere. As a child, my father would bring us to work whenever he had the chance during summer and during all the vacations. He use to make us feel and touch the jewellery in the workshop and he immersed us in his world.

Growing up, seeing my father have natural creativity, my older brother and I realised that we also have that strong creative talent. This creative passion grew in us automatically especially since seeing our father in this environment. For me, design is design and I can design anything. I think design is something that you feel inside. You cannot learn it. When I was studying interior design the students that were an A student, at the start, graduated as A students; the students who had B or C grades, from the beginning, graduated as B or C students. They didn’t learn anything else to make their grades better. Design just comes from inside of you. It’s in your gut.

 

In 50 years how has your brand evolved? Describe the evolution of the brand.

When my father handled the business he use to give everything his own special touch. Even now his touch is still present.  He is still the one who chooses each diamond for every piece. His pieces were always different from everyone else. We were taught by him to think in a unique way.

 

What were the struggles taking over from your father as creative director?

It wasn’t easy because he is a successful self-made man and we are the second generation so we want to do things differently. For 40 years he was doing it on his own. He started with only one gold bracelet that his mother gave him. He didn’t go to school. He couldn’t afford to go to school so his livelihood depended on one gold bracelet that his mother gave him to start his business. It’s not easy to follow in the steps of a self-made, very self-assured and confident man. The three of us managed to understand him and to let him understand us by proving ourselves. When we took over, each one of us tried our best to work hard in what we do to prove to him that we can take over and do it well.

We only proved to him that we could look after the brand once we made the brand popular globally. He feels very good now about it. Recently he was in Bergdorf Goodman in NYC.  He was walking around the department store and he asked the salesman at the Yeprem counter about some of the pieces. He said to him: “That’s a lovely brand where is it from?” And the salesman told him it’s from Lebanon and it is an Armenian brand. My father told him that he was actually Yeprem himself and the salesman could not believe it. My father still can’t believe how it is sold globally, especially when he remembers how it all began for him. We sell the brand in places like Russia, Dubai and the US. We are present in many multi-branded luxury shopping outlets.

 

What makes your pieces unique?

Most of our pieces are inspired by the female body. We treat each piece as if it were a sculpture. So when you put one of our pieces on your neck, ear, wrist, face or hand it sits like a sculpture should, like a piece of art. It compliments the female body as if it’s part of it. Complex pieces need to feel comfortable when they are worn. They go through several stages before they are ready. Our father taught us that if you make an ornate piece comfort is very important. Otherwise what’s the point?

All of the complex pieces are manually adjusted on each customer. We train the sales team to know how each piece should sit on the body. We have even created a silicone display hand that intricately moves so we can show customers how our jewellery needs to be worn. So the sales people will know how it needs to look and how to sell our pieces to customers the right way.

 

 

What are the highlights of your career?

We won an award last year at the People’s Choice award at the Las Vegas Couture show. This piece that won the award is called Ararat. It was inspired by the mighty Mount Ararat. The winning diamond hand-piece was created to embody more than just the representation of the mount itself, but mark a centennial milestone in the lifetime of a colossal civilisation.

Many celebrities like Rihanna, Katy Perry, Mila Kunis, Adriana Lima and Oprah Winfrey have worn Yeprem. Jennifer Lopez wore a piece for the opening ceremony for World Cup 2014. We also make eyebrow jewellery. Oprah Winfrey wore one for the cover of a magazine. The Claw is a key piece worn by J.Lo and Madonna. Madonna asked to design a piece for The Rebel Heart album. This piece was inspired from the album and it was created especially for her. We had little time to design, produce and send it to her. And it had to arrive in time for the Grammy’s. She was very impressed and very happy. She wrote us a thank you letter which I have kept. I think her style, her character and the fact that she is a trendsetter and never a follower makes me admire her. She is always a leader. She is my idol and I always wanted to dress her, and we did it!

 

What other things inspire you?

Woman with a strong character and self-confidence. Strong, confident women reflect our brand. Those women willing to show their true character or have the strength be different in society and be elegant at the same time inspire me. All our pieces are so powerful that the person wearing it needs to be fairly bold and have a certain level of elegance and class.

When you wear a piece it triggers a feeling of confidence.  A lady should feel different when she puts our jewellery on. It’s not like wearing a simple ring. We put emotion into our pieces and this is our gift for the women who wear them. We want her to have emotion when she wears our jewellery.

 

What’s your favourite piece and why?

The Claw is my favourite piece. It’s our most iconic piece. I also like our Snowflakes piece.  It’s so comfortable to wear and it’s also very attractive. You can move your hand and you can feel the jewellery all around your fingers. It’s very unique and a perfect red carpet accessory.

 

How would you like to see the brand develop?

I’d like to develop the classic side of our jewellery. We’ve started to do this. We are ambitious. Although we are pleased with our progress in 50 years there’s still a lot we want to do. I’d like the brand to be acknowledged internationally more than it is today and to have Yeprem stand-alone stores worldwide.

We’d love to keep it in the family. I think that’s the key to many successful brands. It starts with a family business then it grows and develops into something bigger.  My son use to come to work with me until he was six months old. My daughter use to come to work with me everyday too before she started going to school. I’d take her to photoshoots and meetings and she is use to mingling without disturbing anyone. I want them to grow up in my world. My brother does the same with his children. He brings them to the factory and my father enjoys that a lot. He sees his grandchildren playing in the workshop and sometimes they will mess everything up but he just doesn’t care. He loves it.

 

What’s the most special thing you’ve designed?

When I was getting married my father asked me what I’d like designed for my wedding day. I said that I didn’t want him to design anything for it because I have grown up with so much jewellery around me all my life. But I wanted to do something different. I ended up designing my own wedding dress that had a plethora of diamonds sewn into it, so it really sparkled. I know many brides never have anywhere to put their lipstick or phones so I made sure my dress had pockets. In Lebanon we always have power cuts so I made sure my dress had LED lighting. On my wedding day, I was hoping that there would be a power cut. Luckily for me there was a power cut for about two minutes. I was so happy because I just flicked the switch and I lit up. Everyone was so amazed!

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