Q&A: Attorney Fernanda Beraldi’s jewelry store passion project has roots in her native Brazil

Corporate attorney Fernanda Beraldi learned last year from IBJ that Windsor Jewelry—which had been in business since 1919—would close its doors after then-owner Greg Bires wrapped up a going-out-of-business sale and retired.

She had already been looking to get into the jewelry business and was searching for a shop that had loyal customers, a full-time jeweler and designer, and a dedicated staff. Windsor fit those criteria and more.

So Beraldi and Ed Broecker, an attorney at Frost Brown Todd, acquired the store just after the closing, retained the staff and launched a renovation of the space at 16 N. Meridian St.

Although Beraldi describes the store as an investment, it’s clearly a passion project as well. And while the lawyer will retain her full-time job, she dove headfirst into the jewelry industry—meeting with designers, making many of the design decisions for the space and helping to choose the collections that will be featured.

In a conversation with IBJ, Beraldi said one of her goals is to maintain the history that has made Windsor Jewelry an important part of downtown. Sig Asher opened Windsor Jewelry in the bygone Lyric Theater building, 135 N. Illinois St., in 1919. Asher’s son-in-law, Herman Logan, owned the store from 1946 to 1998 and moved it to the Meridian Street location in 1970. Bires, who started at the store in jewelry repair in 1984, acquired it when Logan retired.

Windsor has been operating in a temporary space during the renovation. But this week, the store marked the competition of the work with several events. An official grand reopening is planned for 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

What will customers see that’s different?

They’ll see a focus on a bridge between the existing beautiful building—an homage to the history of this place—and with a focus on the downtown, vibrant environment. You will see new lines that are a little bit more modern but without forgetting the past and what we call jewelry staples, like diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. You’ll see more color, more custom designs, and more options so that we can meet you where you are without necessarily breaking the bank.

Visually, it’s a completely different space. It’s more customer-centric now. I would say before it was safety-centric.

I want people to be side by side [with a sales associate] while selecting pieces. We wouldn’t be separated by a counter where people have to point out what they want to see. I want it to feel more natural.

Did you design the updated space?

I made most of the choices. I had the help of Champlin Architecture, which is in the same building and just went through their own renovation of their space. … But the idea to have a space that was royal, special, custom, involving more of a feeling, more of a relationship and less of a transaction—those were all my choices.

How will the space work better for customers?

I’d say it will be more of an experience. Before the renovation, if you were coming in to design an engagement ring, you’d be doing that out in the open. You’d be sitting there in the middle of the showroom. There’s really no space for you.

Now you come in. You want to see something special, and there’s a specific room for you to do that. It will be a private appointment. We’ll have some pre-selections for you right here. So the experience is more memorable. It’s something you’re going to cherish.

It’s all more intimate than it used to be.

Tell me about your personal experience with jewelry.

I’m from Brazil originally. My mom is from the state [in Brazil] called Minas Gerais, which translates as “general mines.” So it’s the state where all colored gemstones come from. There’s a ton of Brazilian gemstones: amethyst, citrine, topaz, aquamarines.

So growing up in Brazil, although we were not part of this business—both my parents are lawyers—you just grow up with those things around you. That color around you. And the women in Brazil are usually very put together, very beautiful. They like to wear jewelry.

Then coming here, to the United States … people are always asking me about what I’m wearing. I have memories around [the pieces]. When I travel, I try to bring a memory that’s associated with a place that I’ve been, and for me, that’s a small jewelry piece.

Did you think you would get into the jewelry business?

Yes. I’d been looking to acquire a business for two years now in this space, but I just didn’t know where I wanted to be in the supply chain, whether I wanted to be more in the manufacturing space, or sourcing gemstones or more in the retail space.

When I decided I wanted to be in retail, I wanted to find a place to acquire that had a loyal following and had been a long time in business, that had a bench jeweler, that had a designer … that had a team with a lot of experience.

And most importantly for me, it had to have an upside. I am a business lawyer. So there’s got to be an upside of the business.

Windsor had sold out of most of its inventory before it closed. How did you start over?

It allowed us to start over with new collections but with the data of what our customers really like. And by the same token, the announcement of the purchase, of the acquisition, brought new people to the store, and we asked what they would like to see.

I asked the team to start collecting the pieces that people were looking for. We did a lot of study on social media about what people are looking for, what is engaging on social media. And that informed what lines I wanted to have at the store.

What makes the new lines special?

They’re lines that were designed with purpose. About 70% or 80% of our designers are women; 100% are of diverse backgrounds. Most of them are award winners that are not present anywhere in Indianapolis.

You have stones that people have never even heard [of] or have never even seen, like, for instance, a stone called Super Seven, which has seven different types of minerals inside a stone. It’s very unique and very different.

You have a designer that has a special setting in their stones. Her name is Svetlana [Lazar]. She’s from Ukraine originally, and she created a special setting that looks like there’s water under the stone. It’s called the Wishing Well collection. Nobody else has that. She has a very compelling story … and her jewelry is just so captivating.

Why was it important to you to work with female and diverse designers?

I am of diverse background—although now, since April, I’m an American citizen. But for me, it was really important, because … most [jewelry] is made for women to wear but is not made by women. So it’s the same thing that I faced in my legal career, which is [that] women are underrepresented. They’re also underrepresented in the jewelry industry.

I want to make sure I’m representing lines that are interesting. But I found that women design jewelry with purpose. They design jewelry for women. They design jewelry that has meaning.

What has been the biggest surprise in this effort?

As a lawyer, you’re trained to be a person who is documenting things, a person that thinks about risk the whole time and is helping companies to mitigate risk and still get business done.

The jewelry business is a trust-first business, so you spend a lot of weekends meeting people, meeting your vendors, because even though the team was the same, they wanted to know who owned the store. That was just striking.

You came to the United States 11 years ago and became a U.S. citizen. What keeps you in Indianapolis?

How welcoming people are. I consider myself a Brazilian—a Hoosier Brazilian—because people are just so welcoming.

And this—Windsor Jewelry—is my love letter to Indianapolis. … It’s investing in something that’s a passion for me and that keeps history alive with beautiful pieces, selected, curated pieces, that make people happy and help you celebrate the times.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to jump into a passion project?

It sounds so cliche, but you need to study a little bit. You need to take cautiously optimistic risk.

And if you’re comfortable in your space, it means it’s time for you to try to grow. And for me, this is an attempt to grow. I love my legal career, but I noticed that there were business learnings that I could put to use. And knowing a little bit of the market and then studying for two years … gave me the confidence that I needed.

Do I know everything? No, I’m learning as we go. But you take cautiously optimistic risk, but don’t let the fear stop you.•

—Lesley Weidenbener