Arto Artinian – Group Chairman
Arto Artinian is the Group Chairman at Artinian Co., Ltd. a company which he co-founded together with his brother Saro Artinian in 1997.
Today, he directs all strategic and business directives of the company and is hands on involved on safeguarding the high business ethics and immaculate output standards which Artinian Co., Ltd. is known to have built throughout its corporate history.
Sustaining best practices in finance departments, customer service, marketing, sales and after sales, including efficient operational processes in delivering end-to-end OEM and Private Label jewellery design sets is Arto’s forte, ensuring company’s full focus is lent on the continuous development at every level of service, or product offered by Artinian Co., Ltd.
Arto has a commercial and Business Administration educational background with an added focus on international trade, gemology expertise and an extensive training undergone in Antwerp, Belgium.
In Arto’s words:
“High quality workmanship has been the highest priority for us in our business and is something which we have inherited as second generation jewellers. Artinian believes in preserving the values of classical jewellery arts and adding modern technologies to create jewellery which has high esthetic standards and looks immaculate under the Loop.”
Saro Artinian – President and COO
Saro Artinian is the President and COO at Artinian Co., Ltd.
Saro is tasked with the creative and thought innovation parallel of the corporate governance, and heads the departments of conceptual design, product development, prototyping, advanced manufacturing, and artisanship.
Saro is a creator and a motivator who communicates to inspire, encourage designers, and guides artisans to put optimum refinement and dedication to every inch of mastery used in the creation of Artinian Co., Ltd. As a creative director, his adage is to question design dogmas and strive to redefine every details, in order to make jewellery pieces which are visually more pleasing and affluent.
Saro’s educational and learning alignment is in Fine Arts, artisanship and of course as a seasoned craftsman, has years of experience as a classic bench jeweller and is an expert gemologist.
In Saro’s words:
“We are creating in a period when designs, trends and customer expectations are in change, and that obviously gives us some creative mobility, to imagine and fit in the taste of today. In our inspirational reasoning, we always want to be contemporary yet with a refined edge. Once the idea is there, we work continuously to elaborate on our work to improve ourselves. Once the final concept is finalized we do everything to make sure our idea is realized by our craftsmanship. Our jewellery should reflect flawless design and the international appeal which I think is expected from us.”
Arto and Saro Artinian moved to Bangkok in 1995 and 1997 respectively and established one of the leading and specialized fine jewellery manufacturing companies of Thailand and Far East Asia.
With more than 400 employees today, they deliver end-to-end design and manufacturing services for international brands and own their own branded lines, distributed internationally. They are second generation jewellers, following the footsteps of the their father, Souren Artinian, a prominent Armenian heritage jeweller who established the original Artinian jewellery heritage in 1957 in Damascus.
How did they transform the business and become one of the leading jewellery manufacturing companies? What did they bring from their family business to Artinian Thailand?
“I remember sitting on the second floor of my dad’s boutique, and spending hours looking at the customers and the salesman” Arto reminisces. My father, used to create refined jewellery pieces and employed the best craftsmen from Armenia, Syria and Italy, which at the time was a leading hub for jewellery. His boutique was the most beautiful in the Middle East, an exquisite two floored showroom decorated with soft colors and precious materials, perfect to cater the discerning wealthy clientele in Damascus, so advanced he even had CCTV” Arto Artinian explains.
Souren Artinian was a savvy entrepreneur, he knew that in order to help his children he had to make them work for other companies, they started by doing summer internship in the ateliers of Mr. Artinian’s suppliers.
Whilst Arto went to study Business Administration, Saro spent his teenage years working between the workshops and learning more about gems and jewellery in Damascus. Upon terminating his studies, Arto returned and the brothers joined forces to start with Gem dealings and selling fine jewellery to their own retail and wholesale customers.
“One day a friend suggested me to fly to Thailand to discover the market of colored gemstones” Arto recalls. Arto and Saro started visiting Bangkok as early as 1993. Remembering their initial days, they say “we were sitting in an office and buying gemstones and jewellery. In those days Thailand was booming and it was a very interesting scene, every day there were many buyers in the Holiday Inn, Narai Hotel and all around Silom”.
Commencing in 1995, Arto started to gradually settle down in Bangkok, with the ratio of staying three months in Bangkok and one month back to Europe and Middle East to sell gems and jewellery and meet clients.
It was in those early days that Arto became friends with Omri and Fredric Zaavy (who later became a famous Parisian artist jeweller) and it was then that the trio decided to rent a three-room office space from Mr. Fu, a Sapphire dealer.
During their travels, as they spoke and got acquainted with customers and industry retailers, Arto could sense an undiscovered, budding demand amongst the buyers: people were uninterested of the old style jewellery which was offered, they were looking for alternatives, to the traditional invisible set baguette style jewellery, very popular at the time, therefore Arto seized the opportunity to begin bespoke jewellery service and started a small workshop, which he was previously already subcontracting.
As time matured, he asked his brother Saro to join him to expand the small workshop to a fully pledged Atelier.
To better understand the process, Arto went to study wax-making-modelling and recalls; “that’s where I met one of my key employees, still working with us at Artinian Co., Ltd.”.
Artinian company swiftly built a solid reputation, and increasingly received custom orders, as the brother similarly recall; “we started receiving clients who had inquiries and orders on a daily basis and so we seized the opportunity and began working on our orders day and night”.
On 27 February 1997 they registered their own company Artinian Co., Ltd.
“We inherited a true legacy from our father, the knowledge, the passion, the love for jewellery arts, and the continuous search for aesthetic beauty”.
Artinian Co., Ltd. today, is located in the heart of the jewellery district in on Silom Road at center of Bangkok, housed at a purpose built, refurbished building, tastefully decorated from the workshop to the showroom, with contemporary corporate colors and a clinical white dominance in the manufacturing areas. Visibly, as organized as a bank and as clean as a hospital, a remarkable manufacturing facility.
Arto and Saro still appreciate the role and importance of their paternal legacy for guiding them to get where they are today. Though, they also recognize their ability in overcoming daily challenges, their hard work, the ever-improving team spirit and orientation, management style, technical know-how and obviously the support and loyalty of their longstanding network of contacts, practical advice from friends and the family’s impeccable reputation.
The journey of innovation and learning still continues today, with the same passion, commitment and consistency. Perhaps a testament for the validity of the family business concept which Arto is an avid believer in, one which bases its laurels on long term loyalty, trust, mutual respect and clear responsibilities, alongside talent and hard work.
