April 2012 marks the beginning of a new era for Rubel & Ménasché. Welcome to www.rubel-menasche.com, the Parisian diamond specialist’s brand new website, which is designed not only to introduce the company and reflect its image, but also as a source of information for industry professionals. Rubel & Ménasché has plans and ambitions! This is a great opportunity to meet Stephan Wolzok, CEO of Rubel & Ménasché, who will be telling us a little more about the “Rubel & Ménasché’s philosophy”.
Stephan Wolzok, could you tell us the history of Rubel & Ménasché briefly?
Both Rubel and Ménasché began in the 1950s. Years ago, Paris’s diamond trade consisted of a small group of diamond merchants on rue Cadet in the 9th district. People in the trade worked together closely as a diamond dealers’club, which suited them very well!
Marcel Rubel had the idea of pushing outside this circle to sell his goods to the Place Vendôme jewelry houses, in particular to Mr. Arpels, one of our long-standing partners. Rubel quickly became one of Paris’s top diamond specialists. Ménasché, a trading company led by Jacques Zaïcik, who himself had begun working for Marcel Rubel as a courier at the age of seventeen before becoming a customs clearance agent and finally a buyer, bought Rubel in 1997. In doing so, he founded Rubel & Ménasché.
Since then, we have specialized in selling high-end small goods to major jewelry houses. We pioneered kit bagging, and the strength of our company lies in its structure. Today, Rubel & Ménasché employs 39 people, making it the largest organization of its type in Paris.
What about you personally – how did you become involved in this adventure?
I started as a jewelry apprentice with Mr. Wald in Nice in 1981, when I was 20. Three years later I took my saw and hammer and moved to Paris. I spent a few years working as a jewelry craftsman for Candas et Hatton, on rue de Richelieu and for Mr. François on rue Richer. I then set up as an independent craftsman. I was 27.
I rapidly started working with diamonds and travelling between Antwerp and Paris. I took to the sector straight away. The whole system was based on trust, there were no written contracts, and I liked it…
In 1999, I met Jacques Zaïcik, who offered me a position with Rubel & Ménasché, at 62 rue Lafayette, our historical address. There were 8 of us at the time, and the aim was to develop the business. I became Mr. Zaïcik’s right-hand man, with the title of Sales Director. That was 13 years ago.
I have been CEO of Rubel & Ménasché since 2011.
Why start a website, and why “now”?
I wanted jewelry houses other than our clients to get to know our company and offer them our expertise: our industrial methods and processes, the tailored bagging to requirements that we provide and our extensive stock of perfectly cut, top-quality assortments of small goods. Finally, I wanted to showcase Rubel & Ménasché’s trained staff who are able to meet our clients’ precise requirements within very tight timescales. We felt that a website was an excellent medium for our communication and would also serve to raise the company’s profile.
What prompted you to post articles about the diamond industry as well?
Personally, I enjoy passing on the latest news from our sector. Often, however, only the purchasing managers of the large jewelry houses are genuinely well-informed about this complex industry. I frequently select articles and send them to my colleagues. Publishing information, professional information of course, on the website is the next logical step. This dual-language website is a tool not only for us but also for our clients, colleagues, friends, etc. We will be selective as to the quality of the information we publish. Leading on from that, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors and managers of the websites which have permitted us to reproduce their content: Edahn Golan (IDEX), Charles Wyndham (Polished Prices) and Vladimir Malakhov (Rough & Polished).
In a similar vein, this spring we will be releasing a book entitled A Diamond Primer, a 77-page summary of all the information we feel is important, even essential, concerning the diamond industry. It has been published in French and English.
What are your projects, in the short and longer term?
To expand our business with the major jewelry houses! To develop our range of services to meet the requirements of current and future clients.
And to continue to work in Paris. I feel that, as a company CEO, I have an economic role to play. To me, it seems natural to provide jobs for people in France, maintain the country’s economic fabric, contribute to my colleagues’ lives whenever I can by raising their salary and also to offer training. There are currently 7 cutters in Rubel & Ménasché’s workshops: 3 are undergoing training, 2 have been awarded the “One of France’s Best Craftspeople” award and 2 are preparing to enter the competition in 2013. We also trained our team of assorters ourselves, here on our premises. All the staff hold a HRD or GIA diploma.
I am convinced that our company trains more staff for this industry than any other company in France. There’s another area where we stand out!
So that’s the Rubel & Ménasché’s philosophy…
Interview by Marianne Riou.
