Atlanta jeweler makes custom-made bling for stars like T-Pain
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Yep, those are jewels. Photo: Courtesy of Icebox Diamonds and Watches
Diamond-covered AK-47 pendants. Black diamond loops. Sparkling Rolex watches. And a TikTok following that's larger than Fenty Beauty, Louis Vuitton and Gucci combined.
- Meet Icebox, the Buckhead jeweler to hip-hop superstars, athletes and celebrities raising Atlanta's profile and breathing new life into the jewelry industry.
Why it matters: In little more than a decade, the Jooma brothers — Mo, Rafi and Zahir — have built a booming brand. They’ve tapped Atlanta’s status as the capital of hip-hop, attracted a bold-named clientele that includes T-Pain, Grady Jarrett and Wiz Khalifa and used the power of social media to show off their custom-made bling.
Details: Display items range from a 14k yellow-gold pendant of Africa that weighs 300 grams — and costs around $102,000 — to glittering charms.
- But the big money-makers are custom pieces like Major League Baseball All-Star Juan Soto's hand-set diamond pendant immortalizing his Soto Shuffle.
- Zahir handles the designs, Mo leads showroom management and client relations, and Rafi oversees accounting, HR and the company's expansion.
Catch up quick: In the early 1970s, the brothers' parents immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan. A table selling Native American jewelry at flea markets in Florida grew into five stores across Texas and in the early 2000s, the family opened a store in Duluth.
- The Jooma brothers forged bonds with Cash Money Records and DJ Greg Street, who spread the word about the small shop on the lower level of a strip mall just down the street from Lenox Mall.
Of note: Shot by the company's eight-member in-house social media team, videos of VIPs' shopping sprees reached 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube and an astonishing 7 million followers on TikTok. That's 15 times the size of Cartier's and one of the largest reaches on the platform for a brand.
What's next: This past weekend, the Jooma brothers traveled to New York to open Icebox's first location outside of Atlanta. A Miami location opens in October.
- Even bigger, however, is knocking down walls at the Buckhead flagship — to expand the store and headquarters into a 25,000-square foot complex roughly 20 times the current size.
"Atlanta changed our lives," Rafi Jooma told Axios Atlanta. "Without Atlanta we never would have been able to take this store all over the world. No matter where this business takes us our headquarters will always be here. This is where all the creative juices are flowing."