The Natori Company recently launched its fine jewelry collection on its website and at Rustan’s Makati and Bloomingdale’s New York.
Natori Fine Jewelry is the first licensee of the manufacturer Angara.com, ranked by Newsweek as best online jeweler for 2020.
The jewelry comes in three styles—Kamon, the lotus crest from the family of Natori’s Japanese husband; Indochine with its bamboo nodes and hexagon designs; and Natori’s signature Dragon design. They are made of pure gold and semiprecious stones.
At the Manila launch, the New York-based Filipina CEO and creative director chose a simple black knit topper and gored skirt which highlighted her Indochine hoop earrings, made of blackened silver and topaz. The earrings were matched with a hexagon ring with white topaz.
“The topaz is the closest thing to a diamond,” said Josefina “Josie”Cruz Natori. “The best thing about it is that you can change the stone to amethyst or whatever is your choice. Your order will be delivered in three days.”
Starting with her famous lingerie-based fashion, Natori has since branched out to embroidered mules, home accents and costume jewelry using carabao horn by Filipino designer Arnel Papa.
Level up
Natori felt that the brand could still level up.
“My two grandmothers were jewelers,” she said. “I got jewelry as presents when I was growing up. Ten years ago, I thought of having a fine jewelry line. I needed to find a good partner.”
Harvard-educated Indian- American Ankur Daga, founder of Angara (which means “the fire within” in Sanskrit) broached the idea of producing a fine jewelry collection for Natori.
Daga comes from a family with 300-year-old tradition in diamond and gemstone trading. Daga expanded the family business via Angara.com. The company banks on its expertise in gemstone production, design and manufacturing. It aims to customize designs according to the client’s specifications. The direct-to-consumer approach has made fine jewelry more affordable and accessible to the client. Last October, Natori came to Makati to launch the fall-winter collection of her luxury line, Josie Natori, and the midrange Natori collections. When she showed the catalog of the Natori fine jewelry, women started ordering from Rustan’s and got their shipment within a week.
As a result, Natori told Zenaida Tantoco, chair and CEO of Rustan’s Commercial Corp., that the Philippines was ready for Natori Fine Jewelry.
Natori said Angara.com scored high points for its services and for delivering jewelry of exceptional quality. She added the firm was tops in “security.”
“Previously, bags and shoes were the most coveted items,” said Natori. “Fine jewelry will be the next ‘it’ accessory.’”—CONTRIBUTED
