From simple changes to a months-long fabrication project to showcase a treasured heirloom stone, customers go to Jones Bros. Jewelers in Peoria, Ill., for jewelry that reflects their unique tastes. But it wasn’t always this way.

Although Jones Bros. has been in business since 1939, director of inventory Beth Pappalardo says an evolution began seven years ago, when her team started working with Malakan—a family-owned wholesale manufacturer with a similarly long history. Founded just one year prior to Jones Bros., Malakan brought three generations of experience to the partnership.

Previously, the store did relatively few custom jobs, hamstrung by sluggish turnaround times and inconsistent pricing. “It wasn’t even a blip in my total business,” Pappalardo shares. “I couldn’t wait seven to 10 days for a rendering.”

Today, between 30 and 40 percent of the store’s business is custom work, growth Pappalardo credits to Malakan’s 270+ CAD designers and the deep well of expertise that comes from creating more than 150,000 custom pieces every year.

“The consumer base wants something different, they want to tweak things,” she says. “Everybody wants their take on their piece of jewelry.”

Whether customers seek a small change to an existing design or something completely one of a kind, Malakan’s seamless communication and sophisticated technology lets Jones Bros. deliver the customization that inspires today’s shoppers.

“I will send them a request with images of what we’re wanting, and I’ll have a rendering and pricing usually by the next morning, along with a link to a 3D video we can send to the customer,” she says. “The 24-hour response time is a game changer.”

Along with speedy service, Pappalardo says Malakan’s technology wows customers, who are blown away when they see the finished product from all angles on their own computer or phone screen. “They love it,” she says.

“What I love about Malakan is if you can dream it up, it’s more than likely they can do it.”

With a dedicated team of roughly half a dozen pros that work alongside Jones Bros.’ in-house staff, Pappalardo says Malakan effectively functions as an extended back-room workshop for the retailer. “They can do short projects, and they can also hang in with me while a customer is making several different revisions,” she says.

The strength of that partnership has given the team at Jones Bros. the confidence to tackle even the most intricate and complex projects. “I believe in having strong relationships with my vendors. I prefer to have fewer vendors and to be more important to them rather than be just another number,” she says. “They are really a one-stop shop—kind of like a unicorn.”

Want to make Malakan your custom jewelry workshop? Learn more: malakan.com/working-together.