Feder Jewellery comes from a long heritage of jewellery makers, dating all the way back to 1919. Ben joined us for dinner with founder of Tiger Heart, where Sanj Surati talked about tech shaping the future of luxury and fashion. We wanted to hear more about Ben’s business, its roots, philosophy and what the future holds, so here’s what we found out…

 

1 Explain your business in one sentence!

We offer modern, high-quality fine jewellery at reasonable prices to the professional woman.

 

2 What were you doing before you launched your business?

I explored many avenues: after finishing my 3 years of service in the Israeli Air Force I went on to be the first contact and general manager for the Hong Kong branch of a diamond trading company.

When I decided I want to take a punt at the financial sector in London, I relocated and worked as an oil options broker in the city and now I work in two jobs! By day I run the innovation hub for private equity firm SigmaRoc and by night I take care of Feder Jewellery, making sure I keep all customers happy.

 

3 Do you have business partners? Where did you meet them?

I met them in the hospital I was born in 🙂 

Seriously now, although we are a family business I built the UK operation by myself and in fact, it is a separate entity to the family one (with no capital contributed either). I do however consult my father a lot, mainly on manufacturing issues – you can’t beat 60 years of jewellery making experience in one man! 

Another strong advocate is my wife who in addition to bringing that feminine mindset also has a strong consultancy background which helps structure things (especially when setting up). 

 

4 What’s your biggest ‘hindsight’ moment?

When I started Feder Jewellery in the UK I did it full time for about a year. I was new to the e-commerce game and after launching the website I was so focused on paid acquisition channels such as Google and Facebook that I completely ignored the human element of doing business. Once I realised that socials are not as straight forward when it comes to luxury products (i.e. £££ are not directly translated into sales) I started building partnerships with other businesses to generate customer flow.

In hindsight, I would have started with partnerships and capitalise that success with paid ads after.

 

5 What will the next year bring?

I am looking at changing the strategy to clear up some time as I have other business ideas and projects I want to pursue as well as a cute little baby that’s keeping me busy 24/7!

 

6 Give us 1 piece of advice for someone starting a business in your sector.

Sell your product and build your client portfolio before doing anything else! With retail, it’s so easy to get sucked into product design, stock creation, branding and all other parts of the business that it’s easy to forget that money is kind and income should come first. 

The mentality of ‘build it and they will come’ doesn’t work in this sector and you have to hustle very hard to get those first few customers coming and your name out there.

 

7 Convince someone to use your product in under 50 words!

If you are looking for that fine piece of ‘something’ that will elevate your appearance and refine your look, if you want to own something extraordinary that will last forever and you won’t need to ever replace or buy again – Feder Jewellery is your answer, delivering women’s cravings since 1919.

 

8 What’s your favourite business in your sector?

As someone who believes that in the fine jewellery sector, the holy triangle is made of quality, design and price, I think Pomellato are doing a good job at delivering all three.

 

9 Tell us about your TableCrowd experience!

I LOVE TableCrowd. I remember always saying that networking events are really old fashioned in the way they are being run, even the most techie ones. It is really great to have a place where open-minded professionals can connect in an intimate environment and share ideas and experiences. In particular, I enjoy the switching seats element, always adds some spice to the event.

 

10 What’s your favourite London restaurant?

Hard to choose, there are so many great restaurants in London. But if I have to name only one, then Yauatcha it will be.

You can connect with Ben through TableCrowd.

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