By Alex Wilson | Photos by Viktor Budnik
Debbie and George Fox have won numerous accolades since opening their Downtown Ventura jewelry store during 1998, including being named InStore Magazine’s “Coolest Store in the Country” during 2015, which Debbie Fox describes as the “Oscar” of the jewelry industry.
The married couple has also helped heal the hearts of local residents impacted by disasters, including the Thomas and Woolsey fires, by giving away touching, custom-made Fox Fine Jewelry mementos to people who lost their homes.
Having spent so many years helping brides and grooms pick out wedding rings, Debbie Fox shared advice on how to start the search, and also discussed the latest trends.
Up Close and Personal
First off, it’s important to see the rings close-up instead of ordering them off the internet and hoping they will look perfect and fit, Fox said.
“Don’t buy it without seeing it in person and trying it on your finger because something on the shelf or in a picture online can be very different when you get it on your finger,” Fox said. “It’s similar to shopping for a garment, a piece of clothing. How it looks on the hanger can be very different than how it looks on you.”
Most importantly, it’s critical to find a person you trust when making what for many people is the most sentimental purchase they will ever make.
“And a lot of times it’s going to be social proof from other people,” Fox elaborated. “Looking at the reviews, looking at the website, visiting them, and making sure that you have that comfort level, and that they’re not being pushy, you know? That they really have your best interests at heart.”
Growth Industry
Fox said diamonds created in laboratories instead of mined from Mother Nature have become increasingly popular in recent years and now make up about half of the diamonds sold for center stones.
“They’re exactly the same as a natural diamond, except they were created in the laboratory and not in the earth,” said Fox, adding that jewelers need a microscope to see the difference.
“The technology has improved so much that the quality of the diamonds has really gone up and the prices have plummeted.”
“Not declined. Plummeted,” she emphasized. “Several years ago, we were selling few lab diamonds because the price wasn’t that much lower.”
It’s not hard to see why some people with flashy taste are choosing lab-grown diamonds: Large stones from a lab are far less expensive than natural diamonds of the same size. At the same time, when people see engagement rings with huge diamonds — which also sometimes necessitate larger bands to hold them — they are likely to assume the stone is lab-created and not natural.
Fox said the prevalence of large lab diamonds has led to a counter-trend, where some brides now favor smaller, natural diamonds that look good with “dainty” or minimalist rings that are also popular nowadays.
“We have seen a trend back towards natural diamonds due to their rarity and value. So, it’s interesting because people are like, ‘I want something that has value,’” Fox said. “Historically speaking…a natural diamond…has a resale value, whereas it’s really, really difficult to sell a lab diamond.”
Some couples who are short on funds to cover their dream rings are even buying lab diamonds with the intention of replacing the stones with natural diamonds when they can afford them in the future.
Gold and Blue
Another trend Fox has seen lately is a growing preference for yellow gold. She said that for the last few decades, white gold was the predominant choice for wedding ring bands, and many people turned their heads when they saw yellow gold. These days, she’s seeing a shift back towards yellow gold.
“But now, after so long, yellow gold has become the favorite. People like the rich look and feel. So that’s been decades in coming,” she said.
While diamonds, whether lab made or natural, are still the center stone of choice for most people, Fox said she’s seeing a greater number of colored gems playing the starring role in engagement rings, especially blue and teal sapphires.
Custom Creations
Another growing trend showing no signs of slowing down is custom-designed rings. For Fox Fine Jewelry, that’s a good thing: The shop has an in-store design studio. Master Jeweler George Fox has the highest accreditations in both gemology and jewelry.
“Custom allows you to make your ring unique and special,” Debbie Fox said. “Sometimes a client will have their own design and sometimes they’ll come in and they’ll try on rings and they’ll be like, ‘I like the top of this ring and the side of that ring.’”
Fox said they are able to design rings on a computer and can review the progress with clients before the ring is manufactured, and it all takes place in their workshop right in Downtown Ventura.
“We’ve seen an increasing number of people requesting custom jewelry in general, but especially custom engagement rings because they want the quality of the locally made ring by Fox Fine Jewelry,” she said. “They want one that they won’t see on anyone else’s finger and they want it exactly how they want it. They don’t want to settle. That’s like, a big thing. And this applies to men’s rings, too.”
Forever Yes
While some couples planning on getting married shop for wedding rings together and know exactly how the jewelry will turn out before a proposal, others want to maintain an element of surprise, Fox said. That’s especially true in this age of people wanting to stage perfect proposal videos to share with friends.
“Most couples are already living together. You would think the surprise element wouldn’t be such a big deal. But having a surprise proposal, and often an elaborate one, has only grown. And that’s probably because of social media,” Fox said.
Partly in response to that trend, Fox Fine Jewelry created a program where a stunning diamond can be part of the proposal video and still offer the surprised recipient an opportunity to select the band of their choice. It’s called “Forever Yes,” whereby the person making the proposal buys the center stone, but it’s placed in a band that only serves as a stand-in until the perfect band is selected or designed at Fox Fine Jewelry that truly meets the couple’s desires.
“The hard part is deciding on the perfect ring. Because at the same time, more of the people receiving rings, usually women, want to say what the ring is going to look like,” Fox said.
A Beautiful Business
Even though Debbie and George Fox are not able to attend all the exciting proposals and elaborate weddings their creations are a part of, they do get plenty of feedback through social media.
“[Couples] make us a part of their proposal and share their pictures with us and tag us,” Fox said. “For virtually every person this is the most important piece of jewelry they’ll ever own. The guy, too. So, this becomes the symbol of the wedding. Pictures are taken of the rings. I mean, it is a huge part of the wedding.”
She said she loves working in the wedding industry because it’s about sharing life’s happiest moments.
“This is, like, such a beautiful business to be in. I can’t even tell you how wonderful it is to help people and make these for them,” said Fox of the process of creating unique, custom rings alongside their clients. “They’ll put their sayings in there or maybe they’ll put in motifs of where they met or they’ll put in the birthstones or hide the birthstones inside. So, we’ve done all of these kinds of things. It’s beautiful.”
Fox Fine Jewelry
560 East Main Street, Ventura
805.652.1800
www.foxfinejewelry.com
