ABOUT
Hoda Esphahani brings a lifetime of gem education and experience to her luxurious business, Objet Éternel. From her studies and work at the GIA, to her career at Harry Winston, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Laurence Graff’s Safdico, Hoda Esphahani has a world of knowledge and hands-on experience in the world of exquisite gemstones and fine jewels. She brings this buying, selling and curating expertise to private clients, investors, as well as to members of the trade.
Her formal gem education began at the GIA (Gemological Institute of America), the premier laboratory for grading gemstones. Hoda learned to assess and evaluate the fine differences between gem qualities, clarity and color. Training her eye was crucial to the future of her professional life. She built upon that knowledge and experience handling fine gems to her sales position at Harry Winston, the legendary Fifth Avenue retail jeweler.
Working with high-end jewelry and a clientele to match, she nurtured her skills as well as her understanding of customers’ needs. She became attuned to the emotional connection women have to their jewelry and to the relationship between the customer and their lifestyles. She was able to guide women away from a purchase that is the style of the moment and show them jewelry that would endure and give pleasure for years. She helped them recognize their own style and invest in jewelry that enhances a woman way beyond its monetary value.
Hoda next entered the high-paced, global auction world at Christie’s, New York. As a Senior Jewelry Specialist, she was responsible for all aspects of buying and selling at auction including evaluation and pricing of jewelry, negotiating with jewelry collectors and establishing contact with the wholesale trade and private clients.
She moved on to Sotheby’s, New York, rising to the position of Chairman, Worldwide Jewelry. She was instrumental in securing collections for sale at auction, sharing her wide expertise in jewelry and gemstones with the auction house’s key selling centers in New York, Geneva, Hong Kong and London. She continued to build her extensive contacts and relationships with international private clients and the trade.
Recognizing her unique abilities and contacts, Laurence Graff, one of the most important diamantaires in the world, created an American branch of his diamond business, SAFDICO, with Hoda as President and CEO. This is the pinnacle of the world of sourcing and cutting extremely large, extremely fine diamonds. Hoda used her formidable personal skills to coax master diamond cutter Antonio Bianco to bring his extraordinary cutting skills to the firm, even having a cutting facility built for him. There, the two collaborated on the fashioning of 100-plus carat white diamonds as well as very rare fancy color diamonds.
Hoda is the essence of the bespoke advisor, knowing how to find the perfect gem or jewel for each client while also being well-positioned to source items from the trade to satisfy clients’ wishes. She brings her training and experience as well as that indefinable, intangible quality, the connoisseur’s eye, nurtured during her years of experience handling some of the finest gems and jewels ever created. Her work with the most important, precisely-cut diamonds in the world makes her uniquely placed to evaluate jewelry and to match it with customers’ needs.
For her female private clients, Hoda considers the client’s wardrobe, her personal style, her social needs, and her interest in building a signature collection. When customers come to her with important gemstones, she designs unique pieces encompassing those stones, creating original and highly personal pieces of jewelry.
From her childhood, Hoda Esphahani was attracted to beautiful gemstones. Growing up in Iran, she would often visit the Central Bank in Tehran where she was privileged to see the display of gems and jewelry. Iran was the only nation whose currency was backed by jewels. She brought that love and understanding of gems with her to the United States where she embarked on her jewelry career.
All of these personal, professional experiences and relationships are now at Hoda’s disposal as she greets her clients, private as well as trade, in her own business, Objet Éternel. She also brings one indisputable advantage to the task: she is a woman who knows the pleasure of finding the perfect jewel to wear with each outfit. She stands out in a field where men are almost exclusively the purveyors of fine gems and jewels.