Winning awards for your jewelry is wonderful, but an award that recognizes your jewelry, your retail space, and your impact on the local community is even better, according to the husband-and-wife team that runs the Adel Chefridi jewelry brand.
Located in Rhinebeck, N.Y., Adel Chefridi Studio & Gallery was recently voted Best Jewelry Store by readers of Hudson Valley publication Chronogram. The Chronogrammies, as the annual awards are called, are given to favorite businesses, organizations, events, and outdoor places in the region (publisher Chronogram Media says it has 2.5 million readers).
Corinne Jacobson, wife and business partner of jeweler Adel Chefridi, says this designation by local residents honors the work she and her husband have done to make sure people feel like the store at 47 E. Market St. is a creative place full of beauty and peace. Jacobson designed the space, which was formerly a hardware retailer, to highlight the bold yet delicate nature of Adel Chefridi jewelry.
“Adel describes the store as like a laboratory for him and our customers,” Jacobson says. “It helps to inform the design process because he can interact with the end consumer. The wearer can come to us and tell us what they like or whether it is comfortable to wear. And that comfort is always one of our most important areas of focus.”
The Chronogrammies are highly competitive, Jacobson says, as the Hudson Valley—which comprises the area surrounding the Hudson River from Westchester County north to Albany—is known for its fine retailers and designers, in jewelry, furniture, antiques, specialty foods, and more.
Tunisia-born Chefridi studied law in college but fell in love with jewelry when he immigrated to New York, says Jacobson. He learned the craft and business of jewelry at GIA and New York City trade school Studio Jewelers Ltd.
“We don’t design on a schedule—Adel is always creating and coming up with new designs,” Jacobson says. “He loves seeing people put on his jewelry and how they light up when they wear it. They’re beautiful pieces of jewelry, and it is beautiful on them. But then they start to glow, and that is such an amazing moment.”
The Adel Chefridi store combines selling space with Chefridi’s studio and an office for Jacobson. Its design reflects the history of the building (it still says Rhinebeck Hardware on the exterior) as well as the handwork Chefridi does on his jewelry—the walls are painted with the same embellishments he puts on many of his pieces, uniting what people see in the cases with the shop’s interior decor.
Add in old pine floors, a tin ceiling, and exposed brick, and you have a lovely store where everyone can sense a connection to the jewelry and its creation, Jacobson says. “We want people to feel at ease and welcomed. We want them to feel like they have time to discover.”
Adel Chefridi’s jewelry is also available from nearly 100 retailers across the United States. Jacobson says the Chronogrammie win boosts the Rhinebeck flagship’s service for its retail partners.
“We moved in here right at the beginning of the pandemic, and it ended up being a wonderful thing. It brought another element to the business,” Jacobson says. “Now we can put out all of our designs in the flagship store and practice merchandising it, which we then use to advise our retail partners in collection building and merchandising the product. It’s strengthened our partners because of it.”
(Photos courtesy of Adel Chefridi)
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