Celeb Jeweler Shows Off Grills Made for Rihanna, J Balvin, Pusha T & More

GQMagazine

NYC based celebrity jeweler and grill specialist Gabby Elan shows off the grillz he's made for countless celebrities. From the set Rihanna wore when she announced her son's name to some Pharrell throwbacks from 2006, Gabby takes us through the custom grill sets he's designed.  Director: Chris Smith  Director of Photography: Bradley Wickham  Editor: Gerard Zarra  Creative Producer: Jean-Luc Lukunku Line Producer: Jen Santos Production Manager: James Pipitone Production Coordinator: Tania Jones  Camera Operator: Caleb Weiss  Gaffer: Niklas Moller Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen Production Assistant: Lucia Ruiz Davis  Make-up Artist: Jailyn Hardy  Hairstylist: Jayden Torres Post Production Supervisor: Rachael Knight Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Rob Lombardi Assistant Editor: Lauren Worona

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 You guys have probably seen my work

00:07 on a lot of famous celebrities,

00:08 but now you can put a face to the name.

00:10 My name is Elon, and I work with Gabby Elon Jewelry.

00:13 The piece that put us on the map, if you will,

00:20 was when Lil Uzi got a full set of 10 and 10 diamond teeth.

00:24 They were all hearts and arrows, VVS.

00:26 It really elevated our business from word of mouth

00:29 just whoever knows knows to these guys are legit,

00:32 if these guys are shopping with them,

00:33 then we can go there too.

00:34 The first time I seen my dad do his work,

00:36 I was probably like eight years old.

00:39 I remember he had a little workshop in the basement.

00:41 He had a lot of molds.

00:42 I don't know what the hell was going on.

00:43 I thought he was like a full on dentist.

00:45 And then I found out he makes gold teeth,

00:46 and I was so excited as a kid.

00:48 I was like, I don't know what this is.

00:50 I started working with my father when I was 16.

00:53 We moved to the diamond district in 2018.

00:55 That was the first time I got to work into a set

00:58 with all the customizations and all the crazy ideas

01:01 behind it and all that stuff.

01:02 We rode the waves until now.

01:04 Okay, so we're gonna start off with this set.

01:09 This was done for Erykah Badu.

01:11 She got eight tops and six bottoms.

01:13 This is inspired by an ancient Japanese Kintsugi art,

01:17 which is where they would take ceramics that are broken

01:19 and they will weld it back together with gold wire.

01:21 So it looks more artsy than damaged.

01:25 Her brand for her weed strain that she came out with

01:28 is called That Badu.

01:30 And she actually gave me a little baggie.

01:31 This is what inspired the whole design for it.

01:34 So it matches, but she still wanted that whole

01:36 Kintsugi kind of theme inside to make it look kind of old

01:39 and like rustic.

01:40 And it was perfect 'cause she wore it for the grand opening

01:42 of her weed strain event.

01:43 And this set costs her about 13,000.

01:45 We have J Balvin's set here.

01:50 From all of these, this might be my favorite set.

01:52 This was one of my original designs that I drew out

01:55 on my own.

01:56 I didn't have J Balvin as a client

01:58 when I thought of this set,

01:59 but when I did have him as a client,

02:00 I was like, "Yo, I have the perfect set for you."

02:02 He came out with that Kolora's album.

02:04 This was right after that.

02:05 And I was like, "This is just for you."

02:06 I fell in love with the set, with all the colors,

02:08 with all the intricate backstory to it,

02:10 like how the stone cutting had to be done.

02:12 And it took a lot of time and diligence,

02:14 but the outcome was very worth it.

02:15 And I was very pleased to see this.

02:17 These cost him about 36,000.

02:24 We did a set for Rihanna, actually.

02:26 She wanted to wear it for her son's first birthday,

02:28 where she announced his name.

02:29 And it was like a whole Wu-Tang theme.

02:31 She got eight bottoms done,

02:33 and on the top it just said "Dirt."

02:34 Kind of like the old Dirty Bastard iconic picture

02:36 that he has that says "Dirty" on it.

02:38 So it was kind of cool to relive that moment through Rihanna.

02:41 Kim K, she got a few sets from us.

02:45 She ordered a set that says "Kim" on it,

02:47 but with individual diamonds

02:49 that actually spell out "Kim" on it.

02:50 Not like set as the shape,

02:52 but each stone said "K-I-M" on its own.

02:56 So it was pretty cool.

02:57 Actually got that from a random Instagram ad

02:58 that I saw somebody posting diamonds on.

03:00 I saw he had a bunch of letters,

03:02 so I was like, "Hey, by any chance, do you have K-I-M?"

03:05 He's like, "Is this for the K-I-M?"

03:07 I was like, "Yeah."

03:09 I showed it to her, she loved it.

03:10 She loved the whole idea.

03:11 So I tried to make it happen right away,

03:12 and it looked sick.

03:14 It came out nice.

03:14 Okay, now we have Pusha T's set.

03:20 This set was dope.

03:21 He put it on the cover of his album.

03:23 I think he had it also for his tour on all the T-shirts.

03:26 And I actually had a client send me one of the T-shirts,

03:28 so it was pretty cool to see my own stuff

03:30 on a T-shirt in the tour.

03:31 He just fell in love with the whole diamond idea

03:35 when he saw Pharrell's,

03:36 and then he saw Pharrell's wife's.

03:37 He's like, "I need that,

03:38 "but my teeth are a little messed up.

03:40 "I gotta fix it around however to make it perfect."

03:44 So we just played around, like one tooth here,

03:45 one tooth there,

03:46 just to make it a whole mismatched kind of pattern.

03:48 It's something about the asymmetry

03:49 that really just changes everything, and I love it.

03:52 I feel like it has to tie in with the teeth,

03:54 how it looks so natural

03:55 and not perfect symmetric like soldiers.

03:57 It just brings out his personality, his whole spirit.

04:00 He's very OG, and he likes to stick to that.

04:02 This set cost him 50,000.

04:04 And these are for Pharrell's.

04:08 These were done back in 2006

04:10 with my father doing the gold,

04:12 and Jacob Minko finished all the diamond setting.

04:14 We have this set also for Pharrell.

04:16 This is done all in 22-karat yellow gold,

04:18 which is not so popular to do

04:20 'cause the gold is very soft and it tends to bend fast.

04:23 It took a long time.

04:24 This has almost 1,500 stones inside,

04:26 and it's just set perfectly.

04:28 Pharrell paid a little over 40,000 for this set.

04:30 LeBron hit us up through a friend of mine, actually.

04:34 I don't really get starstruck,

04:35 but with LeBron, I got a little starstruck,

04:37 I'm not gonna lie.

04:38 He had his whole management send me his mold and everything.

04:40 We contacted through Instagram.

04:42 He requested his logo on it, like the little lion,

04:44 and then he just said, "I like gold, I like purple."

04:47 I said, "I got you, no problem.

04:48 "You're LeBron, this should be pretty simple."

04:50 And we did the Nike check for him as a gift

04:52 'cause I was like, "I always wanted to do this,"

04:54 and he's the perfect guy for it.

04:56 And then after that, he said, "I love this set.

04:58 "I wanna get a white gold one."

04:59 He got a set all hexagon cut on the bottom,

05:02 and then the tops, it was in between each tooth.

05:04 We also got baguettes that we recut into hexagons,

05:06 and that one was sick.

05:07 That was a really flashy set compared to this calm,

05:11 everyday kind of one.

05:15 Then we have a set we did for DJ Mustard.

05:18 This is done in white gold, all VVS,

05:19 hearts and arrow diamonds,

05:21 and on the bottom, you have some fancy, intense yellows

05:24 mixed in to give it a little splash.

05:26 In the middle, we drew a little mustard bottle

05:28 'cause he has a big mustard chain

05:29 and he wanted it to match.

05:30 He paid, I think, 20,000 for this set.

05:33 These are all from Marc Jacobs.

05:37 These are two diamond teeth set in 22-carat yellow gold,

05:41 hearts and arrows, VVS, best of the best.

05:44 This was actually a funny story.

05:45 He kept saying he wanted a chip tooth.

05:48 I was like, "What do you mean you want a chip tooth?

05:50 "You don't have a chip tooth."

05:51 His story was that he had a crush on some kid

05:54 when he was younger who had a chip tooth,

05:56 and from then, he always thought it was like,

05:58 just the coolest thing.

05:59 So I said, "Okay, we're gonna cut out a little piece."

06:01 We put black onyx inside so it looks like

06:03 just something's missing

06:04 when you're standing from a little far.

06:05 I think this set from Marc Jacobs

06:07 cost him about 24,000 alone,

06:09 and then he paid about 8,000 for these,

06:12 and then these two were another 2,000 each.

06:14 (upbeat music)

06:16 So we have all these sets.

06:17 These were done for Tokisha, including this one as well.

06:20 This is a set, I don't even remember

06:21 what music video she did for this,

06:23 but these are all done with baguettes,

06:24 and then teardrop diamonds here, and one ruby there.

06:28 She has a lot of sets, actually.

06:29 This is her iconic little popola set, if you will.

06:33 I think we all know what this is.

06:36 This is a set she did for Mushrooms.

06:38 Honestly, I think this was my favorite

06:39 that she's done from all of them.

06:40 It's just so beautiful, so intricate,

06:42 and it's dainty, but not too boastful.

06:44 It's just a piece of art.

06:45 She just got these done, actually.

06:47 She shot a video with Sexy Red,

06:49 and it just says "Daddy," all diamond,

06:51 and that's all you see, and it looks pretty dope.

06:53 This one cost 13,000.

06:55 This one cost her 4,000.

06:57 The mushrooms were also 4,000.

06:58 The eyes were 5,000.

07:00 Popola was 2,500, and these two teeth were 2,000 each.

07:05 Honestly, I love my job.

07:08 I love what I do.

07:09 I love waking up every day

07:11 to be able to make something so unique,

07:13 so intricate, and work with the best possible

07:16 clientele that I can find.

07:18 I know a lot of people that don't like to go to work.

07:19 I wake up every day, and I'm like,

07:21 "Wow, I can't wait to go to the office."

07:22 It's just everything I could ask for and more.

07:24 Thanks, GQ.

07:25 This is On The Rocks,

07:26 and I'm gonna see you guys back at the office.

07:28 ♪ Bop, bop it ♪

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