How Menē Gold Jewelry Is Making The Case For Financial Empowerment

For the online gold and platinum jeweler Menē, business is booming. It’s no surprise, when you consider that the direct-to-consumer jeweler has coined the term ‘investment jewelry’, by selling 24kt gold and platinum jewelry by weight. It’s a common concept in Asia, that’s is now gaining traction with Western consumers looking for reliable new ways to make investments. And after a recent pop-up at Dover Street Market New York, the fashion crowd is onboard with Menē gold jewelry, too.

Over on the brand’s site, I’m obsessing over a herringbone choker. Sharp points of solid gold slot together in a fluid necklace that sits just above the collarbone. The price fluctuates in real-time on the screen before me, based on the weight of the piece: 117.85 grams, representing gold value of around $10,000 plus a Menē fee, to cover design, production and business costs, of just under $5,000. The figure changes every few seconds.

Elsewhere, a gold and platinum chess set hovers around the $136,000 mark, a solid gold button — surely the ultimate in transferable wealth – is $911 and an engravable dog tag, $2,370. Since the company launched in 2017, it has sold over $130 million worth of jewelry, but, says executive chairman and co-founder, Roy Sebag, “that same jewelry today is worth $250 million.” Customers have nearly doubled their money.

From electronics and computing, to space exploration and medicine, gold is a necessary — and often irreplaceable — material to keep our society functioning. In recent years its price has risen exponentially; hitting an all-time high in October 2024 of $2,790 an ounce. As an investment, gold is more than solid: “it’s never gone down,” he explains, “it’s more than an investment; it is money. I call it a piggy bank you can depend on, it’s the safest thing you can own over time.”

It was precisely the non-jewelry uses of gold that gave him the idea for Menē, 10 years ago. With a successful financial career already under his belt, he was specializing in bullion and precious metals, and had launched Goldmoney, a gold investment and services organization which provides trading, delivery and storage of precious metals. After researching the market, he found jewelry brands not to be as price-sensitive as the tech brands, for example, which also use gold as a raw material. He became curious about how the jewelry industry was buying its gold.

“The price of gold has risen so fast that the jewelry industry is unable to follow and produce goods as normal,” he says, “but the cost of the gold is not even 5% of the value at point of sale for big brands.” Margins in the industry can be huge and he concluded that the jewelry consumer was not sufficiently educated about what they were buying. “Jewelers set out to produce something beautiful they can sell at a high price, but unlike other luxury goods, the sum of its parts can be reconfigured.”

Jewelry has always been repurposed when times are hard; stones prised out and metals melted down for sale. What if investment jewelry could be just that; a wearable investment in unadorned precious metals, ready to be cashed in as needed? He discussed the idea with his friend, Diana Widmaier Picasso, granddaughter of Pablo Picasso and a respected art historian and curator in her own right. “She’s very knowledgable about an object’s meaning and historical significance, and that extends to the jewelry she collects,” he explains. “One of us just turned to the other and said ‘Would you like to do this with me?’”

Picasso, who describes Sebag as a “visionary businessman”, was attracted by the permanence of the material itself. “Everyone has a story about gold,” she says, “it’s a big part of cultures around the world. As much as investment and value, it’s about human storytelling.” Throughout history, displaced people have fled with their jewels, ready to use them to generate the money they need to start over. As Menē’s Chief Artistic Officer she bought in Sunjoo Moon, whose impressive CV includes chief designer roles at couture houses, accessories brands and ready-to-wear labels, and Menē launched in 2017.

Moon is responsible for Menē’s distinctive chunky elegance, working within the restrictions of using only the gold itself so as not to interfere with the weight, and therefore value, of each piece. The resulting jewels have inherently minimalist, modern appeal and from tiny charms and tags, to weighty chains and cuffs, there is an investment opportunity for a range of budgets. “When gold went up, we thought our sales would drop,” says Moon, “but people aren’t selling, they’re buying because it’s worth more.”

The company’s success is also testament to an uncompromising approach to product, which is beautifully designed then produced in Menē’s own factory using ethically mined North American gold. North America and Europe are also key markets for the brand: “gold jewelry has always been sold by weight in Asia,” Sebag tells me, “but we still have a lot of opportunity in the West,” he says, referencing the $100 billion-plus Western watches and jewelry market.

Picasso and Moon have collaborated with the estate of Louise Bourgeois to create gold spiders after the artist’s ‘Maman’ sculpture, and with Dutch photographers Inez & Vinoodh on a capsule collection. More collaborative projects are in the works, they tell me over coffee in Paris, especially with figures from the art world, to create “objects with meaning,” according to Picasso. When the brand launched, early clientele skewed towards art collectors looking for a more stable market, and businessmen making investments, but that has now readjusted towards a client profile similar to other jewelry brands. “We are empowering the customer,” says Sebag, before telling me a story of a client with a modest budget who began investing a few hundred dollars a time in Menē pieces five years ago, buying as and when she could, and is now delighted with her return on investment.

Back them, online was a hard sell for a market in which 70% of sales are made in-store. But here again, Menē has demonstrated that disruption pays off; despite other players entering the online market, none of them can boast revenue of $30 million a year. “I believe we are building a luxury brand in record time,” declares Sebag, “when I think of a Cartier Love bangle or a Tank watch, I think about them as an heirloom rather than someone buying them today, and that’s what I genuinely believe we are doing — creating cherished objects that will last.”

And the Menē advice for luxury purchases? “Make sure it has investment value. There is nothing bigger than the gold market, use your discretionary spending rather than investment budget,” finishes Sebag. Maybe luxury wasn’t ever meant to be so addictive, so fast, so global; rarity and originality is more authentic and paired with a material that will only ever rise, it looks like formula for true innovation in an age-old industry.