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CherryPicked is a consortium comprised of technology and trading partners
throughout the world. Our company was founded in 1999 by Richard Orbach, a
consultant and gemologist active in the trade, since 1974.
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Bio: Richard Orbach, founder and CEO of CherryPicked
Richard Orbach has made a career of visionary pioneering as a specialist in the
colored gemstone industry for nearly 3 decades. After completing courses at the
GIA in 1975 while attending New York University, Richard began his journey with
his first company, Westropa Imports and was responsible for the brokering of
Union Carbide's original Linde Star factory and production to Kibbutz Nachshon
in Israel.
The old adage that apples do not fall far from trees certainly applies to the
Orbach family. Richards' father, Laurence Orbach is listed in WHO'S WHO IN THE
JEWELRY INDUSTRY as the pioneer founder of the first bonded armored delivery
service for the jewelry trade. The senior Mr. Orbach, a Holocaust survivor,
founded the firm in 1959 and retired in 1981 after selling AAA Jewelers Service
to Andrew Wax, the son of the late Irving Wax, a leading figure in the jewelry
manufacturing community. Mr. Orbach went on to author the critically acclaimed
autobiography, "Soaring Underground" and currently resides in Manhattan.
In 1979, Richard was contracted by Merril Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith, the
world famous brokerage house to guide them in determining the feasibility of
establishing the world's first closed ended mutual fund in precious gems. As a
result of the work done with Merril Lynch, Richard became Director of
Investment Marketing for M. Fabrikant and Sons in 1980.
In 1982 Richard launched Orbach Gem Corp. and caused a stir by being the first
colored gemstone company to insert a full catalog into 53,000 issues of the JCK
Directory.
Building on the success of that project, in 1984 Richard stepped "out of the
box" and opened up a new division that would photograph and collect information
about important gemstones from the industries leading dealers. This virtual
collection was the first time anyone had ever made an effort to catalog and
digitize information about gemstones in the market. The GEMFOCUS project was
marketed to leading jewelers such as Harry Winston, Black Starr and Frost and
Tiffany as a directory for their procurement of important gems. In particular,
Black Starr and Frost sponsored a 2 week tour of 6 of their stores with a
sampling of $20,000,000 worth of gems from the collection that was coordinated
by Richard. Large sales were made, customers were awed at in-store after hours
events and all participating parties considered this project a success.
The GEMFOCUS project in 1984 was the pre-cursor to what has now become
CherryPicked.
As a consultant, Richard has been the guiding light behind the scenes at some
of todays' more prominent gemstone companies. He is also the founder and
developer of CherryPicked, an award winning website that markets important gem,
pearl and jewelry materials to a worldwide audience. Richard introduced an easy
to understand rating "opinion base" system know as "CherryScore™" which has
been praised by GemKey as "the pick of the crop...perfect execution." The firm
that handles all of CherryPicked 's gemstone transactions is Reginald C.
Miller, Inc. a founding member of the ICA in business since 1946 and known for
cutting and marketing some of the finest gem materials.
Richard has lectured around the globe as a featured speaker most notably at the
ICA World Congress in Australia, The Canadian Gemmological Association in
Toronto as well as at the JCK International Jewelry conference in Las Vegas.
CherryPicked, the website has been featured in numerous press releases and
articles and became a case study subject of note at NYU's Business Graduate
School. It has received awards ranging from Best of the Web from GemKey as well
as accolades from members of the trade for breaking new ground in the
representation of gem materials.
Richard's varied interests range from database configuration, CGI design
concepts, digital photography and Internet business to music production,
songwriting, guitar, golf, tennis, Jewish culture and children's rights.
CherryPicked is now poised to leverage it's "first mover" position by
delivering a new higher ethical standard for information representation
technologies to the marketplace.
Beginning Winter 2003, CherryPicked began to introduce new product categories
which include but are not limited to Pearls, Estate Jewelry, Beads and Gem Art.
To Contact Richard Orbach
Email: rbo@CherryPicked.com