BY KIM SMITH (Published by MB Social | Business Profile)
Every time I talk to Blue Diamond Jeweler owner Altaf Amlani, I feel enriched and challenged. He sees the world in a complete and all-encompassing way, connecting all aspects of life into one whole sense of being. I highly recommend stopping by his store in downtown Manhattan Beach, even if just for a chat. He’s a gem of a man (pun intended) who genuinely values connection over profit. There are zero expectations for Blue Diamond customers – Altaf isn’t looking for the cash register to ring. He’s more concerned with cultivating relationships and contributing positively to every life experience.
You can find this in many aspects of Altaf’s life and business structure, but one fascinating way is in his store’s name and logo. Usually, I write by summarizing conversations, only adding quotes when appropriate But Altaf articulates himself and his values so eloquently that it would be a disservice to all of us to alter them. As such, I’ve penned his words below with only a few modifications for clarification and brevity.
The logo is very deliberate. The B and the D are connected, with the whole B representing Blue and the bottom part representing Diamond. The first layer of the soul of Blue Diamond is that the blue diamond is very rare, maybe one in several million. We want to deliver a rare experience in the jewelry industry. We want our clients to feel comfortable from the moment they walk in, where they don’t feel like security is the main focus. We also want to alleviate pressure to purchase and provide a place where their fear is dismantled, a safe and accepting environment. Blue Diamond also refers to the blue sky and earthy diamond, illustrating the oneness of those. The sky represents higher consciousness – kindness, love, generosity, caring, empathy, forgiveness. We, as a company, embrace those qualities.
The B here is the way of being, the D then becomes the doing. I want those higher conscious qualities to flow into my day to day work and interactions. If I’m infused with those concepts, almost like absorbing essential oils, then I can diffuse them out into his world. Actions flow from your state of being. Am I being kind, generous, and loving? How am I showing that? The B and the D are inextricably related. The emphasis is on Being, but as we’re being a particular way, our Doing flows from that. All that we do can be perfumed with a sense of all of these qualities.
Every gem is different, but we don’t discover it’s uniqueness until we chisel away the rock and wash away the dirt, and then polish it. And in the polishing and the chiseling, if you imagine the gem having a soul, it’s aggressive and painful to get rid of all that stuff. The journey of a human evolving often involves pain, difficulty, challenge, and suffering. We, as a society, typically insulate ourselves from that which is going to be our transformation. The journey of a human being is not too different from the journey of a gem – being a part of the earth to becoming a shining beautiful jewel. So when I sell jewelry, I am helping this person create a symbol of a journey that I hope they will take by embracing challenge and difficulty and allowing it to transform them into an enlightened human being.