Barcelona's Paseo de Gràcia has missed the sparkle of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, pearls, and the design of Suárez's unique pieces. The display window of this exclusive jewelry store, inaugurated in 2003, which has been closed for three months for rehabilitation, is one of those that attracts the most glances from passers-by, whether or not they are jewelry lovers. After an investment of around three million euros, the boutique has just reopened its doors to be reborn with even more luxury. And it can, because it revalues one of the most expensive streets in the world.
This is demonstrated by the new space, the work of Parisian designer Bruno Moinard, who has been responsible for the image of the different Suárez boutiques that the group has in Spain and other countries for the last 8 years. In the 350 square meters of absolute luxury, the jewels displayed there are enveloped "by natural materials such as raffia imported from the Philippines, fire-toasted, unpainted and unvarnished, or the luxurious marble that covers the floor (1,600 €/m²) with a brass profile, or the walls dressed in glam. Around three million euros invested," explains Juan Suárez Pascual, CEO of Suárez and third generation of this family of goldsmiths, to The New Barcelona Post. "But luxury demands it," the young jeweler concludes.
With a facade more than 34 meters long at the confluence of Paseo de Gràcia and Mallorca, anyone who decides to cross the threshold of the new Barcelona store will appreciate the exterior light that extends into the interior through a grille designed for this purpose by Moinard. And this is one of the strong points of this boutique "because the sun is one of the beauties that Spain has and it had to be taken advantage of," an opinion of Moinard endorsed by the Suárez family. This light is what enhances the color of each gem, metal, and stone of unique and exceptional raw material from Colombia, Brazil, Zambia, Burma, Ceylon, among others.
The filter is the excellence that has made Suárez shine above other firms. This is detailed by the young CEO, who took office last June, thus completing the generational handover process of the family group. "100% of the stones pass through the family's eye. They pass through me and normally end up passing through my father's eye. In this process, less than 1% of the stones we see in the market end up being part of our jewelry collection. 99% of the pieces are discarded for various reasons: color, purity, brilliance, etc...", explains the businessman.
Another value is the trust it transmits to its clients and personalization: "We have a 100% tailor-made service ---he states---. If a client wants a stone, but not the setting, it can be customized. Or it often happens that the client is very clear about the size and color of a stone and we look for it for them. In these cases, we make a video of the elaboration process of that piece and give it to the client so they can enjoy it."
And what happens if someone has a piece of high economic or symbolic value and wants to retouch or change it? "This step is very delicate," explains Juan Suárez, "due to the responsibility it implies. With client's raw material, we only do it with very good clients. And in those cases, their stone is shown to them with a microscope so they can see the imperfections it has; and we take a large photo... All this so they have no doubt." Because of the urban legend of the switcheroo? "It's not an urban legend," warns Juan Suárez.
'Absolute': the new collection
Composed of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings, Absolute is a high jewelry collection with timeless designs but also room for surprise and exoticism. It consists of 29 pieces "that will be exhibited in Barcelona for a few days to travel to San Sebastián and, subsequently, to the Madrid store. After a few days of exhibition, the pieces will be distributed among the three establishments in Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao," explains the jeweler.
Examples that are part of Absolute? The ring made of 18-carat white gold with an oval-cut blue sapphire and brilliant-cut diamonds, one of the star pieces of the collection, Juan Suárez details, or "the 18-carat yellow gold ring with an emerald-cut green emerald and brilliant-cut diamonds."
A family group owner of Suárez and Aristrocrazy
The history of Suárez dates back to 1943, when Emiliano Suárez Faffián founded the first jewelry store-workshop in Bilbao, origin of what is today the Suárez Group. Currently, it has 43 points of sale in Spain distributed in Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, A Coruña, Castellón, Girona, Alicante, Granada, Malaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Santander, Tarragona, Valladolid, Vigo, Zaragoza, San Sebastián and 3 international points of sale in Mexico and Portugal, in addition to the online boutique open to all collections. With the challenge of reaching a younger audience, the third generation of the family founded the Aristocrazy chain in 2010, which plans to end 2022 with a commercial network of 122 points of sale, 95 of them in the Spanish market.