In a candid conversation with IMPACT Magazine, actor-entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi and Ricky Vasandani, Co-Founders, Solitario share how their young jewellery brand is redefining sparkle. From launching 20 stores in just 10 days this Navratri to betting on the global boom in lab-grown diamonds, the duo is crafting not just a business, but a movement, one that aims to put a proudly Indian brand at the forefront of ethical, high-fashion luxury worldwide.
Here are the edited excerpts:
Q) What does opening so many stores all at once this Navratri mean for Solitario? What kind of challenges are you facing?
Vivek: We opened 20 stores — 10 SIS and 10 EBOs. We had actually planned 18 stores in 9 days, but Navratra was 10 days, so we did 10 including Dussehra. So 20 stores in 10 days, good signs and fantastic growth at Solitario. Challenges are always there. You have logistics, you are trying to figure out the supply chain, making sure that the finishing quality, standardisation of brand Solitario is uniform across the board. But we have a great team and Ricky has been sleeping 4-5 hours only. It's all good. We are here today; we are opening on time. We opened in Lucknow, we opened in Calcutta, we are opening in Hyderabad, Indore, Mumbai, Delhi.
Q) How do you plan to market the brand in India?
Ricky: The marketing has been taken care of, now it's all about scaling up. I am trying to get as close to the customers as I can for them, so they can just walk out from the house and find Solitario. This December we will be coming up with 25 EBOs also. It's very exciting. The Indian consumers have a changing mindset, they are understanding what high-end jewellery is and how not to wear the same piece every day. You need a variety.
Vivek: The whole idea is to create multiple points of sale, multiple points of contact with the consumer. The customer sees the brand, sees the design, and is excited by it. The more difficult it is for you to find and source, the less the customer is inclined. So, the idea is that we should cross more than 100 to 200 points of sale in 2026.
Q) How are consumers engaging with lab-grown diamonds offline vs online?
Ricky: With Solitario what we felt is that the customer needs to know the product. Lab-grown diamonds were not known much earlier. So, we have gone in the offline direction. Once we create enough distribution, which is 50 plus stores, we will be going online. So far offline has been our forte. And a lot of brands are changing to offline from the online game.
Q) As an actor-entrepreneur, how do you balance creativity with business thinking?
Vivek: The new word is ‘actrepreneur’. It's a left brain-right brain situation where you've got the creative side. I love the designs; I love the jewellery that we're developing. I love the purposefulness of the jewellery, the fact that it's ethical, non-conflict. It really speaks to people like me. Even a lot of the people in the younger generation are much more aligned to that ethos. On the logic side, on the commerce side, it makes sense. The business is great. I believe that by 2030, every three and four diamond stores across the world will be Lab-grown. We're already at two. It's already crossed more than 50% of sales volumes, it is booming and it is the number one choice. When we started the coloured diamonds, they weren't as high in quality, so we stayed away from that. But now the coloured diamond quality has become exceptional. So whether you want Lab-grown rubies, whether you want Lab-grown sapphires, you have the option. And they're not just beautiful, they are also the smarter choice.
Q) As a young brand in this crowded market, what makes Solitario stand out?
Vivek: We were one of the first movers. We established ourselves as a brand, we established ourselves with global reach across nine countries very early. In a two-and-a-half-year span, with the kind of commitment and dedication the team has shown, we managed to achieve a very large image and reputation in the space to have just world-quality designs and products for really smart pricing. We're not competing with the smaller upstart new companies that are coming in and crowding the market and just doing more of a price war story. We're already a hallmark of quality. And that's the differentiator. We are an international brand. We have design houses in Barcelona and Miami and in India, of course. So it's a global integrated design story. That's why Solitario is standing out. That's why we're seeing such exponential growth.
Q) What's next for Solitario, five years down the line?
Vivek: If we forecast next year, we are IPO-ready already. It's a highly profitable company with fantastic CAGR and growth, not just year-on-year, but quarter-on-quarter growth has been exponential. But as founders, as co-owners of the brand, we decided to hold off and come maybe next year because we see the value of the company doubling from here within the next 8 to 12 months. And we're super excited about that. Five years from now, it's a proudly made in India brand, being a dominant player in the global market in the space of high fashion jewellery.
