California Apparel News

With Millennials clamoring for instant gratification through direct-to-consumer services that provide an array of products, Madeline Fraser wondered why no one had thought of a custom fine-jewelry platform. The entrepreneur, whose third company, the Los Angeles–based Gemist, offers a platform for consumers to design their own engagement, precious-stone and fashion rings, saw a need for this type of service when she and her fiancé decided to get married.

“We were together for 10 years, and we were sitting on the couch and were like, ‘Maybe we should get married soon.’ He was a bit quiet,” she recalled. “The first thing he said after a few minutes was, ‘What do I do about the ring?’”

Believing that finding a ring would be a simple task, Fraser assured her fiancé that they could see a jeweler that weekend, design a ring and have it in a few weeks. She soon found that this was not the case.

The process took much longer, months in fact, leading Fraser to become frustrated with online fine-jewelry platforms. At 27 years old, she also didn’t have a lot of money to spend on a few ring designs to simply try on. Eventually, she sought the assistance of a jeweler in Los Angeles’ downtown Jewelry District.

“I tried a ton of online platforms. What I found across the board was s a lack of technology user experience. They were clunky and outdated, which made it feel overwhelming,” she said. “I started learning about jewelers and traveled to downtown L.A. I had to pay someone a cash deposit and draw the ring on a piece of paper in a tiny office that was rough around the edges.”

With her newfound knowledge, Fraser decided to put her entrepreneurial skills to use. An alumna of the business-funding TV program “Shark Tank,” Fraser already had two businesses that she had launched with friends. Her first, launched in 2012, was an interior-design platform that she created when her college friends from George Washiongton University began to graduate and needed to furnish their apartments.

This experience gave way to Hutch, an application that allows users to customize their home spaces, similar to Fraser’s college-era service. The approach to design laid the groundwork for Fraser to eventually create Gemist, which she is launching on her own—a first for the entrepreneur.

“This was the first time I decided to start something on my own. It’s really empowering. It’s been quite lovely,” she said.

Available in beta on Apple iOS, Gemist allows its users to create stand-in rings, or less costly versions of a design that they will ultimately want in precious metal and stones. These precursors to the real deal cost less than $250 and are created with gold-plated sterling-silver settings and Swarovski crystals through a partnership Gemist has with the company. Users of the platform are able to order up to three rings to try for two weeks after paying a $5 refundable deposit.

“You can also purchase the stand-in rings. If you’re an engagement consumer, you can have an identical version of your ring for travel, the beach and working out,” Fraser explained. “If you’re not sure what your partner wants but are interested in that 100 percent surprise proposal, you can purchase the stand-in ring and then you can go through the design process after proposing.”

Stones are sourced sustainably in the United States, and Gemist’s vendors are located in downtown Los Angeles for domestic sourcing. Settings retail from $300 plus the cost of stones.

Fraser is on a mission that is greater than creating jewelry. She would like to contribute to lifting up other women to become entrepreneurs.

“We’re predominantly a female team. I want to see more women creating and growing startups. There aren’t enough of us. I hire a lot of women; I work with and mentor other women. Even our capitalization table from our investors has a lot of women,” she said. “We’re talking about it. I can see change happening, but it needs to happen faster.”