Wedding Gowns & Bridal Fashion

Jewelry designer Simon Ghanimian is a household name and has received accolades from fashion and bridal magazines, but his favorite part of the job is meeting the everyday people who wear his jewelry.

“That’s the best part of it,” Ghanimian said in a telephone interview from his studio in Los Angeles. “When I see the excitement on their faces, it makes me feel better. I like to listen to (the customers).”

He’ll have a chance to do that this week as he attends special showings of his collections — known as the Simon G. line — at Kranich’s Jewelers stores in central Pennsylvania. Ghanimian will be at the store on College Avenue in downtown State College from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday, at the store in the Galleria Mall in Johnstown from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday; and at the store in the Logan Valley Mall from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We’re really excited,” said Michael Kranich Jr., president of Kranich’s Jewelers. “He’s a super nice guy. And local people will get to see a product line from a designer who

doesn’t normally come to an area like this.”

Ghanimian’s visit is “pretty unusual,” said Amanda Gizzi, spokeswoman for the Jewelry Information Center, a nonprofit trade association based in New York City.

“He’s a relatively big name and has wide range of clients,” Gizzi said in a telephone interview. “As far as (jewelry designers’) names go, very few are recognizable, and (Ghanimian) is among those who are. … Once designers get more recognizable, they tend to do less in the way of trunk shows. It’s a great honor to have any designer come to a retail store.”

The lines offer something for everyone, Kranich said, with prices starting at $600, with most falling between $600 and $1,000.

“There are all kinds of different things,” he said. “There are pieces to start out with, very expensive pieces … he makes a lot of different things.”

Kranich said his stores have done business with Ghan-imian for several years and told him they’d like him to visit.

The stores usually have trunk shows, but Ghanimian has never been present for one at a Kranich’s location.

Though Ghanimian is best known for his bridal jewelry, the trunk show will also display the fashion side of his line.

Both his fashion and bridal pieces use combinations of white, yellow and rose gold with white diamonds and colored stones.

“The pink, or rose gold, is a flavor that’s coming back into the market,” Kranich said.

Ghanimian founded his company in 1981, five years after he immigrated to New York City at age 19 from Beirut. He said he specialized in bridal jewelry because it was “recession proof” — something people would buy no matter what the state of the economy — but there’s a personal side to it as well.

“It’s fun to do bridal,” he said. “The customer’ll wear it all their life. When you design the piece, you know they’ll look at in five to 10 years and still love it. There’s more longevity.”

Still, he wanted more interaction with the customers, so he turned to fashion jewelry.

“(With bridal lines), you sell the customer one piece and may not see them again,” he said. “With the fashion side, they can come back for anniversaries, birthdays.”

Customers, in fact, are what Ghanimian lists as his top inspiration.

“I visit with quite a few (customers),” he said. “Customer feedback is very important. We see how they’re liking it and are always coming up with new ideas.”

Source: AltoonaMirror