Jewelry entrepreneur crafting positive energy at Selbyville headquarters

\Entrepreneur Peter Koslowski has worn many hats – as a seafaring engineer in the Merchant Marine, as owner of several nautical-themed shops and now as owner of Peter Stone Jewelry, which has its U.S. wholesale marketing office in Selbyville.

Coastal Point • R. Chris Clark
Peter Koslowski in front of his jewelry outlet and office headquarters in Selbyville. Koslowski started by buying jewelry during his travels, and ended up going to gemology school and making his own jewelry in Thailand.

“I worked on merchant ships for many years, and I travelled all the through Asia and all throughout the world,” said Koslowski. “I opened stores up in Key West and Massachusetts, and I remember somebody sold me some jewelry in my giftware store. I had never had jewelry before, and it sold really well.”

The jewelry sold so well, in fact, that Koslowski – during a shore leave in Thailand – purchased more jewelry for his stores.

“I knew nothing of sales. I knew nothing of what I was doing. I was in Thailand. I had gotten off a ship, I had a bunch of cash, and I went and bought some jewelry,” he explained. “It turned into a story of ‘buy a little, sell a little.’ Because I was buying back and forth, I was buying in Thailand and selling in Key West.”

The jewelry become so popular in his stores that Koslowski decided he would go to gemology school in Bangkok, Thailand. Afterwards, he left the Merchant Marine to pursue his newfound passion for jewels and jewelry.

“One of my dreams was that I should get paid to travel, so I did that. I said, ‘Well, I worked on merchant ships. They paid me to travel the world and see the world.’ I wanted to continue on that but more on my terms than on somebody else’s. On a ship, they tell you where you’re going, but in this case, I was my own captain, so to speak.”

He bought and sold Thai-produced jewelry for a few years, until he decided to open his own jewelry factory.

“In 1987, I decided to start my own factory in Thailand because the quality, I learned, was not very good; that I could make the jewelry nicer myself than what was being made.”

Koslowski started his company out of a little apartment in Thailand and subcontracted all the jewelry manufacturing work to the local workers in their homes. From there, he moved into a house where he was able to package the jewelry.

“Then I got the house next door, and then I did start manufacturing. I started casting my own jewelry in 1994. And then I moved to a larger building. And then, in ’95, I moved into a proper jewelry factory.”

Koslowski had sales representatives in the U.S. who would then sell his jewelry to various stores. When his sales representative for the Delmarva area moved away, Koslowski himself moved to Ocean City, Md., to temporarily replace her.

Then, with the help of a customer’s husband, Koslowski was able to establish a distribution center for his products, headquartered on the Eastern Shore. The move into their present Selbyville office came after having outgrown four other locations in the area.

“I just kind of happened on Selbyville,” he said. “We were bursting at the seams and needed the space, and out of default I got this building. And over the years, we grew, grew, grew. We moved to Selbyville in 2000, and we’ve been here ever since.”

Today, Koslowski has almost 100 people working for him, many of whom have been with the company for more than 15 years. With locations in the U.S., Thailand, England and Australia, the company has 32 different niche market lines of jewelry, with more than 20,000 designs, including nautical jewelry, fashion jewelry and high-end designer jewelry.

One of his latest products is called the Performance Amulet. Koslowski says wearing one can increase one’s strength by 20 to 50 percent.

“It balances and strengthens you. It makes your spouse happier. It’s good for pets, even. My daughter does karate, and she’s worn one for a couple of months, and her skills have greatly improved. She’s happier. A lot of people I give it to, they gain more strength.”

Koslowski said that he hopes more people will become exposed to the benefits of the amulet.

“It makes a notable difference,” he said. “There was one man who came out of the Marine Corps who I sold it to. Every day, he did 50 push-ups. He came to me the next day, after I’d sold it to him and said, ‘Peter, I need another one for my son. I’ve been doing push-ups for years, since I left the Corps. When I get to 50 I just can’t do any more. But this morning, I did 75 and didn’t even know, because I just kept doing the push-ups.’ What was interesting was that the mindset had changed. The limitations in his mind had gone away. That’s a very powerful thing.”

Koslowski has also created a new metal alloy he calls Nebula, which he uses for some of his jewelry.

“It’s an energetic metal. It looks much like silver but at much lower a price point. It has a positive energy charge to it.”

Koslowski’s interest in positive energy has led him to form an association called the Global Information Network, for “individuals dedicated to achieving financial independence, wealth creation, and dynamic health and well-being.” The group holds meetings in the Selbyville office.

“They are inspirational meetings, where we share ways to help each other, to lift each other up. To help each other build health, wealth and well-being... We present opportunities.”

Koslowski said he hopes that his jewelry will have a similar positive effect on people’s lives.

“It’s not just shiny pieces of jewelry. I always see jewelry as carrying a positive message for people.”

For more information on Peter Stone Jewelry, call (302) 436-0200, or visit www.peterstone.com, www.divesilver.com or www.globalinformationnetwork.com.