History

Our story began after World War I when Marian Buzalski, my great-grandfather, founded the drugstore and several other stores in Tczew. Among many products sold there was also jewellery made of amber, the first trace of the Buzalski family relationship with the Baltic Gold. My great-grandfather's business survived the turbulent times of World War II, until March 12, 1945. According to the family tale the last bomb fired by the Soviet Army during the liberation of Tczew fell on the family store destroying it completely. In the next generation my grandfather, Bogdan Buzalski, after years of managing state enterprises of the Polish People's Republic, in the 1970s was the Director in the “Jubiler” largest jewellery company in Poland. In the 1980s also my father, Klaudiusz Buzalski, worked there.

At the end of the 1980s my father, Klaudiusz Buzalski, unmistakably sensing the upcoming political changes, decided to use his jewellery experience and familiarity with the world. In 1986 he established a private company dealing with import and distribution of jewellery. Almost everything was lacking in Poland in those days. My father began to import precious stones, jewellery and carvings from India. I remember as being a ten-year-old boy I was threading the beads of turquoises, amethysts, malachites on Stilon's monofilament lines and picking up my first business education. "If you want to work hard, you will achieve all that you wish for." With the collapse of communism new possibilities opened up. My father, once again, perfectly sensed changes in the market and started producing silver and amber jewellery. These were the days without Internet. Business contacts with foreign buyers were maintained by sending hundreds of fax messages and making night phone calls with customers across the Ocean. The breakthrough came in 1993, with the first edition of the Amberif fair and the premiere of the "Jurassic Park" movie. The Western world went crazy about amber. My father still maintains that it is our stone that was used as a prop in the movie ;) The decade of the 1990s was the Golden Age for my father's business.

In 2007, after several years of absence, at the urging of my father, I decided to return to the company from Asia, where I lived at the time. The golden years were already over. Lithuanians took away from us a large share of the market of beads, raw material did not flow from Kaliningrad with such a broad stream, strong Polish currency deteriorated the profitability of export. Some of our employees became independent, many new companies appeared on the market competing with us mainly with the cost of production. Along with the rapid development of Poland's economy costs of labour also rocketed. My father's motto was: "We produce, You sell" - the principle according to which we did no want to interrupt the market of our main customers through exhibiting on the fairs abroad. Our main partners in the US remember to this very day that we have always been loyal. And so, I rolled up my sleeves and started to restructure the Company. I changed the form of business. I read all the books about amber. I reduced the unnecessary costs. To better understand the processes in the Company, next to continuous watching over its operations, I spent some time at every post, from the extraction and selection of raw materials, cutting, polishing, up to selecting the finished stones, design, advertising and sales. Armed with the thorough know-how I analysed our place in the market. Our main advantage was the expertise, extensive financial background, the largest in the industry warehouse, broad knowledge of the market, the brand built for twenty years, and respect of both employees and suppliers whom we have always paid on time and treated fairly. We never fell behind on our payments to anybody and we paid for everything on the spot, requiring loyalty and good prices in return. At the end of 2007 the Great Crisis come, turning the market upside down. That was the actual beginning of my career as the Director. I did not experience a lot of money flowing from business earlier so it was not so difficult for me to adapt to new conditions. I knew that we would survive, but I decided to cope better than the industry each year. I cared about people, providing them with work even when we did not need more of the product. Thanks to the effort of the entire team – we succeeded. Our Company reclaimed its lost position of one of the three largest producers of amber and silver jewellery in Poland.

2015 looks promising. The US stood up after the crisis, business in Europe is stable, China still loves amber. Perhaps next years will witness opening up of markets in India and Brazil for the Baltic Gold. We no longer have to be afraid of the Russian embargo on amber. The domestic production is able to meet our needs. One can safely think of development and further investments. Modern times offer opportunities and pose threats completely different from those experienced by my ancestors. Ours are the times of broadband Internet, multimedia presentations, 3D designing and casting so thin that it is difficult to grasp it in fingers. But just like a hundred years ago, the foundation of our family is amber, this unique, mysterious and fascinating amber.