While sports fans are enjoying the legacy-defining moments of this month’s NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, Jason Arasheben is studying like a college student before an exam.
Arasheben, a celebrity jeweler whose clients include rappers Drake and ASAP Rocky, is researching the history of the competing teams, their connections to the city and other interesting facts that might be included in the ornate rings. He’s also scouring his personal contacts for someone who can facilitate a meeting with the wealthy owner of a winning franchise.
“You just have to start connecting the dots,” said Arasheben, CEO of Jason, a Beverly Hills jewelry house near Los Angeles. “Billionaires talk to other billionaires.”
Over the past few years, Arasheben has carved out a corner of the market by establishing itself as the preferred jeweler for title-winning teams. It was ruled by Jostens for a long time. — Creates a dynamic ring with a reversible front and removable storage compartment.
“He reimagined what a championship ring is,” said Eric Tosi, chief marketing officer for the Vegas Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup last year.
“Every team that wins a title, regardless of sport, will receive a ring,” Tosi continued. “But how can you stand out? How can you do something you’ve never done before? “He did it.”
Arasheben uses both word of mouth and cold publicity to gain new customers, and his reputation grew quickly. Over the past five years, he has designed championship rings for nine professional teams, including the reigning NBA, MLB and NHL champions.
Araseben, the one who started it While making and selling jewelry at the University of California, Los Angeles, he created his first professional sports ring in 2009 and 2010 as the Los Angeles Lakers won back-to-back NBA championships with Kobe Bryant. He said a close friend referred him to him. Jesse Buss, son of Jerry Buss, the owner of the Lakers at the time.
Jason of Beverly Hills now has more than 100 employees and competes with jewelers such as Tiffany & Company and Baron. However, at the time, it was a young company with only six employees and sparse infrastructure.
Araseben said he and his team sometimes slept in sleeping bags at the factory, and in 2009 they finished the last ring about 30 minutes before the unveiling ceremony. (He also designed four rings for the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers’ 2020 ring, the Denver Nuggets’ 2023 ring, and the WNBA Las Vegas Aces’ 2022 ring.)
Just before the Milwaukee Bucks won the 2021 NBA Finals, a mutual friend connected Arasheben with Alex Lasry, whose father Marc was previously part of the franchise’s ownership group. But that relationship alone wasn’t enough to close the deal.
Peter Feigin, the team’s president, said Arasheben’s direct approach led the team to choose him over three other options. “What’s different about him is he has ownership at the CEO level,” Feigin said.
Bucks players Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, along with team executives, helped with the creative process. Antetokounmpo’s brother Kostas won the NBA Finals with the Lakers the previous season, and Feigin said Giannis wanted a bigger ring than his brother.
Arasheben suggested making a detachable top that could be transformed into a pendant.
“Athletes are naturally competitive, but owners are also competitive,” he said. “The rings are getting bigger every year because they want to surpass all the previous rings. I’m not sure how much bigger it can get. Otherwise it will become a plate.”
next morning When the Los Angeles Rams won the 2022 Super Bowl, Tony Pastoors, the team’s vice president of football and operations, received an email from Arasheben.
“‘I’m from LA. Your team is from LA. That makes sense,’” Arasheben said, recalling his pitch. “Tony’s battery has probably been drained from the number of times I’ve called and emailed him.”
Pastoors was familiar with Arasheben, who had already designed a Super Bowl ring for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a year earlier and had star Rams players Jalen Ramsey and Odell Beckham Jr. as personal clients.
Rams owner E. Stanley Kroenke and his son, Josh, were particularly interested because they wanted a local jeweler, Pastoors said. When Arasheben and Pastoors met for a meal, he surprised everyone, including the restaurant server, by bringing out a Buccaneers ring and a brand new Lakers ring.
“It was a real ‘wow’ moment,” Pastoors said. “Jason, as always, found a way to bring the Flash.”
Pastoors said some players worked with Arasheben and sought feedback from management. Arasheben also called Pastoors to request some of the artificial turf and soccer balls used during the Super Bowl.
“He said, ‘Why on earth do you need a ball?’” said Arasheben, who incorporated these pieces of material into the ring.
stanley cup ring It is mainly made of silver tone. But the Vegas Golden Knights wanted a gold ring to their name, said Tosi, chief marketing officer.
“We thought this would be a differentiator,” Tosi said. “When you come to Vegas, you have high expectations for the quality of the look and the storytelling behind it.”
Arasheben said yellow diamonds are trickier to source than white diamonds, and the color must match throughout the ring to avoid aesthetic aesthetics. He said he traveled to Canada, Belgium and Israel in search of diamonds.
“I didn’t tell them how difficult it would be, because that’s not their problem. It’s my job to figure it out,” Arasheben said of his first hockey championship ring.
Araseben did not disclose how much his rings cost, but he may order hundreds to accommodate players, owners, coaches, officials and staff.
The Golden Knights’ ring features the team’s helmet and shield logo embossed on a yellow stone. But about three weeks before the unveiling, Aracheben added a white diamond to the logo for contrast and more bling.
“It was so important,” Tosi said.
ownership The Texas Rangers have preferred conservative rings without special features since winning the World Series last year, said Travis Dillon, senior vice president of marketing.
Nonetheless, the team’s art director recommended Arasheben after hours of researching his rings in other sports, Dillon said. It would be the first World Series ring for both the Rangers and Arasheben.
“I went into the meeting already with very trusted resources,” Dillon said. “They had strong support internally as well.”
Throughout the design process, Arasheben presented digital copies and wax molds of the rustic-style rings. But during his final meeting with executives, he revealed his detachable top.
Dillon said everyone liked this mechanic because it served its purpose and allowed more stats to be put into the base. Arasheben said he was nervous about the potential reaction to his own surprise. But he needed to try.
“That’s what’s expected of us,” Arasheben said. “That’s why we got into this industry.”
