Interviewed by Irina Ivanova Earlier this year, the Forget Me Knot jewelry collection was presented at Harvey Nichols by the creator and founder of Stephen Webster jewelry house. Outrageous British jewelry designer is well known in the Russian environment, in many ways, as he himself admitted, thanks to his Russian beautiful wife Anastasia, who is engaged in PR and brand promotion.
Inspired by Stephen's unusually charming charm and, as always, the “dangerous” beauty of his products, I decided to ask the master about the personal.
It seems that your new collection is no longer as "aggressive" as the previous ones. But before we get back to her, I would like to talk with you about personal life.
But she's personal, isn't she?
Yes, but the door to it is already slightly open to the public. For example, we already know that your spouse is Russian. I wonder what role she plays in your work, because every successful man almost always has a woman?
Of course, 100%! When we met her 17 years ago, I was already quite experienced, but a little-known jeweler. He began his career in England, then moved to Canada, in 1984 returned to London, but America remained my target market, not England. Therefore, I traveled a lot, came to California, where I opened a studio. In 1988, he returned to London, where he founded his own company Stephen Webster ltd. When we met, I still did not make jewelry under my own name, worked for other brands, but that period in my life was really successful and “breakthrough” for me. Asya gradually entered my business, although this was not in her plans. At the stage of recovery, “our” people are always needed, and she was as if prepared to join the team. This is a rather difficult situation, because we were not married at that time.
And if you include someone from your personal life in the business, it can be difficult. But we were a small company, she knew my brother, and everyone liked it. And I needed help in the field of sales. Anastasia is very attractive and loves jewelry, she learned how to wear jewelry and talk about them. There was no one else with such talents in our men's team!
We knew how to make jewelry, and she - to wear them, and it was important. At one point, everyone found out about Asa, because she is glamorous and, of course, very sociable. In England and America, my clients began to get closer to her. We saw and understood that it was she - the lethal force of the brand.
By the time we began to enter the Russian market, Asya had been working with us for about 5 years, my business grew with her. She is from St. Petersburg, speaks the same language with our Russian customers, so she has become the main lever for entering this market. As soon as I arrive in Russia, everyone constantly asks me: "Where is Asya, where is Asya?"
Steve, as far as I know, you yourself find excellent contact with the Russians. Maybe the secret is in your rock and roll image?
Yes, of course, I'm not a “man in a jacket” And the Russians like it. They love my jewelry, and communication with me helps to better understand them. We are great friends. A combination of things that help to achieve a balance in relationships is important - charisma, design, rock and roll environment, where each of us has a little ambition. This is what makes up the Webster brand, which has a touch of humor.
Yes, after talking with you for a short time, I realized that jewelry is not “aggressive” or “dangerous” at all, it's just such humor, English ...
Of course. I would be unpleasant to think that people perceive my jewelry as aggressive. In my opinion, my very first collections, very large and colorful, were rather even classic. Or take, for example, the Murder She Wrote collection ("She wrote the murder") - I do not consider it "criminal," on the contrary, it has a lot of humor. The name itself is frivolous, even ironic.
I often use slightly muffled tones, I really like vintage style, I love tanzanite from stones. I worked with my first tanzanite in the 1980s, it has shades of blue, and dark blue, green, purple. Beautiful deep shades, a lot of clearly drawn details ... stones, when they do not get lost against the brilliance of gold or framed by diamonds, give each jewelry its own story.
Where do you get stories for collections?
From everywhere. Some came from childhood, such as the marine collection. When my father moved from the old house, he asked me to pick up children's things. There, my brother and I found sketches of fish that I did when I was 12 years old. This children's project inspired me to create the Sea collection, which is very successful all over the world. The Russians adore her, the Crab ring has been a bestseller for the third year in a row. Such treasures from the past give collections authenticity.
Do your daughters share your passion for jewelry?
I can only say that the youngest has exactly my sense of humor. She is very funny. She is only 12, and she only recently received an art scholarship, so let's see where she wants to go further. My oldest daughter is 21 years old, she is already finishing art school, but she is not particularly interested in jewelry. I have no problems with this, I am not opposed to my children doing what they really like.
But, most likely, not one of my daughters will be engaged in jewelry. Both of my girls are creative natures, and most likely the eldest will go into art, and the youngest will not. So it seems to me.
Do you have Russians on the team?
Last year, two applications from Russia were submitted to me, but I have certain criteria: originality and a passion for rock and roll. Somehow a very rich beginner jeweler turned to me with a request to take him to the team, but I refused. As soon as he finds his style, I will definitely take it.
In the meantime, we are only friends with the Russians. This year, 10 years since we opened the first boutique in Moscow. It was a very good start, now Stephen Webster is also in other CIS countries - Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan ... We are well known, understood and loved here.
