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The full plan, in detail

Your main page has the short plan. This page has every detail behind it. Money figures are what the client pays, not profit. Anything marked estimate is a guess, not a fact.

Words you can use

To a salon host: "I'd love to make an evening for your closest friends. I bring the pieces and the stones, I draw for anyone who wants something of their own, and you choose a piece as our thank you."

Your personal note: "Hi [name], OXUS has grown into a private atelier in the Jewelry District. Everything is one of one, designed by me from the first drawing, and I watch over every stage of the making. I'm taking a small number of commissions for December, and I'd love you to see the work first. Could I show you over coffee at the studio this week, or send you the lookbook?"
For people who know wealthy families, add: "And if someone in your world has a stone sitting in a drawer, I'd be honoured to meet them."

When someone asks the price: answer within the hour, with a range. "Made to order pieces start from about $4,500. Most commissions are between $12,000 and $40,000."

Follow up after a meeting

• After 1 day: "I couldn't stop thinking about your stone. Here is a first sketch."
• Day 4, no reply: "I'm holding a December sitting for you until Friday."
• Day 10: one last warm note, then stop.

Every way the money comes in

One client can come through two of these, so don't add them up.

1. Partners who send clients (the Trade Circle). $250k to $500k a year, if 10 partners each send 1 or 2 clients (estimate).

• Interior designers, stylists, wedding planners and stone dealers. They are used to referral fees.
• Offer 10% of the first commission and 5% on that client's later orders for two years. Tell the client in writing.
• Wedding planners: Mindy Weiss, International Event Company, Nicole Alexandra Designs. Offer their couples a private bridal sitting in your studio.
• Once a season, a "Folded Gold" lunch for 12: teach them how to judge gold and stones. Teach, don't sell.
• Clients who refer get a signed, framed ink drawing by you. Never cash.

2. Bridal and tradition sets. $20k to $150k a set.

• Engagement rings, the chuppah band, Persian wedding sets, the Four Golds, bridal gold.
• Nearly 9 in 10 couples now customize their ring.
• First step: five "Folded" bridal designs in CAD that any stone can go into.

3. Inherited stones, remade. $6k to $35k a piece. Two a month is $150k to $400k a year.

• Old gold is credited at the day's gold price, as one line on the quote.
• Bring a blank stone record sheet to every meeting.
• Fire losses remade from photographs, $10k to $50k a piece: by referral only, one quiet line in this offer. Never advertise to fire survivors.

4. Salons in a friend's home. $20k to $120k an evening, 1 to 3 commissions from 15 guests.

• The host invites 12 to 18 friends, not you.
• Bring about 15 pieces, loose stones and your sculptures. Draw live.
• Save the date 3 weeks ahead. Invitation 10 to 14 days ahead.
• Thank the host with a credit of 10% of the evening's commissions toward her own piece. Never cash. Example: 15 friends, 2 commissions at $30k, her credit is $6k.
• Private atelier sessions ("carve your own heirloom", up to 6 guests, $1.5k to $3k plus metal) can follow a salon or a bridal shower.

5. School and charity galas. $30k to $150k a year from 3 to 5 schools.

• Buckley and Brentwood School run auctions. Campbell Hall, Wildwood and Oakwood run Party Books.
• A lot costs you about $3k to $6k in materials. Value it at about $15k.
• Lot words: "A one of one jewel designed with you by Maryam Najvan, from first drawing to finished gold."
• The winner must come in to design with you. That starts the relationship.

6. Signature pieces and seasonal editions. Holiday: $15k to $125k this season.

• A holiday list, a numbered Fire Goat edition (12 pieces at $3k to $8k), a First Heirloom line.

7. CAD and renders for District jewelers. $5k to $13k a month.

• A simple CAD model sells for about $500 online. The St. Vincent Jewelry Center has about 500 shops.

8. Gifts for companies and family offices. $60k to $150k a year.

• One order of 20 pieces at $1.5k is $30k. A one page "House Gifts" offer, sent to Century City firms through private bankers.
• "The Heirloom Evening" for private bank clients: how a family jewel is designed, documented, appraised and insured. Example: one stone cut into three pendants for three daughters. The Estate Managers Coalition meets monthly.

9. Hotel concierges. 2 to 6 visitor sales a year, $8k to $40k.

• They do not take commissions. Invite them for a morning: drawings, CAD on screen, finished pieces, a lookbook each.
• Beverly Wilshire, Peninsula, Waldorf Astoria, Maybourne, Hotel Bel-Air.

10. Red carpet, through stylists. Proof that lifts demand and price.

• January to March, send the lookbook to 20 to 30 stylists. Show your emerald pieces. Insure every loan.

11. Slow doors that lift every price.

• Shops that stock your work: $20k to $100k a year each, wholesale. Ask the Couture show for the 2027 emerging designer application.
• Galleries, Design Miami, 1stDibs: gallery pieces $8k to $40k, about 50/50, 6 to 18 months.
• Sculpture beside its jewel: $2k to $15k a sculpture. Price each one.
• Private clubs: only through members. Ask a member to host a salon there.
• Art moments: apply to the next Beverly Hills Art Show as a sculptor. At Frieze, no booth: a salon dinner with an art adviser.

12. The OXUS Circle (an idea, untested). $5,000 a year, credited to pieces, cleaning and priority. 20 members is $100k a year, paid ahead. Try it after your first ten commissions.

Prices in detail

Private. Never on the website or Instagram.

How to build a quote

• Metal and your design work: 4 to 6 times cost. Important stones you source: 2 to 2.5 times cost.
• Example, the hexagon emerald pendant: 8 g of 18k gold is about $800. Add $600 for casting, setting and bench time. ($800 + $600) x 5 = $7,000. A 1.5 ct emerald at $3,000 x 2.2 = $6,600. Total about $13,600.
• Your edge: you do the design and CAD yourself. Others pay about $500 a model.
• Show three CAD versions, the grandest first. One total per version. Never show a cost breakdown.
• Gold on 1 November 2026: $3,875.65 an ounce, low in its 6 month range. Every quote says: "metal priced at spot on the day of CAD approval, valid 7 days".

The agreement

• Design fee at booking, credited in full if the client goes ahead.
• 50% at CAD approval. It locks the gold price that day. Not refunded once stones are bought.
• The rest at the reveal. Custom work is final sale. Making takes about 4 to 8 weeks after approval.

Extras that make a high price feel right

• An independent appraisal with every piece over $10,000, by a GIA trained appraiser. About $50 to $200. You pay it.
• A lab report for any emerald over about 1 ct in a Masterwork. GIA: $90 to $150.
• An insurance introduction at handover. About 1% to 2% of value a year.
• Payment over time only for the first two levels (Affirm, up to $30,000; build the 6% fee into those prices).
• Sales tax is 9.75% in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. Quote "plus applicable sales tax".

The full year

Sell every line as inspired by a tradition, open to everyone.

• Fri 6 Nov: Dhanteras, a key gold buying day. Sun 8 Nov: Diwali. A short note to South Asian friends.
• About 20 Nov: last day to sign for December delivery.
• 1 to 6 Dec: Design Miami. Meet art jewelry galleries.
• Wed 2 Dec: LA City College Foundation Gala, Beverly Wilshire, 6 PM. Go. Offer a lot for 2027.
• 4 to 12 Dec: Hanukkah, from sundown Fri 4 Dec. First Heirloom line: chai, hamsa, Star of David.
• Mon 21 Dec: Yalda. Jewelry is not a Yalda custom. Offer it honestly: "for the bride-to-be this Yalda".
• 25 Dec: Christmas. The holiday list.
• Wed 6 Jan: Armenian Christmas. A cross, or a name in Armenian letters, drawn by hand.
• Sat 6 Feb: Lunar New Year, the Fire Goat. The edition ready by 15 January. Lantern Festival is 20 February.
• About February: Frieze Los Angeles. A salon dinner with an art adviser: "sculpture you can wear".
• About 9 to 10 Mar: Eid al-Fitr (by moon sighting). Wedding season follows. Open shabka commissions from February.
• About 20 Mar: Nowruz. A Nowruz gift piece. Keep the tone respectful, not festive, this year. Check the date on an Iranian calendar.
• April: Colleagues Spring Luncheon. Offer a lot. Call in January.
• Week of 24 Apr: Armenian Genocide Remembrance. No promotion at all that week.
• Sat 8 May: Akshaya Tritiya. Launch the bridal gold line.
• About 16 to 17 May: Eid al-Adha (by moon sighting). Wedding season commissions.
• 2 to 6 Jun: Couture, Las Vegas. The emerging designer application.
• Wed 15 Sep: Chuseok. Dol rings and family gifts.
• Fri 1 Oct: Rosh Hashanah, from sundown. The First Heirloom line.

Weddings and milestones

• Persian weddings. You know these customs best. Offer an "Aghd Set", priced as a set. The mother of the bride often chooses.
• Chinese weddings. The Four Golds (si dian jin) is a Teochew custom: a necklace, a pendant, earrings and a bangle, given by the groom's mother at the tea ceremony. An OXUS set: $30k to $120k (estimate).
• Korean first birthday (dol). Guests give a gold ring of one don (3.75 g). Offer a dol keepsake ring and box.
• Jewish milestones. A chai, hamsa or Star of David is the classic bat mitzvah gift. Gifts in multiples of 18 are traditional, so price the First Heirloom line at $1,800 or $3,600.
• Arab and Lebanese weddings. The shabka is the groom's jewelry gift to the bride. Ask someone from the community to read your offer first.
• South Asian bridal. Gold and the mangalsutra. Say "in the karat your family keeps" until you are sure you can make 22k and 24k.

Online and ads

• Google Business Profile, free. Category "Jewelry designer", by appointment. Add photos every week. Ask for a review after every handover. Set up Yelp too.
• Instagram as search. Switch OXUS to a Business account: Google shows public Business posts. Put one searchable phrase in every caption, like "custom emerald pendant Los Angeles".
• Post 3 to 5 times a week, from the bench. Paper fold to gold. The pear diamond, from green CAD to the finished ring. A grandmother's stone, reborn. You answering one question to camera.
• Pinterest boards named for what brides search. "Heirloom jewelry" searches are up 45%.

Paid, if you choose

• Google search ads: about $1,500 to $3,000 a month, around Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Brentwood and the Palisades, on exact phrases like "bespoke jeweler Los Angeles". Estimate: 5 to 10 serious inquiries and 1 to 2 commissions a month.
• Instagram and Facebook ads: about $500 to $1,500 a month, only to people who already visited, engaged, or are on your client list.
• Press: pitch the Beverly Hills Courier and STYLE a free story first. A paid STYLE full page is $5,000. Wait on a PR agency until after an award.
• Awards: Couture (2 to 6 June 2027, free for exhibitors). AGTA Spectrum (about $285 to $315, likely due late September). Tiffany x CFDA ($50,000 and a fellowship, next window likely May 2027).

The rules on targeting

• Instagram and Facebook do not let you target by religion, race or ethnicity. Google: no lists built on religion or ethnicity.
• An ad cannot say or hint who the viewer is. Good: "A Nowruz gift, made in Los Angeles." Not allowed: "For your Persian family."
• You can use places, languages (Farsi, Armenian, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic), your own client list, and search words.
• California law: pieces "inspired by" a tradition are fine. Prices, events or access for one group only are not. Every private evening is open to anyone who asks.

The 30 days, day by day

Goal: 3 to 10 commissions signed, about $40k to $150k (estimate).

• 2 to 4 Nov: your 150 name list. The lookbook and the Commission guide on your phone. A booking link. The one page terms. Call Sterling Casting. Claim your Google profile.
• 4 to 8 Nov: 30 personal notes a day. Dhanteras note by Thursday 5 November.
• 6 to 11 Nov: studio visits, 4 a day at most. End each one by offering a design sitting. The CAD rate card walk in the District.
• 7 to 9 Nov: salon 1 host confirmed. You send your own invitations.
• 9 to 13 Nov: email 10 planners and 10 stylists, visit 10 stone dealers.
• Sat 14 Nov: salon 1. Within 24 hours, send every guest a first sketch of their idea.
• 16 to 20 Nov: CAD renders for the first sittings. 20 November: one note to your whole list.
• 21 to 27 Nov: sign deposits. Hanukkah First Heirloom note. Gala and school emails.
• Sat 28 Nov: salon 2, for Yalda and new year commissions.
• 29 Nov to 1 Dec: thank everyone who sent you a client. A short private "From Sketch to Stone" film for each client who agrees.

What LA's best do, and your place

Nobody owns the sculptor jeweler: an exhibited artist whose one of one gold pieces sit beside the sculptures they came from. That is you.

• One plain line: "email to book". Irene Neuwirth books this way.
• House calls with a tray of pieces. Martin Katz began with house calls in Beverly Hills.
• "The address is shared once your appointment is confirmed." Jacquie Aiche's by appointment showroom.
• One signature piece, everywhere. Jennifer Meyer is known for one gold leaf necklace. Yours: the Paloma studs or the hexagon emerald.
• Jewelry beside art. Spinelli Kilcollin runs its LA store like a museum. You have the sculptures.
• "Made in downtown Los Angeles", said proudly. Retrouvaí does it.