Size really does matter, and other insights from the Seventy Seven Diamonds team…
The thing about working in an online retail company is that the stillness of your homepage can completely belie the chaos of what goes on in the office. While shops that are undergoing renovations have to put up scaffolding, “business as usual” signs and poker-face it as best as they can while they usher customers through a dusty building site, we can happily do our laundry in private and simply present it as white, clean, and yep, sparkly. The downside to this of course, is that nobody ever gets to see how hard we’re working. And lately, we’ve been working hard.
We’re redesigning our entire website, creating and shooting new collections, and we’ve a lot of new folk in the office. And that’s only a tiny piece of it. Of course, in addition to all of this, we too are conducting “business as usual,” which means sourcing, buying and selling diamonds all day long, continuing to offer the largest selection of diamonds in the world (yes we have a tad more than 77!), and continuing to keep our clients super happy, which in our industry means, adorned.
So over the next few weeks we’ll be giving you the inside scoop, filling you in on the progress with our website prior to its relaunch, (if you’re good) letting you in on some of the secrets of this wonderful industry, and (if you’re really good), dishing out some of the goss’ of our loved, and sometimes harder to love clients. But before we do any of that...we thought we’d introduce you to some of the team. Believe it or not (and I’m struggling to), in the midst of all the chaos, we got some of them to sit down and tell us what they thought was the best thing about working at Seventy Seven Diamonds, and as it turns out, there’s more to it (and to us!) than you might have imagined.
Not much surprise here, but our accountant was all about the practicality:
"The best thing about working at 77 Diamonds is that the Central Line stops at Oxford Circus." – Mohsin
While Grace, our other accountant, was more in favour of the party:
“I think the best thing is that we all work so hard and then once a year the upstairs and downstairs teams come together for a party.”
Who woulda guessed the quiet number cruncher had the party in them. (Also, I haven’t been here long enough, but I do hope this happens more than just once a year...)
Then we have our resident Casanova, the lovely James from the diamond team:
"The best thing about working with diamonds is that my job title is an amazing chat up line. No other line can boast quite the charm of, “Hi, I’m a diamond buyer”...The only problem is that 99% of the time, the ladies think I’m lying. Thank God for business cards! Working at Seventy Seven Diamonds has also given me an insight into the way women think and I can now avoid the pitfalls that many men make. Firstly, proposing at the top of the Eiffel Tower may sound like a great romantic idea to us, but to women it is a terrible cliché. Secondly, if you are in a long term relationship and you take your partner on holiday, they will be expecting you to propose. If you don’t, that’ll explain why you’re getting the “I’m fine” treatment on the drive home from Gatwick. Thirdly, unfortunately guys, it turns out that size really does matter"
I suppose this goes to show that if diamonds are a girl’s best friend, a man who knows his diamonds knows his girls too. Go out and source them diamond buyers ladies...!
Of course, working in this industry can be advantageous for a woman too..as Stephanie from the Sales team tells us:
“The best thing about working at Seventy Seven Diamonds is that I can go home to my boyfriend and talk forever about which rings I like without it seeming like I’m dropping any hints—which of course, I am. ‘What a day I had at work darling...’”
So our men know the ladies, and our ladies know their rings. And how to get them. But hang on a second, we’re not just partiers and pick-up artists...some of us work too!
“The best thing about working at Seventy Seven Diamonds is....working really hard to find the best diamond for the best price and seeing customer’s smile when it is collected...and that lovely hour of 2pm when you can slip out to lunch because India is closed and America still sleeps...” says Anastasiya from the diamond team, and erm, thank god someone’s giving us some credibility here!
Then we have our experts (read: bosses), like Vadim, who is actually all about the diamonds...
"The best thing about Seventy Seven Diamonds is that we have the largest selection of diamonds in the world which means that I spend my days sampling and inspecting some of the rarest stones out there...and this is exciting for someone who has worked in the field for a long time."
Oh, not to worry Vadim, it’s exciting in any case!
And then we have our posers...like the suave Ambroise...who’d say the best thing about working at Seventy Seven Diamonds is “seeing the twinkle in people’s eye when you tell them you work in the diamond business,” or Elle who explains that “things could be worse than getting ‘disturbed’ to try on and photograph a ring...”
Indeed, things could be worse. It is pretty marvellous in here...although I’m not sure I’ve convincingly portrayed that “chaos” and hard work behind the motionless home page as I initially set out to do...
Oh well, you’re going to just have to trust us. We do after all, take care of your best friend...
