Iulia Novac (TEILOR): We go beyond jewellery, we create experiences
TEILOR is the leading fine jewellery brand on the Romanian market with 27+ years of turning precious moments into stories. It started as a dream which was translated into a plan that built further a strong brand – the result of the vision and motivation to find possibilities in each circumstance.
We welcomed Iulia Novac, Marketing Director at TEILOR for an interview on luxury, how AI impacts leadership and the brand’s latest projects.
What is the #1 change that TEILOR applied following BRAND MINDS?
For us, being a BRAND MINDS partner goes far beyond being present at one of the most relevant business events in Central and Eastern Europe. It gives us access to new ideas and perspectives and, especially from a marketing point of view, a better understanding of where brands, consumers and communication are heading.
We work in an industry that is constantly evolving, so listening to some of the best minds in business, marketing and creativity is also a way of challenging and validating our own direction. Sometimes you leave with a completely new idea. Just as importantly, sometimes you leave knowing that you are already moving in the right direction – and that you need to push it further.
If I had to choose one thing BRAND MINDS reconfirmed for us, it would be that you should never become too comfortable with what already works. Especially in luxury, you need to evolve, reinvent yourself and understand every new generation without losing the essence of the brand.
For TEILOR, this means going beyond jewellery – creating memorable campaigns, meaningful events, distinctive retail experiences and new ways for people to connect emotionally with us.
I believe a strong brand should constantly ask itself:
What can we do better?
What can we do differently?
What can we create next?
That constant curiosity is probably one of the most valuable things we take with us from BRAND MINDS every year.
How is AI changing what leaderhip means inside TEILOR?
AI is changing the speed at which we work, access information and explore possibilities. And I think that also raises the standard for leadership.
When information becomes available to everyone and execution becomes faster, leadership becomes less about knowing everything and more about knowing what matters.
AI can give you ten possibilities in seconds, but someone still needs to understand which one is right for the brand, the business and that particular moment. A leader still has to choose a direction, recognise the potential of an idea and give people the confidence to move forward.
I actually believe AI makes the human side of leadership even more important. It can challenge assumptions, reveal patterns and open new perspectives, but leadership begins after all that information is on the table.
Technology can accelerate us, but people still give meaning and direction to that acceleration. And that requires experience, empathy, intuition and responsibility: qualities that will remain deeply human.
What decisions can leaders at TEILOR confidently support with AI and which decisions must remain grounded in human judgement?
AI can be extremely valuable when we are dealing with large amounts of information – analyzing performance, identifying patterns, comparing scenarios or simply helping us work faster and smarter. In marketing especially, it can offer perspectives we may not have considered immediately and help us make better-informed decisions.
But creativity and brand building still require something much harder to quantify: feeling. There is a moment when you see the right campaign, the right image or the final version of a film and you simply know. You get goosebumps. You understand the idea, you feel the music, the image and the story, and suddenly everything comes together. No amount of data can fully explain that moment.
AI can tell us what performed well before, it can identify patterns and make recommendations, but deciding what TEILOR should feel like next, whether an idea deserves to become a campaign or whether something truly represents the brand still requires intuition, creative judgement and a deep understanding of people.
Decisions involving people, creativity, brand identity or the emotional relationship we build with our clients cannot be delegated to an algorithm. Choosing what TEILOR should stand for, how a collection should make someone feel, or understanding the potential of a colleague requires context and sensitivity that go beyond data.
Which human skills are becoming more important within teams at TEILOR as AI takes over repetitive or analytical tasks?
AI is already helping us simplify processes, accelerate certain executions and save time on repetitive tasks. And that is incredibly valuable because, in marketing, speed matters.
Trends change, platforms change, consumers change and sometimes decisions need to be made almost instantly. But being faster cannot mean becoming careless with the brand. I think one of the most important skills will be the ability to move quickly while still protecting the identity, quality and value of what you are building. Technology can make execution easier, but taste, judgement and responsibility become even more important.
You need people who understand when something is good enough and when it deserves another round, people who challenge the first idea, who remain curious and who care enough to keep improving something even when, technically, it is already finished.
For me, especially in marketing and creativity, you have to be a little obsessed with what you do. You have to love the project enough to keep asking: Could this be better?
AI can save us time, but what we choose to do with that time will make the difference.
As AI-generated jewellery images and synthetic content become more realistic, how can TEILOR protect authenticity and consumer trust?
Technology will increasingly become part of the creative process, and I think there are many exciting possibilities there. But when you are trying to communicate emotion, the human touch still makes the difference.
Luxury is not only about creating a perfect image, it is about making someone feel something.
The expression of a person, the way jewellery moves on the skin, the personality behind a campaign, the people who create it – these details generate emotion precisely because they come from something real.
For TEILOR, technology can support creativity, but it should never create ambiguity around the jewellery itself. The beauty, craftsmanship, materials and characteristics of our pieces must always be communicated responsibly and truthfully.
And there is something else technology cannot replicate: the physical experience: you can enter a TEILOR store, see a piece of jewellery, touch it, try it on, speak to someone who understands it and discover its story. That human interaction creates trust.
In a world where almost any image can be generated, authenticity, transparency and human emotion become even more precious.
Which part of TEILOR’s identity will never change no matter how much the business evolves?
The human side of the business.
TEILOR has grown enormously from its beginnings on Teilor Street in Pitești. We entered new markets, opened new stores, created new brands, developed new collections and continuously evolved the way we communicate, but TEILOR is still a family business, and I think you can feel that in the way the company is built.
There is a very direct connection between the owners, the people inside the company and the brand itself. Decisions are not made from a distance, there is involvement, emotion, intuition and a genuine attachment to what we create.
And that matters because jewellery itself is deeply personal: people choose it for some of the most emotional moments of their lives – love, family, achievements, beginnings, memories.
So even as the company becomes larger and more international, keeping that closeness to people is essential. We can reinvent the way TEILOR looks, communicates and connects with every new generation, but what should never change is the reason behind everything we do: people and the moments that matter to them.
What does a human-driven future look like for TEILOR?
For me, a human-driven future is one where technology allows creativity to go further, not one where technology replaces it.
At TEILOR, we have always believed in building strong creative capabilities inside the company. Marketing, content, design and many parts of the creative process are developed closely with our internal teams because we want the people who live the brand every day to help shape what comes next.
Technology can make those teams faster, but ideas still need people.
You need someone who sees a possibility where nobody else does, someone who challenges the obvious solution and has the courage to say: This is good, but we can make it better.
That mindset is particularly important in luxury because luxury cannot afford to stand still, you have to reinvent yourself, understand how every new generation is changing and find new ways to remain relevant without losing your identity. For us, that means experimenting, creating, challenging ourselves and staying close to our clients.
And you have to genuinely love what you do because the best projects usually happen when people care deeply about them: when there is energy, debate, excitement and that slightly irrational desire to make something exceptional.
The Luxury of Being Present: Pure Diamonds by TEILOR
We live in a world that rarely stops. Our days move between places, conversations, screens and plans for what comes next. We are more connected than ever, yet perhaps the moments we value most are the ones when everything else disappears for a while.
A dinner that lasts longer than expected, a conversation without looking at the time, celebrating something you worked hard for, choosing a gift and knowing exactly why it belongs to that person. Or simply allowing yourself to enjoy where you are, rather than thinking about where you need to be next.
Maybe that is what luxury means today: being truly present. For TEILOR, this idea has a natural connection with jewellery because jewellery has always been there when people choose to turn a moment into something more. And few objects capture that feeling quite like a diamond.
When a moment becomes precious
A diamond does not make a moment important, the people in it do. Its meaning comes from everything that happens around it: the person who chose it, the reason it was given, the emotion attached to it. A diamond can become a witness to a promise, an achievement, a celebration or simply a moment when someone decided to say, I am here. This matters. Long after that moment has passed, the diamond remains not simply as something precious, but as a reminder of how that moment felt.
This perspective is at the core of Pure Diamonds, one of TEILOR’s iconic and ever-evolving collections. Bringing together natural diamonds and precious gemstones in gold and platinum settings, the collection approaches diamond jewellery through a contemporary lens: sophisticated without feeling distant, precious without being reserved exclusively for special occasions.
Because presence does not need an occasion. Neither do diamonds.
Diamonds, for the life you are living now
There was a time when diamond jewellery came with rules: certain pieces belonged to certain occasions, some were saved for evening, others waited patiently in a jewellery box for the right moment.
Contemporary luxury feels different. Today, a diamond necklace can be worn with a white shirt in the morning and an evening dress hours later, delicate diamond earrings become part of an everyday signature, rings can be layered instinctively, while a statement bracelet can transform the simplest look.
Pure Diamonds embraces this freedom. From understated designs made for everyday wear to spectacular creations featuring impressive settings and layers of precious stones, the collection reflects the many facets of contemporary femininity.
It is jewellery designed not around occasions, but around the woman wearing it: her personality, her rhythm, her choices. That effortless confidence is also captured in the collection’s latest campaign, featuring Catrinel Marlon, TEILOR’s international ambassador. Her natural elegance brings a fresh perspective to the hero pieces of Pure Diamonds, portraying fine jewellery as part of life rather than something separated from it.
Choosing with intention
Being present is also about attention: it is noticing, taking your time, choosing something because it feels right rather than simply because the occasion requires it. And maybe this is why jewellery remains such a meaningful gift. Choosing a diamond for someone is an act of attention: you think about who they are, what they would wear, what feels like them.
The object is precious, but the intention behind it is what gives it meaning and the same can be true when the person you are choosing for is yourself. A milestone does not always need an audience: sometimes a piece of jewellery becomes a private reminder of something achieved, overcome or simply worth celebrating. And because diamonds endure, these intensely personal choices can eventually become something more. A piece worn today may one day be passed on, carrying traces of one life into another.
Something real, something that remains
In a world where almost anything can be generated, accelerated or replicated, permanence acquires a different kind of value. Diamonds embody it naturally. With a hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale, they are the hardest naturally occurring gemstones. Their physical endurance is one of the reasons they have come to represent lasting relationships, memories and legacies across generations.
Pure Diamonds offers different expressions of the same idea: that fine jewellery can belong naturally to the life we live today: not kept for someday, not waiting for the perfect occasion, but worn while life is actually happening. Because perhaps the things we remember most are not the ones we owned, but the moments when we were completely there. And sometimes, a diamond remains to remind us.
Pure Diamonds by TEILOR. Presence makes things precious.