Coffee Talk with Zhanna Kan

Zhanna Kan is the CEO of Stella, a company that owns several exclusive jewelry stores in Kazakhstan:

The chain of seven Stella stores in five different cities, hold the collections of both Tirisi Jewelry and Tirisi Moda. In these luxurious boutiques the different Tirisi collections get the presentation and attention they deserve. Zhanna Kan tells the story of her business, about trends in Kazakhstan, and why Tirisi is so well received in the world’s largest landlocked country.

Mrs. Kan, what is the key to your success? 

The key to the success of what we do is the fact that we are very close with our network. We are friends with many other business owners and we are close to our customers. Together we form a small community if you like. We celebrate happy moments together and help each other when times are tough. In Kazakhstan people are very supportive. When we first started our distribution business back in 2005 we had to work really hard. It wasn’t easy to build a business, but we had the will to succeed and we came up with the idea of organizing luxurious high-quality events. That was something new for Kazakhstan. We showed jewelry on models and local celebrities and that caught the attention of many. You could call that assertive promotion. We also opened our own luxury boutiques in Almaty and in our boutiques we succeeded to build long-term relationship with our customers. What you have to understand is that the market in Kazakhstan is very limited. We are not like Moscow or Dubai, cities that profit from tourists. We’re much more locally driven. And that’s why we have to keep surprising our customers. Even bring samples of novelties to our boutiques before they are revealed at the international jewelry shows. Our clients benefit from our passion for what we do, our attention to detail and our service you could compare to a concierge service. We love to reward them for their loyalty.

What can you tell us about the taste in jewelry in Kazakhstan?

On average every woman likes jewelry, but Asian women adore jewelry. We also have a tradition that you wear different jewelry to different occasions. There used to be a typical Kazak taste but that’s more or less a thing of the past. Let’s say five to seven years ago women in Almaty and the rest of the country were looking for fancy colors like blue topaz and other bright stones. Nowadays the taste has become more and more European. More introvert you could say. I see a trend where women prefer every-day jewelry they can wear with ease, and extravagant pieces for let’s say a party. The in-between range of jewelry seems to be disappearing. Women prefer to wear clothes with matching jewelry. They shop a complete look.

Why is Tirisi successful in Kazakhstan?

Nine years ago we started a new company named Stella and then we also started working with Tirisi. When I first saw Tirisi at Baselworld in 2010, I immediately loved the beautiful and totally new designs, the quality, the price, and the trendiness. I also feel that Natascha and Julian, the owners and designers of Tirisi, share the same values and that’s why we’ve been doing business for so long. What’s also good is that Tirisi presents something new at every jewelry show they attend. So that’s about three new collections a year which few other companies can manage. Tirisi keeps on surprising us and our clients too. And that’s good because that’s what today’s modern women want, not only in Kazakhstan but also worldwide. Also ladies who are not so much into jewelry can appreciate and understand Tirisi. Tirisi has a very strong jewelry DNA but it’s also trendy. The collection Amsterdam with diamonds is so easy to wear, so easy to combine, it’s a bestseller, and the same goes for Copacabana. Prices are fair too and that’s a super important factor for both retailers and consumers. I see a trend where women prefer every-day jewelry they can wear with ease, and extravagant pieces for let’s say a party.

And let us not forget, the designers Natascha and Julian dedicated to me personally the Seoul Collection. Inspired by not only my Korean roots, but more importantly by the gorgeous cherry blossoms you can find in our country. This Seoul Collection is a must. It’s particularly feminine and every time we sell a Tirisi piece of this line, it makes me incredibly proud to have been top of mind Natascha’s creative thoughts process.