Royal Hawaiian Heritage Jewelry

Nov 6

In their own words

“We make Hawaiian-style jewelry inspired by when the queen and the princess went to England for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1887. They were both presented gold bracelets with a name engraved in black enamel. They brought their gifts back to Hawaii and had local artisans make a few for friends and royalty. This style became a tradition passed on through generations. We have a factory in downtown Honolulu where each piece is hand engraved and custom made.”

-Pat Breeden

Jason’s Interview with Pat

Jason

We're back on Meet the Jewelers and today we're talking to Pat from Royal Hawaiian Heritage Jewelry. They have three locations in Hawaii. How did you get into the industry?

Pat

I went to college at University of Massachusetts and my aunt and uncle were out here in Hawaii. Whenever they came to the mainland to do shows, I’d help them out. When I turned thirty, I had a restaurant with my brother and best friend. We closed that down and I came out and fell in love with it, fell in love with Hawaii. This was twenty-seven years ago. Now I’m married with four kids. I'm not going anywhere. It's not a bad place to be stuck.

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Jason
Tell us about the brand's heritage and what it represents.

Pat
We do jewelry that started back in 1887 when the queen and the princess went over to England for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. They were both presented with gold bracelets with a name engraved black enamel. The black enamel was because she was in mourning, her husband passed away. They brought it back to Hawaii and had some local artisans make a few for other royalty and friends. Since then, it just became a tradition to be passed on from generation to generation. I have four kids and on my bracelets, I'll have the kid’s names on them. They pick a date. My wife says that whether it's the sixteenth anniversary or birthday, graduation from high school, college, or wedding and they pass it on. My wife got her bracelet first passed from her mother on a wedding day. It's a nice tradition and all the jewelry is hand engraved. We are old school. We have a factory here in downtown Honolulu and at one of our stores, each piece is hand engraved and custom made for you. We have the best engraver in Hawaii and possibly the USA. He's a phenomenal artist. Most of these ladies and gentlemen have worked for us between ten and twenty-five years.

Jason
What's the feeling when you open the doors?

Pat
They walk in and they're right up on Bishop Street, surf around with all the jewelry laid out. I have a couple of tables set up with engraving balls and tools. What we're going to be doing is have them actually get to hand engrave them. Our master engravers will then take it and touch it up a little bit to make it look like a beautiful piece of wearable jewelry.

We have a whole factory downstairs. They actually get to see where the whole thing is made. We cast our own, we integrate our own. We like to call ourselves a one-stop-shop. We set diamonds. We do a lot of repairs, the all-around old type of jeweler that people can go to for everything. We like to be able to take care of everybody.

Jason
Tell us about some great customer moments that stay with you.

Pat
We had one—when I was a young person here, started twenty years ago. He just got married and we designed the ring, and then a bracelet, and then, later on, they had kids and made them bracelets. Just recently, we had the daughters come in with mom to design another bracelet for them. It happens a lot, we get a lot of people, “Oh my, my grandmother used to come here. My mother used to come here.”

Jason
Managing three stores is not an easy thing to do. What sets your team apart?

Pat
Hawaii is a special place. Bishop Street is our main store where the factory is. I'm here. My wife was at the Port Store. She oversees that and trains our people. They come here, they spend a day or so down in the factory so they understand what's involved. And then we have a small store in Kona. It's a lot of hands-on training because it's custom jewelry and there's a lot of moving parts to it.

Jason
Tell us about how some of your tourist clients interact with you.

Pat
Well, we get on the internet. Since 1994, right from the very beginning. It's changed a bit since then, but our website does phenomenal. RHHJ.com or royalhawaiianheritagejewelry.com. It also has a little icon to talk via text, which is great. We did some live chat-type things, but we only do it when we're open. They can chat online with us and Kim who runs our email department.

Jason
Tell us some fun experiences when a famous client came in.

Pat
The one I remember the most was Heidi Klum. We managed to get through the whole order, rings and pendants—the pendant had her initial on it and the kids’ initials. My manager said at the very end, after everything's all done, “Hey, you look like an awful lot like Heidi Klum.” And she goes, “I get that a lot.” And then they left, and I just started laughing because that was Heidi Klum.

Jason
Why don't you talk about some of the causes you want Meet the Jewelers to know about. You give back to the local community and we want to know about that.

Pat
We're very involved. We have four kids in public school. And we feel that you get what you put into it. My wife's been the PTA President for years. We do fundraisers, any way we can help support the schools and the teachers. My wife coaches soccer. There's a group that we tried to raise money for, the Children in Need. We’ll donate backpacks, school supplies.

Jason
Here's your chance to say whatever you like to the Meet the Jewelers. Tell us whatever you like.

Pat
Our people help you design it, our people will help you understand it. It's something that lasts. There's a story behind everything. Once you understand what it is, how it's made, and the story behind it, you fall in love with it. The key is the whole experience. It’s right downtown and it’s where we love it.