Tiina Smith (pictured) easily fits the mold of the Renaissance woman: She knows the stock market from her career in finance, she studies history and culture to advance her personal knowledge, and she stays physically fit from a lifetime of playing competitive tennis.
As one might imagine from that résumé, Smith has channeled her competitive nature into a life that is devoted to education, refined self-expression, and becoming the ultimate collector. That likely is why Tiina Smith Jewelry has become a successful company that blends her business expertise with her personal interest in jewelry.
When Smith was 10 years old, she says her grandmother gave her a gift that remains one of her most prized jewelry possessions—and recollections.
“My first jewelry memory was receiving a modest emerald ring from my grandmother in St. Marks Square in Venice about the time I was 10,” Smith says. “She accompanied my mother, sister, and me to Italy, and we dipped into a small shop and out came my sister and me, each with a tiny ring sporting our birthstones.”
Smith grew up in the Boston area, and she played and taught tennis. She met Derek Bok, Harvard University’s president at the time, on the court, and that relationship led to Smith deciding to attend that prestigious educational institution. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration from Harvard, where she also played varsity tennis.
She learned one of the most important lessons of her life from that time at Harvard, Smith says: “Anything easy isn’t worth doing.”
That certainly was true in her next career move as she became a Wall Street investor, managing stock portfolios. Smith says this experience is akin to her interests in vintage jewelry, which she always loved but turned into a professional interest about four years ago when she founded Tiina Smith as a company and, more recently, a store in her hometown.
“First, one must establish an overarching strategy or aesthetic for the collection. In our case at Tiina Smith, we look for jewelry that is signed by the master jewelers of the 20th and 21st centuries,” Smith says. “We want to offer jewelry that is not available elsewhere and that spans the price range of $10,000–$1 million.
“We seek beautiful, colorful jewelry that is design-centric and often has a unique aspect to it, such as an interesting clasp, is made from a unique material, or is convertible,” Smith says. “As a female founder, I also want every piece to be comfortable to wear.”
Smith says just like a portfolio manager must do research to find the best airline stock for the particular client, she as a jewelry consultant scours the globe for the finest retro bracelet that offers good value. Finally, while a collection includes broadly appealing pieces, it should also have “a dash of whimsy” or a few pieces that are one-of-a-kind specialties, and that’s where Smith says she shines.
That might mean adding a “Belperron emerald and diamond pendant in the shape of a lyre or a made-to-order Cartier 1930s aquamarine ring accompanied by the original drawing presented to the client,” Smith says. “We also have a kinetic spinner ring from the 1970s by Norman Teufel. These pieces could be akin to adding a 3% position of crypto or a go-go growth stock to an investment portfolio, when appropriate.”
Sharing her knowledge is always Smith’s goal and her personal signature, she says.
“I heartily believe in education,” Smith says. “We believe that visitors and clients who know about the makers, the history behind certain pieces, who may have owned them, why they were designed like they were, and made from the materials they were are more likely to feel the pulse of a jewel.”
Top: Tiina Smith has parlayed her Boston-based education, investment expertise, and passion for jewelry into her current life, which focuses on helping collectors of all ages procure and develop their best jewelry life (photos courtesy of Tiina Smith).
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