Master Jeweler
Sebouh
Sam
Hamouzian
Early Years
Our family migrated to New York City from my birthplace Beirut, Lebanon when I was in my early teens. My father was always hard at work as a tailor. We had family and friends in similar businesses including jewelry making.
At ~12-13 years old, my dad gave me an ultimatum – he said I needed to choose either a good education or a great skill. I said, “ok Dad, I want to learn to cut real diamonds.” Then, without any hesitation he took me to our family friend for training.
At first I simply watched and soon began to apprentice under his watchful eye. Almost immediately he started teaching me the art of diamond cutting, jewelry making, stone setting and jewelry repair.
Teens & Twenties
In my mid-teens my family immigrated to New York City. My dad continued to work as a fine tailor at a Custom Clothier in Manhatten. Because of his skillset, he rapidly gained a following and soon opened his own business.
I started working for a diamond cutting factory on 5th Avenue in a Penthouse. It was there I learned how to create a perfect pavé setting and worked honing my diamond cutting skills for 3 years. At ~21 years old, I decided I wanted to open my own jewelry store in Manhatten.
After talking with my Dad, he took me to a family friend who owned his jewelry store. I began working there learning the business of jewelry and continued craft making.
It was a great time in my life!
First time going to the movies and seeing snow in NYC!
After many NY winters, my parents decided they were done with the cold. His reputation grew as a fine tailor and Los Angeles was, for many reasons, the ideal location. He became the first in-house tailor for Escada Fashion House in Beverly Hills.
Over many years he was a custom tailor for icons such as Marlon Brando, Oprah, Axl Rose, Tom Petty and Billy Joel to name a few.
Needless to say, high standards and fine craftsmanship runs in our family.
Mid Life
Once in California, I opened my first store in Del Amo Mall and was there for 6 years. One day we drove here to Redondo and walked to the Beach. It was right then I decided – this is where I’m going to have my store someday.
Well, 30 years later – I’m still here and made that happen!
Over 100,000 customers I have served and am as busy as ever. I design for every walk of life and each customer is important to me.
Clientele has included a variety of celebrities such as Cheryl Ladd, Lloyd Bridges, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jerry Bruckheimer and more. I also designed 4 identical rings for the TV Series Houdini.
