The toi-et-moi-ring featuring two princess-cut fancy colors of one carat each and 161 VS1-G brilliant-cut diamonds.
A ring set with fancy green and white diamonds with a total weight of 4.54 carats.
Antwerp jeweler creates unique career path in setting up business
Antwerp jewellery maker Peter Poussenier has taken an unusual path in creating his fine jewellery business.
November 13, 2009
Antwerp jewellery maker Peter Poussenier has taken an unusual path in creating his fine jewellery business.
After starting industrial engineering studies, and then working for a year as a manager for a Belgian artist, he worked at the General Motors plant in Antwerp as a chain production worker. After six months, he found a sales job with a wholesaler and began selling goods to retailers.
Seeing that he was successful in sales, after two years he decided to look for a different product to sell and ended up with a Spanish manufacturer of gold jewellery set with diamonds and precious stones. As a result, he had to build up his knowledge, stock and clients from scratch. Today most of his clients are diamond dealers and jewellers.
As a distributor to retailers since 1990, and with no experience in making jewellery, he started off making silver jewellery. "I always have been attracted to production processes," he explained. "As I didn't have a designer background, I hired a designer from the Antwerp Academy of Arts who designed a silver collection based upon my instructions. My instructions were based on my personal taste and on the gap I saw in the jewellery collections of the clients I was visiting."
After two years of building up his experience, he started working in gold and platinum with more technically skilled people. Each of the creations is the result of cooperation between clients, Poussenier and his goldsmiths. His firm specialises in custom-made pieces.
He describes his jewellery-making philosophy as being influenced by the demands of his clients, his financial necessities, practical problems and daily moods.
As for the diamonds used in his jewellery: "We work with the smallest diamonds like 0.8mm for our pavé setting, up to 5 caraters for solitaires for our private clients. Most of the time we use minimum VS1 G with a nice make."
Poussenier's jewellery is sold in Antwerp's diamond district, in galleries and via its website.
