New fine jewelry company Roseate, which opened its first store and debuted its initial collections within the past few months, carries the old-soul vibe of its creator, Tiffany & Co. veteran Pam Cloud.
Roseate held the soft opening last month for its New York City retail location at 343 Bleecker St. in the West Village, and Cloud says reaction to the space and her brand’s pearl-focused jewelry has been a welcome reward for two years of devoted work. The word roseate means rose-colored (literally) or promising and optimistic, and that’s what she’s experiencing now.
“I feel like I’m in the startup world,” Cloud says—a feeling that is both uncertain yet freeing.
Cloud left Tiffany in 2020 after 25 years; she was chief merchant prior to Tiffany’s takeover by LVMH. “I had the best gig in retail,” she recalls. “Every time I thought about leaving for another company, I thought: I run the product side for the most beautiful American jeweler—why would I leave? But after the acquisition, I found myself in the typical pandemic story with having more time than I thought I would have and wondering about what comes next.”
A self-described “product person,” Cloud saw a void in the U.S. jewelry marketplace for easy-to-wear, modern saltwater pearl pieces. She started Roseate with Mike Kowalski, an adviser and investor in her company, and decided to target the self-purchasing woman—a consumer who wants strong design, sustainability, great storytelling, and a charitable component.
Roseate collections include Unity, featuring a signature shape symbolizing harmony; WaterDrops, named for the form of its chain links, pendants, and earrings; and TreasureLocks, which uses pearls and lab-grown diamonds on padlock-inspired pendants and chains.
The Roseate store reflects Cloud’s “grandma chic” aesthetic, she jokes, with its rich wood tones, simple glass cases, and beachy textures. Cloud says she wished the store to feel warm and welcoming, with a large central table where jewelry is displayed and customers can learn more about the brand and try on what looks interesting to them.
“I wanted to do something that felt very local to New Yorkers but still welcomed visitors to the city to come by,” Cloud says. “I knew early on that I wanted to open a store right away. I do love retail and love seeing customers, getting their feedback, and see them try the jewelry on.”
Cloud says she hopes Roseate’s jewelry resonates with Gen X women like herself. But pearls are not limited by age and gender, she says, and they don’t have to be about status or formality. Roseate’s are thematic, in that they celebrate water—its fluidity and importance to daily life—and remind us we should take better care of the world around us.
She notes that pearls are the only organic precious gems—that is, the only ones produced by living creatures. Healthy oceans mean healthy pearls, and at Roseate they look great in the settings Cloud creates with designer Eddie Borgo.
The saltwater farms Cloud works with in Australia and elsewhere protect and nurture marine ecosystems, she says. Roseate has partnered with the environmental nonprofits Conservation International, the Billion Oyster Project, and Pure Earth and donates 20% of sales from its Wands collection to them.
“Wands do some magic in the world,” Cloud says.
Top: Roseate is a new fine jewelry company that recently opened its first store, in New York City, and introduced its saltwater pearl collections. (Photos courtesy of Roseate)
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