Family-moulded Havilah a PE gem
Jewellery is akin to art and should not only reflect the skill of the goldsmith manufacturing the piece but also capture the personality of the one who will wear it.
Havilah Designer Jewellers owners Carol and Charlie Jackson, said each piece crafted for their customers was an advertisement and statement of Havilah’s uncompromising quality. Carol and Charlie established the now Walmer-based business in 1996 from the back room of their family home, specialising in designing and manufacturing quality custommade platinum, palladium, gold and silver pieces.
What is your core service? Our core service is custom-designed jewellery – especially engagement rings and special occasion gifts.
We believe handmade quality jewellery is ultimately superior to any mass-produced chainstore jewellery, but does come at a slightly higher price, (although Havilah Jewellers remain extremely competitive price wise when comparing apples with apples).
We believe that custom-designed and handcrafted jewellery has an exclusivity about it, knowing that the piece was designed and manufactured just for you. The process starts with a design consultation, or in the modern world, an e-mail enquiry.
From there, we then determine various important factors like design styles, metal choices and stone types etc.
We will assist with practical advice (for example a towering high claw setting may not be practical for a new mum).
The next step is to source the perfect gems and create a life-size hand-drawn sketch of what the finished piece will look like, all this while bearing in mind our customers’ individual needs, including budget.
Once the customer gives the go-ahead, the job is scheduled into our workshop – we work on approximately a two-week turn-around time.
We also do a lot of remodeling of old jewellery.
The melting pot is a very special place at Havilah.
It’s a place where old and outdated jewellery goes to be transformed into something magnificent, new and fresh.
Many of us have items of jewellery that we no longer wear, perhaps a ring inherited from a loved one isn’t your size or doesn’t suit your style.
Our talented team of designers and goldsmiths take pleasure in turning those items into something that will once again be adored and worn with pride.
Where was the idea born?
The idea of starting our own family business was born out of the need of creating employment opportunities for our three children, who have all contributed positively to the success of our business over the past 23 years.
Our eldest child, Brad, decided he wanted to become a jeweller after matriculating, and the best way of making this happen was for us to start our own business, where Charlie could teach Brad.
Carol, who had no previous jewellery experience, resigned from her management position in a data processing company, to manage the newly-launched family business.
After 18 months, Brad decided that he wanted a career change and moved into a successful IT career.
Our second child, Danielle was then matriculating and decided to join the family business to train as a Goldsmith.
She qualified in 2002. Danielle remained in the business until 2016, when she married and moved overseas.
Our youngest daughter, Sheyna, joined the business after studying Public Relations and Marketing and she continues to work for Havilah, handling all of our marketing and online platforms.
What makes your business unique? Our friendly, professional approach sets us apart – our clients often comment on how easy the process was to have their dream piece created.
Also, our ability to have created our own two beautiful brands – Pretty Silver and Bradda-Shey – available in our shop, online and on Take-a-Lot.
If someone wanted to copy your business model, how would they start?
Firstly, acquire the skill of being able to manufacture beautiful, quality jewellery.
Then one needs to apply for necessary permits etc, and begin building a happy client base, with honesty and integrity as the building foundations.
What are some of the biggest inhibitors your business faced before getting off the ground? As our business was started from nothing, we took a huge step of faith and faced many financial challenges along the way.
It was not always a smooth road to walk, but we maintained our trust in God and He has never failed us. We are essentially selling something that does not yet exist – you have to convince your customer that you are the best person to make this dream come true.
From there on, its one happy customer referring another, and so the business grew.
Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs or new business owners?
Never give up and hold on to your dreams.
If your product is good, your service is good, your pricing is fair, and you run your business with integrity and honesty, you will succeed.
What are some of your biggest challenges in day-to-day business operations?
Our business falls within the luxury goods category, so the state of the economy is a factor.
However, in this climate one has to be creative and have the ability to adapt and offer clients options which are affordable to them, but without compromising on our quality.
Pricing on precious metals and the exchange rate are factors that are out of our control.
Also, in PE, people often leave things to the last minute, like the guy who wakes up two days before the anniversary and decides he wants to have a custom-piece manufactured.
We always try to go the extra mile and do what we can to meet the need, thereby gaining another happy customer.
What is the best advice anyone gave you on success? Carol: My Dad always used to say that many of the things we worry about never happen.
Keep your faith and hold on to your dreams. How do you measure success in your business?
Having a happy client base, happy staff and good relationships with suppliers.
Enjoy the satisfaction that you have created a business which provides employment and contributes to the success of other businesses (ie our suppliers).
Being able to come to work and enjoy what we do – it’s never a problem to come to work – that’s a good sign.
What kind of advertising do you do?
Right from the get-go when we were starting out and had no budget for paid advertising, word-of-mouth has been our advertising vehicle.
Every happy customer and every beautiful piece we have made are still our biggest and most effective adverts.
We have in recent years started to focus a bit more on on-line/google advertising and social media and have a really great website which draws new clients in google searches.
What is Havilah’s vision?
To maintain the really good reputation which we have built over the past 23 years; to continue to grow our happy client base and provide much needed jobs in our community.
Continue to make a difference to various charities we support with our Pretty Silver collections (Heartbeat of Africa that supports anti-poaching initiatives through One-landlove-it charity; Pet Collection which supports PE Animal Rescue; our Smile pendant that supports the Smile Foundation; and our Boy and Girl pendants that support various children’s charities through Ironkids).