Vartkess Knadjian was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1955. At that time his father was the official watch maker to the Imperial Court of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Although Vartkess' early years were spent in Ethiopia, for his formal education he was sent to Kingswood School, Somerset, UK. He then went to the London School of Economics (LSE) where he graduated with a BSc. (Econ) honours degree in 1976.
That same year he joined the world's oldest diamond company, Backes & Strauss based in Antwerp, Belgium and six years later was put in charge of the Antwerp office. Since 1982 he has taken the company from a small buying office to that of a major player in the international diamond world. He became Group Managing Director in July 2001. After successfully leading a management buyout in 2003, he has concentrated his efforts on creating a luxury product leveraging on the history and tradition of Backes & Strauss.
Backes & Strauss joined forces with the Franck Muller Group to launch the Backes & Strauss collection of luxury diamond watches in November 2006. The watches with a London provenance are all crafted in the Franck Muller Watchland workshops in Genthod, Switzerland. The collection is now available in over 20 countries in 50 high end retail outlets.
Since 2007 he has served as Vice President of Antwerp's BGVD (Belgian Association of dealers, importers and exporters of polished diamonds) and in March 2009 was elected President of the Armenian Jewellers Association (AJA) formed in 1997 with the object of creating a global network of Armenian jewellers to facilitate the growth of the industry in Armenia. AJA has representatives throughout the world.
Backes & Strauss have launched an exceptional range of jewellery, made in Europe by supreme craftsmen using the finest materials. Created in London, crafted in Erope. There are two main collections; the Crown Collection is inspired by the watch collection and it's signature “Jewel in the Crown” and the Victoria Collection draws on the rich heritage of Backes & Strauss, the catalogues and design archives from the 19th century given a fresh and novel twist by the London Design team. Both collections feature luxurious couture and bespoke pieces.
