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Carlsbad, CA—Martin Katz, the Beverly Hills jeweler whose celebrity following has earned him the nickname “jeweler to the stars” said he never set out to become famous by association. 

“If you ever get the chance to dress celebrities, don’t,” he joked to a packed audience in the Jewelry Design session during the fifth GIA Symposium held this past Sunday and Monday.

Then he turned serious. He’s dressed more than 500 celebrities, many of whom he now counts as personal friends. He even created the famous Victoria’s Secret diamond bra in 2008. But today’s red carpet culture of pay-for-play isn’t what he signed up for, he says, and now he's working to get away from the “jeweler to the stars” moniker and back to being known just as a really great jeweler. His new Divine collection, for example, is a study in metal texture and manipulation and precise diamond placement.

Katz's own star began to rise when Sharon Stone asked to wear a piece of his for the premiere of Basic Instinct, the movie that launched her into the annals of American sex symbols. Katz, like any jeweler, was thrilled at a potentially significant sale. He initially didn’t understand that she wanted to borrow, not buy, the piece. But he sensed an opportunity and asked her to also wear it for any magazine cover shoots. The exposure led to more celebrities, which led to more exposure, and so forth. But Katz takes a sanguine view of the entire process: it’s a business strategy. Celebrities, he says, have been elevated to the status of American royalty, and their notoriety brought his designs to the forefront.

“Being on the red carpet [once] isn’t going to change your life. It isn’t a direct relationship to sales. You have to approach it as a branding session; it has to be repetitive, like advertising. If you think you’re going to get a sale from a red carpet experience, you’re going to be disappointed.”

One member of the audience, a jeweler visiting from India, asked about the paid-endorsement culture for celebrity dressing. It has a negative connotation in India. Katz admitted that since so many people have entered into the celebrity-dressing arena, setting up suites of goods, it has gotten a bit ugly. But, he said, you still get press from it.

In terms of style, while red carpet pieces tend to be very theatrical—bigger shows better on camera—even within the realm of statement pieces that have an element of fantasy, Katz says there is a movement toward more classical and traditional pieces, such as those with colored stones or diamond chandelier earrings. In terms of his own designs, his dissatisfaction with what he was finding in the vintage and estate market--such as great pieces that had been altered for the worse--led him to start creating his own pieces. 

Ruby and diamond drop earrings by Martin Katz.

Even Beverly Hills wasn’t immune to the recession, says Katz. He’s observed a change in customer spending habits due to the recession, not the least of which is an increase in people looking to invest in gems as an asset class. “I believe asset-based demand will increase in decades to come,” he said, citing economist Arthur Laffer, who said, “within the world of hard assets, jewelry, gold, and diamonds are terrific assets to hold.” Dealers, however, are driving up prices, warned Katz, so retailers need to beware.

“Buy the best, buy what you know, don’t be afraid of it, but don’t get caught up in it,” he counseled.

See an exclusive Centurion video interview with Martin Katz here.