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Seattle, WA--Success as a retail jeweler often comes down to building relationships with customers and the jewelry industry at large. Seattle-based Ben Bridge Jeweler has managed to take this practice to another level by forming creative collaborations with manufacturers in India to produce unique jewelry concepts for its customers in the U.S.

Lisa Bridge, a fifth-generation family member, heads the company as president and CEO. The certified gemologist and self-described “gem nerd,” seems to go through life with a permanent smile on her face and an overwhelming positive outlook, acording to an article on Forbes. At 39, she also is a bit of an anomaly among an increasingly aging group of jewelry store owners. With her relative youth comes new ideas. Among her initiatives was forming unique jewelry collaborations with three Indian manufacturers to meet different needs of its customers.

Lisa Bridge says the jeweler chose to work with Indian manufacturers because there is likely no place on earth that has the tradition and skills of the jewelers in the country. The industry is also vital to the country’s economy. As of January 2022, India’s gold and diamond trade contributed approximately 7% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The gems and jewelry sector employs approximately 5 million people.

“India has a jewelry tradition that is as rich and as long as its culture,” Bridge says. “The level of expertise you find here is unparalleled. It is passed from generation to generation and has evolved greatly over thousands of years. For us, we look to people who have this expertise, but also people who are taking that tradition and bringing it into the modern times and into new opportunities.”

Read more about this on Forbes.