Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - November/December 2020

COMPANY PROFILE 131 JEWELCIT WORK Silver Father and daughter team Jon and Annabelle of LBJ Jewellery know the importance of both online and face-to-face interaction in a post-pandemic world When did you start up LBJ Jewellery and why? LBJ Jewellery began life in the mid 1980’s as a partnership between myself and my former employers – Bill and Lilia – the directors of Thai Design. We set up distribution in the UK for an Israeli manufacturer of mainly gold earrings. After a couple of years, I took over the rest of the business and set off to an exhibition in Jerusalem. There I met Hagit Gorali, who was quite new to the market, and I became her first export customer. Several other small designer and Kibbutz producers were added to my pool of suppliers, hence my enduring connection with Israel. I was known as the only gentile importing into the UK, Israeli Jewellery! There followed a gradual progression into silver jewellery from other leading countries, and a continual expansion of the range. We have always stuck to the principles of offering well designed, competitively priced silver jewellery to the independent retailer, delivered from stock. In the early days I used to carry the stock in plastic containers to customers and became known as ‘Tupperware man’. Two years ago, my daughter Annabelle joined the business, her career had seen her managing fashion retail shops such as Uniqlo and Ted Baker, following a degree in Mandarin. It’s always a source of great pride to me that she can converse with our Chinese suppliers – and a great surprise to them! She has done the hard yards of knocking on doors and now has her own group of loyal customers too. Annabelle has also been busy behind the scenes taking LBJ into the modern world with digital accounting and this new website. I am very lucky to have such a valuable and determined partner and a chance for the business to flourish well after my retirement.