Stenzhorn - The Family Passion

When one talks about fine jewellery, the region that first comes to mind is Europe. European styles, designs and the fashionistas create envy in most minds. One fine jewellery brand that ticks all the right boxes is Stenzhorn. Intiated in 1979 by Stenzhorn brothers in Germany, the brand now has its reach all over Europe, Asia, Middle East and U.S. The young guns of the Stenzhorn family namely Bettina Stenzhorn, Chris Stenzhorn and Klaus Stenzhorn have amalgamated their forefathers’ traditions and the contemporary techniques to ensure that the Stenzhorn name creates a higher bar with every passing collection. Being an international family enterprise with 35 years of experience in the jewellery industry, the brand has caught the fancy of the royal families and celebrities, alike.

While getting to know more about the brand and its inspirations, we talked to Bettina Stenzhorn, the CEO of the company. Talking about the inspiration that helps them to be at the top of the game, she states, “We take our inspiration mainly from the nature. I have travelled through Africa with my husband a few years ago. The variety and vastness of nature has highly impressed us. The beautiful landscape, the people, and also the animals in the wild –all have impressed us enormously and especially have heavily inspired us. We returned to Germany, went immediately into the studio and made sketches and drawings of animals. We created beautiful pieces of jewellery and created the collection ‘Wild Life’, which is very successful worldwide.”

One look at Bettina and you know that you are in a company of a very strong woman who takes the challenges by their horns and turns the tables around with her quick analytical ability and swift decision makong power. When we asked her about her favourite palate to work with, her answer substantiated our observation. She shares, “Our preferred materials are platinum and emeralds. It’s quite difficult to work with platinum in combination with emeralds, but we love the challenge and we love these materials in combination.”

When quizzed about the most difficult aspect of creating fine jewellery, pat comes the reply, “The most difficult aspect in the manufacturing such kind of jewellery is to get the perfect and natural look to the last detail. Our creations are come very close to the animals living in the wild. Our goal is to produce a tiger-inspired piece of jewellery that looks absolutely similar to the real tiger. The movement of a lion-inspired jewellery piece should look like the output of a real lion.”

It is amazing to see Bettina’s strive to achieve the best and the most realistic animal-inspired designs as that is what is Stenzhorn’s unique selling point since its inception. They started with parrots and were the first jewellery manufacturer that have implemented the so-called invisible setting of diamonds in Germany. This was followed by jewellery in the form of butterflies, always so colourful as the butterflies in nature. They have gradually achieved their reputation for the creation of the most beautiful animals in the form of jewellery and its is almost impossible to replicate a Stenzhorn piece as the level of detail in every design is extremely high.

When we requested Bettina to share an interesting anecdote from her early days in this profession, she takes us down the memory lane and expresses with a smile, “Our brand is also known for the creation of diamond objects apart from high-end fine jewellery. Among others, we have created an Ice Bird several years ago. The Belgian King discovered this object in an exhibition and since then he is one of our customers.” When asked to share the most unique or difficult diamond object or jewellery piece they have ever created, she says, “Some years ago we made an object called, Aladdin on the flying carpet, where there were 100s of moving pats beneath a carpet of thousands of stones in flexible gold settings. All things in motion gave the impression of a flying carpet with Aladdin sitting on it. It was a well-known object, but we have a lot of other beautiful objects, too. Many are immediately sold on the first day.”

Talking about accolades, she articulates proudly, “Among many awards for ‘Best workmanship’ Stenzhorn received the award for ‘Best Jewellery Manufactory’ in 2012. And, we are still very proud.”The awards and accolades are all a part of the game but creation of collections that touches the creator’s as well as the wearer’s heart is what this profession is made up of. Sharing details about such one collection that is also the latest, Bettina states, “The latest jewellery pieces come from the collection ‘Wild Life’ and are absolutely Stenzhorn’s innate style. It shows the elegance of wild animals and the magnificent variety of flora and fauna. With the new collection, we have left the beaten track. We create jewellery with highest standards of quality and workmanship. The new collection is a tribute to all women.”

Well, talking about women, we reqested her to describe the kind of woman that wears Stenzhorn fine jewellery. To this, she states, “With our latest jewellery collection we present exceptional pieces of jewellery that are a perfect fit for all occasions. Most beautiful diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies are processed into true works of art. Whether it’s the ladies in Asia, Middle East, Russia, Europe or U.S., we want to enchant all women. I am always happy when I look at the society pages of international magazines and see our creations on a woman. We work with great attention to detail and try to create a very special piece of jewellery. Whether earrings, necklace or rings, each piece in our collection is created for woman's elegance and a special magic. Men also wear jewellery more often today. Dark romance, mystical line or classic cufflinks with precious stones and diamonds – the possibilities are endless.”

It is not a cake walk to catch the eye of the celebrities, society women and royal families but Bettina with her vision and her attentiveness makes it look like an easy feat. While speaking about the Stenzhorn USP, she explains, “In the production of high-quality jewellery pieces we combine the traditional craft with innovative techniques that give us the opportunity to create unique creations that delight our customers worldwide.” Stenzhorn is a family business. Everyone in the family takes over certain tasks. Bettina’s husband, Klaus is responsible for the creation and production. Other family members are responsible for sales and customer relationship, worldwide. But even after much support and help from the family, Bettina’s daily schedule is packed with meetings and brain-storming sessions, studio visits and global travel. “If you ask me about a typical day: Today I had meeting with all the designers. We had a brainstorming session to arrange a new design. Later on I have a meeting with family and other collaborations, to talk about the upcoming season and the latest trends in the jewellery industry. And tonight I am already back on the plane to Singapore.”

With such a packed schedule and one leg always on the aircraft, we wondered if Bettina manages to spend time doing things that she loves, apart from creating striking jewellery. To this she answers, “My husband Klaus and I enjoy the time that we spend together. And if time permits then we enjoy an occasional trip with our Harley Davidson.” As time is running out and Bettina starts to make a move to another meeting, we asked her the most important question that our young readers always have an eye on. “The advice to aspiring designer is: Don’t follow every trend, go your own way. Our youngest member of the family business Chris Stenzhorn is going his own way. He is the designer, founder and CEO of Rebeligion. The affinity for jewellery was with him in the cradle, because the family is successful in the jewellery world. After extended stays in LosAngeles, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Dubai, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro Chris Stenzhorn founded his own silver collection and let his adventures and experiences take flight in form of the design of the brand Rebeligion. Rebeligion has taken on the task of to remain faithful and to set trends. From the young woman, the fashionable lady over the fashion-conscious man to bikers and rockers - Rebeligion offers something for everyone. The personal choice of jewellery offers many opportunities to reinvent itself again and again. Side chains and pendants are also leather bracelets available, which can be combined individually with silver elements. Taking a cue from Chris’ effort, youngsters can make their dreams come true,” she signs off.