Steve Feldman Looks Back on 45-Plus Years in the Jewelry Business

By Rob Bates | December 20, 2024

Steve Feldman remembers his first day in the jewelry industry. It was the late 1970s. He had just started working as associate publisher for National Jeweler, then owned by Gralla Publications. The monthly magazine was something of a favorite of its publisher, Milt Gralla, and he wanted to boost its profile. And so on Feldman’s first day, Gralla held a press conference.

“People came into the city—they thought it was going to be a major to-do,” Feldman recalls in an interview with JCK.

But Gralla’s announcement—that National Jeweler would be published twice a month—was merely met with shrugs and grumbling.

“There was not exactly a standing ovation,” Feldman says. “And that was my introduction into the jewelry industry.”

In many ways, it was a fitting one. Feldman, who just announced he’s retiring (he’ll still be available for freelance marketing assignments), says his years in the business have been fun, exciting, and generally unpredictable.

“That let me know this was going to be a really interesting ride,” he says, “and it sure has been.”

It got even more interesting when Feldman left National Jeweler to become vice president of sales and marketing at Chatham Created Gems. Lab-grown colored stones were only starting to make their mark, and—as with diamonds—the traditional business wasn’t exactly welcoming.

“[Owner] Tom Chatham was happy to get into fights [with the industry],” Feldman says. “He enjoyed the controversy. Getting into battles was part of his marketing strategy.”

Feldman backed him up, at one point creating a campaign that said “Don’t call them synthetic.”

“We handed out buttons and ribbons [with that slogan],” he says. “I put flyers under the hotel-room doors at shows.”

The campaign received pushback from those in the natural gem industry, who argued (as some still do with diamonds) that synthetic was the best descriptor.

“During an important meeting with gem dealers and the press, I admitted Chatham gemstones were synthetic,” Feldman recalls. “But then I said, ‘I want you to all do me a favor. Let’s walk outside and I’ll ask 1,000 people on the street about the word synthetic. How many do you think will say the word synthetic means fake? Probably all.’”

While Chatham may have won the naming battle, the lab-grown gem market eventually suffered from too competition.

“At one point, some companies wanted to sell lab-grown gemstones for $10 a carat or less. I said, ‘You’re going to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.’ Prices dropped to $50 a carat, then $40 a carat. The perceived value of the product was dramatically reduced.”

From Chatham, Feldman went on to serve as director of sales and marketing for Hasenfeld-Stein, a prominent diamond company and sightholder. It was there he got his first prolonged exposure to the inner workings of De Beers.

“When I first joined the company, Hertz [Hasenfeld] asked me to go with him to a big marketing meeting in London. I challenged [De Beers’] marketing concept of buying a diamond with two months’ salary. I said, ‘Two months’ salary sounds like a ton of money.’ They were ready for me and buried me in propaganda.”

Feldman learned to be more circumspect about his opinions from then on, though he still thinks “two months’ salary” sounds awfully pricy.

A prime memory from Hasenfeld-Stein was working with company founder Alexander Hasenfeld, who’d been imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Dachau.

“I respected him as much as I respected anyone I had ever met,” Feldman says. “He was a wonderful human being.”

Hasenfeld didn’t usually speak much about his time in the camps, though he did discuss it in detail for a company newsletter (as well as an earlier JCK interview). When Feldman asked him how he remembered so much, Hasenfeld replied: “This isn’t memory. I see the pictures in my mind, every single minute of every day.”

Feldman says it was hard for him to stay composed after hearing that.

After Hasenfeld-Stein, Feldman joined the grading lab GCAL as director of sales and marketing, and he became an evangelist for its credo of strict, by-the-book grading. He remains disheartened by what he sees as lax diamond grading from other labs.

“The industry is well aware of the grading deficiencies,” Feldman says. “They don’t do anything about it and don’t care. It’s so disappointing.

“My hope for the industry is that good will win out over bad, and ethics and integrity will have some meaning, and people will be more honest about what they’re doing. Otherwise, this will end badly for a lot of people.”

When GCAL became a leading grader of lab-grown diamonds, Feldman found himself dealing with that sector of the market again, and he couldn’t help feel a strong sense of déjà vu.

“Lab-grown has got great margins, but the numbers are too low,” he says. “It might soon become too cheap for an engagement ring. You’re not going to see women walking around with six-carat engagement rings.

“Where lab-grown’s going to be in five years, nobody knows,” he continues. “But while it’s hot, everyone is running with it.”

All in all, Feldman says that his 45-plus years in the industry have been “fabulous,” and he doesn’t regret a day.

“So much has changed, and so much has stayed the same,” he says. “I’ve been part of a lot of interesting times, and I hope I had some impact.”

Feldman can be contacted at stevefeldmanmktg@gmail.com.

(Photo courtesy of Steve Feldman)