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THIS MONTH on The Barb Wire, host Barbara Palumbo welcomes a rising star in the jewelry business, gem trader Dave Bindra, vice-president of B&B Fine Gems. Still in his early 30s, Bindra has built up an impressive resume, serving as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the GIA Alumni Association, member of the board of directors of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, acclaimed AGS Conclave speaker, not to mention running a seriously cool Instagram account @gemfluencer. (Come for the awesome collection of gemstones, stay for the awesome collection of color-coordinated shoes.)
Enjoy the newest episode of The Barb Wire. It’s talk radio for the jewelry business.
SHOW CHRONOLOGY
- 2:00 Dave shares a short bio, explaining how he was “born into the business” when his father started selling gemstones after immigrating from India to the United States.
- 3:50 Dave, who is in his early 30s, was asked recently how many years he has been going to the Tucson gem shows. He said he thought it was his 29th year. Receiving a shocked expression from his conversation partner, he explained that he used to “sleep under the showcases” as a kid while his parents sold gems at the show.
- 5:10 Dave talks about his strategy of colored gemstone curation. He emphasizes: “We are not here to sell a commodity; we are here to sell a precious item.”
- 8:30 Barbara reveals herself to be a huge fan of Dave’s Instagram account, @gemfluencer.
- 9:20 Gemstone of the moment? Dave says spinel, noting that it has been “undervalued for centuries” and often misidentified as ruby in high jewelry through the ages.
- 15:20 Other gemstones whose moment is on the horizon? Dave says garnet, which is following spinel’s path. Durable, highly transparent, a solid supply of material. Also, paraiba tourmaline.
- 19:50 Discussing the lack of control over gemstone terminology, Barbara shares a funny story from her teenage years of how a QVC line of cubic zirconia with the alluring name of “Pink Ice”, became a phenomenon amongst the girls of her high school class.
- 26:20 Barbara asks Dave what he feels the most important thing that his generation has added to the jewelry business. Dave says technology. He tells of his industry friends who, within a few years, have built social media followings in the hundreds of thousands. In a lot of cases, Dave emphasizes, these are people who wouldn’t otherwise have had exposure to the world of gems, jewelry and watches.
- 27:50 Barbara and Dave commiserate over not being able to attend Basel this year.
- 31:10 Barbara asks … what would happen if our current social media platforms suddenly went away? Dave bemoans a system where people’s importance is judged by how many social media followers they have. “You know first-hand, there are a ton of people out there who 2-, 3-, or 400,000 followers … half of them are bots.” He concludes, “We have to be very careful of how much value we place on this avenue and on this platform. And everything has a shelf life.”
- 37:10 Dave selects one jewelry industry person and one watch industry person, alive or dead, he’d want to have dinner with. For jewelry, he picks Frederick Kunz, the famed minerologist who sourced gems for Tiffany at the turn of the century. And for watches, legendary executive Jean Claude Biver.
- 40:35 Who is or was your greatest influence? Dave says his father. “I never wanted to join the family business. He never wanted me in the family business, to be honest with you. So it’s kind of funny how things worked out.” His biggest fan? His mom.
- 43:10 His biggest morning needs? Coffee and meditation … the latter before the former.
- 43:50 Favorite trade show? Tucson. He calls it “fun, laid-back, and color-centric.” And he also gives a shout-out to AGS Conclave.
