Tired of that heavy diamond chain weighing you down?  Are your grills just a little too flamboyant for certain occasions?  Are your fingers so iced out with bling that they’re practically frozen and you can barely hold a pen properly?  If so you obviously need a new sophisticated alternative to getting your shine on.  Well open wide and get ready to hold in your mouth one of the most original and popular jewelry items in the entertainment industry: Icepiks by E.K.D.O.

This diamond-encrusted toothpick sleeve is the newest accessory in couture jewelry and celebrities such as Chris Brown and Ja Rule are enjoying the heat of this ice.

Each Icepik is hand-crafted, set in 18k gold (white, gold, or rose) and features up to 3.5 carats of diamonds or an array of other jewels.  E.K.D.O. promises that each Icepik is unique and of the highest craftsmanship on the market.

To help kick-off our brand new column, The Extra Shot , which will feature interviews from the world of fashion, sports, photography, dance, fitness, and more Sixshot.com spoke with Hrant, CEO of E.K.D.O.  With wit and candor, Hrant discusses the challenges to launching this unique product for the masses, the company’s major endorsement deal with r ap icon E-40, mainstream hip-hop’s obsession with materialism, and more.

Souleo:What’s your background in jewelry and hip-hop?

Hrant:  I grew up in the hip-hop generation so I guess I am what hip-hop is today.  My family’s been in the jewelry [industry] forever since 1960.  We have stores in Dubai and San Francisco.  So it was pretty easy for me to get the ball going and to make it happen.

What’s the inspiration behind the Icepiks product?

Well if you can tell over time jewelry was getting very outrageous with all these hip-hop artists.  So my company decided to take it to a more outrageous level and start making products that people had not created in the whole industry.  So the inspiration was a couple of artists such as P. Diddy and E-40.  They always have toothpicks in their mouth.  They have a bunch of diamonds on their necks but none on their toothpicks.  So we thought it would be good to bring something new to the entertainment and jewelry industry.

Gold toothpicks have been popular since the Middle Ages.  What do you think is the long-lasting appeal?

Well it is really for people who have everything else in life.  It’s for someone who has nothing else to really spend their money on expect excess jewelry.  That’s why only nobility had the gold toothpicks and silverware holders that were made out of gold.  The long-lasting appeal is that it’s for people with exquisite taste.

While I didn’t know back in the day the actual toothpick was gold!

It makes absolutely no sense to be honest with you because you can’t put gold in your mouth at all.

So how did you give this idea a modern twist and update it for an entirely different time period?

Well other creators have created gold toothpick products and other celebrities have had them and worn them before, but they weren’t very usable.  So we decided to create something where you could still use your toothpick.  Once you put your toothpick in there [toothpick sleeve] you’ll never really want to have a toothpick in your mouth without an Icepik at the end of it.

What were some of the challenges to getting the product launched?

I got a lot of those.  The challenges were that along with any other product it’s just another product at the end of the day.  Nobody would give us the time of day.  So it was kind of tough because we’d be in front of people's faces and they would like it, but they really wouldn’t do anything about it after that.  So one of our main challenges was getting celebrities and different artists to want to use the product.  There’s not only us trying to sell products but there are a hundred products out there being sold at that same time and a hundred other people knocking on their doors.

The pricing on the product was another challenge.  People don’t understand that this little piece of jewelry costs upwards of 3,000 or 2,000, or 1,000 dollars just to hold your toothpick.  They look at you twice like what are you talking about?!  But once it goes in their mouth they don’t want to let go of it.   So another challenge was telling people how much it costs since jewelry is very expensive.  Its real diamonds and real gold.  Once we got in that door the product kind of spoke for itself and it’s creating its own wave.

You guys are pretty much bursting through the door now with so many celebrities appearing with the product.  You recently signed a major deal with rapper E-40 as the first face to launch the ambassador line.

Correct.  He’s the ambassador of the Bay.  That’s what they call him.  So we decided to name the whole line after him.  He’s one of our exclusive endorsers and he’s gonna bring out the product within the next month or two.  He has a new CD Ball Street Journal coming out in March so you should really start seeing it as a part of him just as grills are a part of Paul Wall.

 What is it about E-40 that makes him such an excellent match for Icepiks?

E-40 has been in the hip-hop industry for about twenty-plus years now and a lot of people during that time have come and gone.  Even though he’s maybe not one of the biggest superstars to hit the hip-hop scene he’s one of the biggest just by outlasting everybody else whose come and gone.  Another thing is that he always has toothpicks in his mouth and people look at him to set trends.  So we thought it’d be a good idea to set the trend in the industry and not over-push the product with a really big endorser because the product kind of speaks for itself.

Did you approach him or did he come to you guys with this deal?

We approached him about a year and a half ago.  He was one of the first people to own an Icepik.  He lost it and he called me for a new one.  After that we didn’t really touch too much base but a year later he started seeing that the product was picking up.  He started hearing about it and seeing it on TV.  He gave us a call back and was like, “We should figure something out.”  It was better timing than a year ago.

Are you looking to sign more celebrity endorsers?

Yeah, there’s always gonna be new celebrities coming on-board.  Like I said they love it once they see it.  So it’s not something they can control.  You gotta love the product! We just actually custom created one for Chris Brown.

What other products and ventures can we look forward to from E.K.D.O?

You’re just gonna have to wait and see after Icepiks takes off.  We have a couple of other products in the mix [and] not only for the hip-hop industry.  We don’t necessarily shoot for the hip-hop industry.  It’s just a really good avenue of advertisement for us to be honest with you.  Dolce & Gabbana doesn’t necessarily shoot for everyone in the industry to have their glasses.  It’s [hip-hop] a really good source of getting on television.  So that’s one reason why we’re pushing the whole hip-hop thing because it’s a really good avenue for advertisement.

Hip-hop is known for being very materialistic and at times excessively so when it comes to bling.  What are your thoughts on the materialistic culture within hip-hop?

It’s definitely a materialistic culture.  The Icepiks are obviously a very material item.  But I don’t think it necessarily gets its justice by being known as a hip-hop product only.  I think that anybody who wants to sport an Icepik can sport an Icepik. 

We have people who are CEO’s that own them.  We actually have one in the ambassador line called "The CEO". It’s very classy, very nice, not too much bling to it, and not too materialized just something you can wear with a suit. So it obviously helps us for that culture to be materialistic. [Laughs]  It’s true [and] it is what it is! 

There’s no if ands or buts about it.  But it’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s just another avenue for people to sell things.  Whether it's hip-hop or any other form of entertainment it’s all the same.  It just happens to be in the hip-hop culture right now. 

If you were to answer that same question as a hip-hopper and not as a businessman what would be your thoughts on materialism in mainstream hip-hop?

That’s kind of a hard question.  I don’t like it but I accept it.  I’m part of it and I made a product that I hope is eaten up by the material people!  It’s a product that puts you above the rest. If you want to be someone who people look at when you walk into the bar, club, or anywhere then you should go the route of hip-hop because they’re gonna spot you out.  No matter what you are hip-hop is just a state of mind.  I could wear a suit with no jewelry and I’m still hip-hop since the way [that] I walk and carry myself is gonna be different.   That’s a tough question.  That one makes me sweat. [Laughs]

For more information please visit:  www.icepiks.com