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Editorial
So what would you like first?
The good news or the bad news?
At a seminar packed to capacity with crucial facts, figures and insights at Birmingham's Spring Fair, Michael Allchin, chief executive of the Birmingham Assay Office, plotted an outline of the UK jewellery industry's hottest topics.
He predicted a year to come in which jewellers would be kept on their toes - by struggling gold sales, volatile gold prices, the rise of internet retailing, ethical issues bubbling up wherever you care to look and mounting pressure on jewellers to up the ante against competition from synthetic diamonds, as well as from a host of other luxury goods.
So where do the key challenges lie and how is the industry responding?
“Gold, especially 9 carat gold, is experiencing structural problems,” said Allchin tactfully.
As it turns out, the total number of hallmarked gold articles has plummeted 38% between 2001 and 2006. But the total value of gold in hallmarked articles has risen by 74%.
A closer look reveals that while the total value of hallmarked 9 carat gold articles plunged 13% southwards and 22 carat gold was down 18%, hallmarked 14 carat gold is up 57% and 18 carat gold is up an impressive 81%.
All this indicates a move towards less volume and higher value. “This is partially a fashion issue,” said Allchin, “where the look of the moment dictates that jewellery is minimal. A bolder, statement look can often be more affordably achieved with costume jewellery,” he added. Fine jewellery is also experiencing fierce competition from the likes of retail shopping channels which don't require high levels of stockholding. Gems TV, for example, has an 11 day supply chain.
Allchin pointed to the new generation status symbols being the flat screen TV, iPods and long haul holidays. He could probably just as well add luxury mobile phones to that list. In recent months, Hermès, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Tag Heuer have all announced mobile phone offerings.
Just to further intensify matters, figures from Barclays Capital indicate a squeeze on consumer spending, thanks to an eight per cent overall rise in essential inflation, a statistic which takes into account food, fuel, council tax and utilities.
When asked about his challenges for the year ahead, Mike Dilnot, managing director of Birmingham-based Lois Jewellery, one of the country's leading manufacturers, echoes the priorities outlined by Michael Allchin. “Our priorities for the year ahead are to increase sales, interact with our existing customers, maximise sales by improving stock control and prove our diamonds are sourced through the Kimberley Process. We also intend to sell online in the future,” he says.
In a climate where we're seeing heightened competition for consumers' disposable income and consumer consciences about ethical issues being catapulted into overdrive, the good news is that that opportunities for the industry to grow and mature abound.
Communicating the value of fine jewellery is a crucially important part of this challenge. From April this year, significant changes to the hallmarking laws relating to mixed metals mean jewellers will be able to hallmark items made of more than one metal, even when one of the metals is a non-precious base metal like stainless steel. Allchin believes this will give designers scope to be more creative in mixing metals, while adding value in the process.
But the communications issue is a much broader one than just this. I have often wondered why H Samuel and Ernest Jones, both owned by the Signet Group, are the only jewellers to engage in television advertising campaigns. What's more, they only run these campaigns around Christmas.
In 2006, the Hot Diamonds campaign involved advertisements in Grazia, Heat and OK! magazines and e-newsletters to end customers. “We might do TV advertising in the future,” a Hot Diamonds spokesperson told J-dex.
Internet advertising is a growth area which is still far from being fully exploited by jewellers. In the UK overall, the spend on internet advertising is already greater than that allocated for magazines and it's a third of the budget allocated to television advertisements.
Given that online jewellery sales are on the up and up, surely there is potential for a symbiotic relationship with online advertising of jewellery. Bearing in mind that engagement and wedding rings are the source of a significant proportion of turnover for most jewellers, surely the most obvious position for such advertisements is on the burgeoning number of dating, or even social networking, websites. The internet also allows advertisers to track and analyse clicking and post-clicking activity in detail.
Meanwhile, as Blood Diamonds has galvanised both public and celebrity support against the wearing of unethical diamonds, a possible threat to the industry comes in the form of laboratory-created gemstones, which could promote themselves as an ethically and ecologically sound alternative. Add to that the fact that these gemstones, virtually undistinguishable from natural diamonds are available at only 70% of the price.
While diamonds are unlikely to be severely affected thanks to their long heritage linking them to enduring symbolic values such as love and eternity, jewellers are under marked pressure to brandish their ethical credentials. According to Ledbury Research, specialists in the world of luxury, synthetic diamonds could prove successful in the lower price point, by harnessing the tide of ethical consumerism.
Tiffany has a policy of transparency in the provenance of gold, while the Richemont Group which counts Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Montblanc and Piaget under its stable, has made a pledge contained in its corporate statement on social responsibility to source all of its diamonds and gold.
This month, the issue of synthetic diamonds will be very much on the agenda at the CIBJO World Jewellery Confederation congress in South Africa. The organisation has developed simple guidelines to help suppliers understand when and how to communicate the nature of diamonds, synthetics and simulants in marketing materials and to consumers.
And for those intent on capitalising on the opportunities ahead, Jonathan Kendall, the vice chairman of the marketing and education commission will also launch a manual entitled Diamond jewellery retailing: a guide to success, to entice consumers who are more discerning, knowledgeable and demanding than ever.
Editor end.
Highlights of the NEC
Domino Design Competition
Award winners announced
Each year Domino is proud to sponsor a competition for HND students of the University of Central England, School of Jewellery. This year 23 students were asked to demonstrate their innovative thinking abilities and create a piece of jewellery by using components from the handbook.
The winners were announced and presented with their prizes on Monday 5th February on the Domino stand at the Spring Fair.
First prize of £500 was awarded to Kathleen Baird who created a stunning necklet and earrings using some of Domino's CR22 four claw settings as an interesting feature.
The £250 second prize went to Katie Roberts who used Domino's CRS settings to make an ingenious magnetic checkerboard ring.
The third prize and £100 was given to Emma Darrell for her interesting lapel pins made using CX10 square settings.
All three award winners will also be given the opportunity of work experience at Domino.
Lesa Phelps, Domino's Product Development Manager, said of the competition: “We were pleased at the high calibre of work that had been entered this year, it made picking our winners a difficult decision! The winners should be commended for their innovative thinking when using components from the Handbook, it demonstrates how versatile Domino's products can be. We feel it is important to continue to support jewellery students by running these competitions, they are, after all, the future of the industry. Gaynor Andrews, Course Director for HND Jewellery & Silversmithing added:
“The opportunity presented through a competition of this sort is highly beneficial to the students and provides a good insight into the industry. Receiving recognition for their efforts at the Spring Fair created a real sense of professionalism and was an ideal conclusion to the successful collaboration. We would like to thank Domino for all their support and also Emagold for showcasing the competition entries at the fair. “
Domino Design Competition Winners.
Left to Right:
Lesa Phelps, Product Development Manager - Domino Katie Roberts – 2nd Prize Winner Patrick Fuller – Vice Chairman, Domino Kathleen Baird – 1st Prize Winner Gaynor Andrews –Course Director for HND Jewellery & Silversmithing Emma Darrell – 3rd Prize Winner
Comments from the Fair:
GEMEX
Spring Fair 2007 was a phenomenal success for Gemex. The company enjoyed their best show yet.
Sales of their Pink Rocks range, pink diamonds set in platinum with white diamonds, exceeded all expectations. “We have opened 37 new accounts for our Pink Rocks rings, each customer on average purchasing four rings per shop. That's now almost 200 UK stockists. We also successfully managed to cross sell our other products to most of these new clients. Existing Pink Rocks accounts are also performing very well indeed.”
Tanzanites were also a major success for Gemex selling both large loose stones and made up jewellery. Coloured stone jewellery with big bold coloured stones in general performed very well indeed. “Independent retailers are definitely notching up a gear in terms of the quality of jewellery they're stocking. Each year we notice a strong leap in 18ct and platinum sales. These independents are playing the market well. They do all they can to distance themselves from the cheaper end multiples. They also know that they get a first class service and competitive prices from us. Once they discover us, they remain with us.”
Gemex is committed to continuing its feature with respect to Pink Rocks with publications such as Vogue. “The public wants to know where they can buy our Pink Rocks range and we send them to their nearest stockist.” Overall the company is very optimistic indeed and reckons 2007 will be a very successful year indeed, especially in the higher end market.
H.W.Tankel
“ We were very pleased with the show. Along with existing customers placing good orders we also opened new accounts.
The trend was for something a little bit different so that retailer has something exclusive to them in their own town. It was an encouraging start to 2007”
Reading Harry Levy's comments in ‘Gem and Jewellery News' recently, I realised that various changes in the gem market have caused a softening of declarations by ignorant and/or unscrupulous suppliers.
As marketing plays a more important part in the selling of products the problem of accurate description of goods becomes a greater issue in our industry. There is a view that words such as ‘imitation' and ‘synthetic' are negative and ‘cultured' and ‘created' more positive. As usual it all boils down to value. If you pay £25 for a jumper described as ‘cashmilon' you cannot be upset that it is not pure ‘Cashmere'.
Similarly with gemstones, if you have paid £250 for a synthetic / created ruby unaware that it is man-made then you may take great exception when you find out it is synthetic / created.
Another issue is the passing of goods through numerous different hands and the changing of the description as they progress through the chain. The vendor when asked at a recent trade show where his ‘citrine' originated, finally rescinded with ‘oh that – its ‘honey quartz' a softly softly term for diffusion treated quartz.
Another might be ‘diffused' / ‘coated'. This is frequently associated with an abundance of this new pink topaz on the market where the difference in value between a natural / yet heat treated stone at £150 per carat compares to a coated stone at £5 per carat.
With any of these situations it becomes a real issue when at the any part of the chain the supplier is not sure of what he is selling.
It seems that we are now expected to be experts about everything. This is challenging when some products which appear on ‘new media' selling streams have little or no basis in established jewellery practice.
Therefore, it is vital that when trading in high value items such as single stones you must develop a close relationship with your supplier so that you can trade with confidence and maybe this aspect of selling should be marketed also!
Coloured Stone Market Report
By Peter Grummit
The drop in demand for the less expensive quality of sapphires, the strength of the Baht against the Dollar, coupled with rising fuel costs, has led to many of the larger sapphire mining operations at Kanchanaburi, to shut down production. I spoke to people involved in the mining at Kanchanaburi who told me that large-scale mining work would not start again until there is an increase in the price of the finished stones to match the increase in the mining costs. Some smaller operations continue to operate but miners are holding back the goods hoping for an upturn in the prices.
My Burmese contacts were also complaining about the higher fuel costs pushing up the prices of stones but they have also caught onto the fact more people are looking for un-treated goods and have been adjusting their prices accordingly.
Most Burmese dealers are now quoting prices in Euros instead of Dollars due to the sliding Dollar & the strength of the Euro. The demand for un-heated stones continues to grow as the public become more aware of gem treatments, as does the gap in prices between un-heated and heated rubies and sapphires.
There were also a lot of African dealers in town selling a variety of rough coloured gems. I was shown many parcels of tsavorite garnets, some of which showed excellent vivid green colour and clarity. Most stones were in one-carat sizes but larger stones up to five carats were available. There were big price differences between the dealers, so it would seem prices have yet to settle.
Below are some examples of recent acquisitions we have recently added to our stock. This includes a very fine and unusual example of a pink sapphire from the mines at Namya, located in the Kachin State, northern Burma. The stone has a delicate silky appearance with very strong fluorescence. The gems from Namya are very fine quality & virtually indistinguishable from those found at the old mines in Mogok. If you would like more details of these stones please visit our website at www.apsara.co.uk of call us directly on 01737 358071.
Baroque Bespoke Jewellery
Described as ‘Shop of The Week' by the Times, Baroque Bespoke Jewellery is at the forefront of contemporary jewellery with cutting edge work by the most sought after designers in the business.
Baroque Bespoke Jewellery have designed a unique range of heart influenced charm pendants and bracelets that will undoubtedly be gaining brownie points this Valentines. From hand grenade hearts symbolzing explosive passion to caged hearts symbolizing love locked forever, they are sure to help find an innovative way to say ‘I love you' at Baroque this year.
Baroque Bespoke Jewellery, 9 Union Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1HA
The largest sapphire available in the
United States
“You have to not only be wealthy to own this, you have to be lucky to have the opportunity to purchase it,” says gem cutter Michael Arnstein of the Natural Sapphire Co., which is selling the largest natural blue sapphire available in the United States.
Discovered in 1952 in the gem mines of Sri Lanka, the 129-carat rough sapphire crystal yielded an 80-carat sapphire when it was first cut. It was then sold to a British family and held in private ownership until the late 1990s. At that time, it was re-cut into a more perfect shape and with better symmetry to improve its light and color reflection.
The oval-shaped, brilliant-cut sapphire, now weighing 69.53 carats, is in its best form and priced at approximately $417,000.
The Natural Sapphire Co founded in 1939, is a gemstone company specializing in fine quality, natural untreated sapphires. The company has offices in Bangkok Thailand; Colombo Sri Lanka; New York; Mumbai India; and will soon open an office in Tokyo.
For more information about the sapphire, visit
www.Thenaturalsapphirecompany.com.
This 69.53-carat natural blue sapphire, the largest sapphire available for sale in the United States, is being sold for approximately $417,000.
Cookson Precious Metals Proposed restructuring
Cookson Precious Metals (“CPM”) has announced a proposed restructuring of its UK business, against a background of continued pressure in the UK jewellery market.
CPM's UK business consists of a prime manufacturing business producing raw material, components and finished jewellery, and a distribution and logistics operation supplying these products to manufacturers, designers, independent jewellers and retailers.
The distribution and logistics business has developed very successfully in recent years and is now without equal in the UK. The manufacturing business has, however, continued to suffer from lacklustre demand in the industry overall and from low cost imports. This is despite a range of cost reduction initiatives in recent years, and the transfer of certain manufacturing operations to the existing low cost facility in Mauritius.
Against this background and as a result of a significant business review, a fundamental restructuring is proposed, to be implemented on a phased basis during 2007.
This will result in the closure of CPM's Wrexham facility, which produces chain and findings, with the manufacturing transferring to a new site in Thailand.
The majority of the stampings operation, currently within the Birmingham facility, will relocate to the same Thai facility, with remaining manufactured product being realigned into new cells or supplied by CPM's US-based manufacturing business, Stern.
In addition, the Dublin sales office will close, with the Irish market being served direct from the UK as well as through a local distributor. CPM's operation in Hatton Garden, London, is unaffected by these changes.
These initiatives may result in the loss of approximately 80 jobs, some 16 in Wrexham and the balance in Birmingham.
Despite this proposed restructuring, CPM will retain a significant presence in the UK employing some 200 people, predominantly at its manufacturing and call centre facilities based in Birmingham's historic jewellery quarter.
Stella Dorsett
Stella Dorsett, European President of Cookson Precious Metals, said:
“We very much regret the impact that these necessary initiatives will have on our employees. However, the pressure facing manufacturers in the UK are well known, and we have no option but to restructure if we are to operate profitably and provide consistently high levels of service to our jewellery customers.
“Cookson Precious Metals has a long history of serving the jewellery industry, and we remain fully committed to doing so. The new structure will combine continued high quality manufacturing at lower cost, together with a state of the art logistics and distribution operation run from our Birmingham-based call centre.”
Denis Garbe retires from Nina Breddal.
Denis Garbe is retiring afer 36 years representing Nina Breddal in the West of England. Denis's working life life began during the Second World War when he worked for Naval Intelligence decrypting enemy code. His postwar career included the police force followed by the cosmetics company Inoxa before joining Nina Breddal in 1970.
West Country Jewellers have known him these 36 years as the indefatigable agent for Nina Breddal and he has been variously described as a sales machine, a first class storyteller and a true friend. He will be thoroughly missed by everyone at Nina Breddal and we join all in wishing him a happy retirement.
Denis Garbe
What to do if you think a bank charge is unfair?
If you breach bank account rules you have signed up to it is reasonable to expect to be penalised. However, the problem for a growing number of bank customers seems to be the size of some of the penalty charges, especially when they are applied repeatedly to an account.
Currently the Financial Ombudsman Service is ruling in favour of over 150 bank customers a week. Typically the FOS has ruled that no more than £12 is reasonable where a bank has charged around £30.
If you feel that you been subject to an unreasonable charge, in the first instance you should contact the financial institution concerned in writing clearly setting out the circumstance. If, having done this, you feel you have not received a satisfactory response, you may be able to take your complaint to the FOS.
For detailed advice on the recommended process of making a complaint regarding a financial product – including bank charges – go to: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk .
Advertorial
Lady Heart achieves recognition in UK market
What better gift to give to your lover than a diamond, which signifies the concept of love today, tomorrow and always? Lady Heart's innovative three-stone design does just this, and also solves the major drawback of heart-shaped solitaires, which often look chubby and suffer from a lack of brilliance.
Two Lady Cut® diamonds hug a princess cut diamond forming a heart that appears brighter and larger than a traditional heart-shaped diamond of equal size and carat weight. A combination so pure, brilliant and unique, the Lady Cut® diamond has been granted four distinct international patents for both its cut and design. It offers all the beauty and brilliance, all the colour and clarity of the finest diamonds at values that would certainly fire passion. The company prides itself on the quality of diamonds chosen for their collection, and all individual pieces come with the Lady Heart international guarantee card as a hallmark of quality and authenticity.
Launched officially into the UK last year, Lady Heart is taking the market by storm and the success is being put down to offering unique product, fantastic service and a national marketing campaign to support its customers.
This Christmas and Valentine's selling season has been very successful for Lady Heart. Sales Director at Lady Heart, Spencer Gelding says; “We measure our success by the success of our retailers, and our major accounts tell us that Lady Heart has sold like crazy.”
Philip Stoner Jewellers in Leeds has found the combination of a unique product with excellent back up support to be a winning formula. “No-one is doing anything like this in and it generates a lot of interest from new and existing customers. The service from Lady Heart is also very good, they are very helpful and often make pieces for us to a specific size or price which is fantastic to be able to offer to customers.”
Lady Heart matches its unique product offering with interesting marketing initiatives too. For Valentine's Day this year they linked up with luxury vodka company, Diva to run a competition exclusively in Selfridges to win a beautiful diamond ring with every purchase of the limited edition Diva Vodka Love Potion. The competition has already received over 1000 entries.
Lady Heart's combination of three diamonds allows the creation of an almost limitless number of identical hearts in a collection of jewellery, including striking necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches, and earrings, and with retail price points ranging from £750.00 up to £100,000 Lady Heart can offer exclusive diamond jewellery for most budgets. This is definitely one diamond jewellery brand to watch as it continues to sparkle and grow its UK market position.
For more information how you can become a Lady Heart stockist, please call the Sales Team on free-phone 0808 178 2779 or sales@ladyheartcollection.co.uk www.ladyheart.co.uk
A Jewellery Affair Glam Rocks!
1st and 2nd May 2007
11am to 9pm
20th Century Theatre
291 Westbourne Grove
London, W11 2QA
A Jewellery Affair is an exciting new jewellery fair which will open its doors to the public for the first time this year. Glamour, individuality and craftsmanship are key to the work on show. A Jewellery Affair is all about allure.
Camilla Dinesen, Lucy Goldman and Samantha Salmons are the triumphirate of jewellery design innovators that are responsible for making it happen. They also initiate a rigorous selection process in order to choose the very best contemporary jewellers and Master Goldsmiths who will exhibit at A Jewellery Affair. For the last three years Dinesen, Goldman and Salmons have been running A Jewellery Affair at discreet locations in the Capital introducing independent designers to a savvy coterie of collectors.
A Jewellery Affair will be held at West London's 20th Century Theatre, and exhibitors will include amongst others Shaun Leane, Tina Engell, and Pippa Small. As co-founder Camilla Dinesen, a Master Goldsmith, explains “We strive to bring a fresh perspective to the world of jewellery – gathering together great talent, extremely high craftsmanship and creativity – A Jewellery Affair is about individuals who want something different, you can't pigeonhole our clients only that they seek out originality.”
Lucy Goldman, co-founder in A Jewellery Affair, trained with two of London's most illustrious jewellers, Malcolm Betts and Jess James, and works with rare and unusual precious gems. “I spend a lot of time in Sri Lanka in the mining centre of Ratnapura sourcing gems of outstanding beauty to bring back to the UK and use in my work,” explains Goldman.
Co-founder and the third partner Samantha Salmons trained as a jewellery designer at Sir John Cass University. She has a studio in London's East End where she works on private commissions. Salmons works with precious metals and stones and describes her work as “Tactile and organic.”
Expect to see radical departures from the world of couture jewellery in addition to coveted jewels that are ready to wear. Perfect, precious jewellery that is unique and not readily available in shops is the gold standard for the show. Traditional pieces such as rings, necklaces and earrings will be available but expect to see the radicalisation of jewellery with an extensive array from each and every exhibitor. A Jewellery Affair will have the most comprehensive collection of contemporary jewellery on show in the UK.
The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter
A Tourism gem?
A recent survey on tourism and the jewellery quarter was commissioned by the jewellery quarter regeneration Partnership and undertaken by the College of Food Tourism and Creative Studies in Birmingham.
Key Findings included: -
Approximately 75% of visitors to the quarter come to shop for Jewellery
Their main reason is choice followed by price
70% describe the service in shops as good or excellent
Most browsed through a number of shops before purchasing
Over 50% of shoppers are interested in buying ‘Made in the Jewellery Quarter' jewellery as opposed to imported
25% are first time visitors
The majority of visitors were aged between 35 and 50 and were female
Approximately 80% came from Birmingham and the West Midlands although interestingly, in the Birmingham category, more came from South Birmingham than North Birmingham.
Eating and drinking facilities were praised
More than half of the visitors came by car
Only 25% had visited the museum in the Quarter and awareness of St Pauls Square was surprisingly low amongst the shoppers to the Quarter
Family and friends were the main source of awareness about the Quarter (over 60%)
Derelict buildings, perception of safety and the general street scene were felt to be minus factors.
Andy Munro, Operations Director for the Jewellery Quarter Regeneration Partnership said:
‘Whilst this was fairly random sampling, I think the results are encouraging especially on the shopping offer, restaurant and bars. However I think that it shows we need to raise the profile of the Quarter outside of the West Midlands and improve the street scene.
Initiatives such as ‘In Bloom' introduction of CCTV and tackling dereliction will all help in responding to these issues.'
DAVRAN launches new lockets
Davran has seen locket sales improve in 2006, I wouldn't go as far as saying that they are coming back into “fashion”, but if a girl wants to have a photo of her beloved close to her heart, there's nothing quite like it! It is a well established product which has been made for hundreds of years. The perceived value is improving, now that so many of the manufacturers of the paper thin variety have fallen by the wayside.
These three lockets are new to Davran's comprehensive range of hand made lockets. The oval lockets both 30mm high one domed and one flat have been asked for many times and fit in between the 35mm and 25mm size that are so popular in our existing collection.
Davran has added the heart to compliment the four heart lockets we already produce; it was very well received at the NEC this year. We shall be stocking all three in 9ct yellow and 18ct yellow, 9ct white and silver. We do not plan to add these to the six different lockets we already stock in 18ct white until later in the year.
If your locket sales were poor or non existent last year, could it be that you have few if any good quality lockets in stock? Perhaps you haven't thought of suggesting it as a gift, or haven't known where to get good old fashioned hand made lockets anymore? Well you know now, sell them a locket you can honestly say is beautiful, great quality and hand made in Birmingham!
We offer a service from January to October of sending a selection of lockets to you from stock within a few days, on invoice, which you may return for credit within 14 days (the postage is not credited)
Men’s jewellery is far from a mere marketing ploy. Statistics and heaps of anecdotal evidence prove this category is finally edging towards the mainstream.
David Beckham and bling-embracing rap artists may not be the ultimate arbiters of good taste, but the jewellery trade has a lot to thank them for. Fine jewellery for men is considered to be the fastest-growing sector in the industry, according to the Jewellery Information Centre, an American industry trade group.
Today, popular male jewellery is far from just the bling kind. The more outrageous styles worn by celebrities have filtered down and been distilled into ultra-wearable pieces that men are increasingly buying for everyday.
The latest figures from the Jewellery Council indicate that men’s jewellery sales in the US have risen from $4.5billion in 2003 to $4.9 billion in 2004. In 2004, men’s jewellery represented about 10% of the $48.3 billion in fine jewellery sales in the US, according to Ledbury Research, experts on luxury brands. The industry has only recently started to track sales since the category barely existed till now.
Early this year, trend news service WGSN (Worth Global Style Network), identified “glamorous, high quality men’s jewellery” as a key trend emerging from International Jewellery Tokyo, a show attended by a record-breaking 38,000 buyers. A significant number of new male jewellery brands included Atout Uomo and its premium line Duca from Kawayama, comprising stylish rings, bracelets, necklaces and cufflinks using platinum, black diamonds and skull and cross motifs.
Many brands are extending their ranges from just watches and cufflinks to bracelets, rings, pendants and dog tags.
“Thanks to the Beckham and bling effect, we introduced earrings for men to our collection a couple of years ago, although the classical pieces such as dog tags are still our best sellers,” says a spokesperson for Hot Diamonds.
Global luxury brand, Montblanc, has recently expanded its range of men’s jewellery and introduced tantalum, a metal as rare as gold, twice as heavy as steel and a gleaming blue-grey in colour. Montblanc’s tags and cuff links combine tantalum with stainless steel. Cufflinks remain one of Montblanc’s biggest sellers.
Elsewhere, the off-beat American brother-sister design duo behind Bing Bang introduced their first hand-hewn line of jewellery just for guys late last year, influenced by the rough and tumble 19th century Gangs of New York era. Bing Bang’s hand-pounded and finished jewellery is rugged and refined all at once.
Waldmann KG, distributed by Tregawne in the UK, have also just brought out a cufflink and pen set and plan to up their choice of cufflinks in the near future. “We had a very positive response for this at Spring Fair. They make a perfect best man or usher’s gift,” suggests a Tregawne spokesperson. Perfection jewellery reports mounting interest in its growing selection of men’s jewellery, especially pieces incorporating diamonds such as diamond stud earrings.
Chunky, weighty jewellery found at Pruden & Smith in East Sussex lends itself well to the male market. Platinum and diamond rings are currently generating the most interest and being situated near Brighton, the UK’s gay capital, isn’t harming business either.
Meanwhile JW Man, a new men’s range combines carbon fibre, silver with rubber, steel with onyx and sterling silver pieces. The collection also includes stainless steel jewellery with diamonds.
Boosted by the advent of civil partnership ceremonies, much male jewellery is designed to attract the style-conscious gay market. But it’s clear not all of it is designed with this audience in mind. Ledbury Research claim most jewellers now agree that men wearing jewellery is a generational trend, with the older generation generally favouring just a watch and wedding band.
“The ultra rich have already purchased all the cars of their dreams and are looking for an alternative way to spend their money on high end luxury customised items,” says Haig Avakian, of Sloane Street jewellers Avakian. “Rap stars like 50 Cent have rendered men’s bracelets, chains and ear studs more fashionable. It will never be as popular as women’s jewellery, but it’s increasing sought after.”
In this vein, Jacobs Jewellery Design, currently celebrating its 50th year in the business, is moving along with the times. It regularly produces bespoke commissions for men, many of which reflect men’s hobbies and sporting interests.
At Bethsy Gray Jewellery in Glasgow, men’s jewellery is an integral part of the shop’s sales. “I trained as a goldsmith in Denmark, where men have long worn jewellery,” says Gray. “My style of plain, solid silver is quintessentially Danish and my male customers enjoy the no fuss, non-gimmicky handmade designs of cufflinks, bangles, pendants made of sterling silver and semi-precious and precious stones.” Gray admits kilt pins were also a sell-out at Christmas.
Rock hard jewellery designer, Johnny Rocket, goes so far as to say that women are buying men’s jewellery for themselves, pointing to his delicate swallow necklace with allusions to a tattoo and pieces incorporating skulls and roses. He’s not the only one. Multiple award winner, Hannah Martin, whose designs are available at Kabiri and who has also designed for the likes of Cartier, Givenchy and Tag Heuer, has now brought out “jewellery for men, that girlfriends will steal.”
Johnny Rocket, whose customers include Kylie Minogue, believes his fashion background lends him additional street cred with men, making it easier to sell jewellery to them.
But not all jewellers are buying into the concept of male jewellery. At the top end of the market, Boucheron chief executive, Jean-Christophe Bédos, blankly refuses to do so. “I think it’s a marketing gimmick and I’m not in favour of looking at this as an opportunity for growth. I feel strongly about this,” he says sincerely. “At Boucheron, we are in the business of creating beautiful objects. A lot of these are worn by men. But we don’t define who we are designing for. I see this trend as a manifestation of the maturity of the market, where men are comfortable enough to choose for themselves.”
Niagara Falls Castings (UK) Ltd for everyone By Gordon Hamme
Niagara Falls Castings have made significant investments in machinery, technology, people and training to offer a full design and prototyping service to their customers.
J-dex spoke to Philip Roberts, the managing director, about his aims for the company.
“We realised some time ago that we needed to offer more than just a very high quality casting service to our customers. For many years we did anticipate our customer needs by employing in-house master makers to make fairly standard jewellery patterns such as collets and shanks but we realised that we could offer an even better bespoke service using CAD-CAM technology. We now have the ability to work from and interpret customer designs from a range of different sources. The joy of CAD-CAM is its flexibility. Once the design is in the system we can manipulate ring sizes, stone sizes and widths with great ease.”
Once Philip had brought in all the equipment and taught himself how to use it he decided to bring in a dedicated designer-maker, Andrea Thorpe, to support the new department. Andrea originally heard about NFC through her college, the UCE in Birmingham, where she was studying jewellery and silversmithing. Andrea became interested in CAD-CAM after a two week course at Delcam and discovered that NFC had the same software when she had her final project for college cast at NFC following a recommendation from a local jeweller.
In 2004 she won a competition to have her jewellery, the silver and diamond White Fire Collection, sold in a small number of Goldsmiths Jewellers stores, which has now grown to 170 stores throughout the UK.
A further prize for her work was forthcoming from Delcam which was sponsored by the BJA. I asked about the advantages of the system at NFC. Andrea explained: “We can produce a very high quality model in a short space of time. The design can be sent to us via e-mail either as a drawing (from which we can create a 3D model) or as a model created in the customer’s own CAD system. Once downloaded we can view the model and in consultation with the customer make any necessary changes before proceeding make the physical model. It’s a great way of visualizing the product.”
Once the design is agreed the machining files that control the milling machine are created. This takes about 10-15 minutes. The milling machine uses four axes and can be fitted with a number of different attachments giving great flexibility. Depending on the level of detail the milling can take anything from 20 minutes to several hours. The wax can be sent to the customer for approval or sprued ready for casting. The wax master can either be cast directly into the required metal (for one-off jobs) or into silver to create a master model for volume orders. Two of the great advantages of this process are the absence of obvious toolmarks on the wax and a very clean burn-out that dramatically reduces finishing time.
Andrea is working on her next collection called ‘Protea’ based on the South African national flower and of course all the development work is being done on CAD-CAM.
John McKellar
Hereford based jeweller John McKellar is very advanced in his use of CAD-CAM services to support his busy bespoke and commission retail business. “We have been using CAD-CAM for 3-4 years and are still learning. It has been a big learning curve as CAD software is complex, but we are very pleased with the program that we are using, which is 3Design Jewel from Vision Numeric,” John explained.
John has used a number of computer design bureau services but has settled with Niagara Falls Castings for a number of reasons. “It’s a complete package with NFC which we find a big advantage. They offer options of CNC milling or rapid prototyping combined with a high quality casting service, and it’s a big help not to have to send waxes from a bureau to the caster. It really is a one-stop solution with NFC , we can send our designed computer files by e-mail and then get NFC to build and immediately cast the wax prototype.” John added, “Philip has developed the system at NFC and is very helpful. He is very free with his advice.”
At his retail premises John is able to show his clients a virtual model of the commission on a computer screen. “It is a much better presentation than a 2D rendering. 3D is a big plus. We can change stone colours and sizes in front of the customer – it is a selling tool. It really has won sales for us.” Having created the model on screen John explained that the bulk of the production process is then complete with the advantage of no physical materials commitment. The weight of metal is calculated by the program, which helps in producing accurate costings.
“We have had to learn a different set of production parameters, but that is just part of the learning curve,” he commented. He continued, “Accuracy has been a huge advantage to us especially for eternity rings. We can build the computer model to the exact sizes of the stones we have.”
John has taken advantage of the design capabilities of the software system. He gives the example of a recent commission: “We needed to make a pendant similar to the Caduceus (medical emblem) spiral rather like a DNA double helix spiral, which was made possible through this design system. The customer was delighted with the finished piece.”
We finally covered the issue of costs. “We save money about 90% of the time by using CAD-CAM, but there are still some pieces that are better produced using more traditional methods.
Ruby Crush Rock n Roll Jewellery.
Julian Lamb is establishing himself as wax carver of great skill. In 1982 Julian began producing figurative sculpture for the highly acclaimed Poste Militaire, a military figurines company, where his modelling skills were finely honed. It was during this period in 1996, he became internationally recognised for his considerable talent and was awarded for his breathtakingly beautiful North American Indian series.
In 2001 he was commissioned by Asprey to make several pieces to celebrate the Queens Golden Jubilee, all of which now occupy space in Buckingham Palace.
Then in 2004 Julian was invited to join leading contemporary artists the Chapman brothers in their latest creative exploits, where once again his uncompromising attention to detail and talent were put to great use.
With a model taking up to three months of intensive carving Julian has to trust his caster implicitly to get it right the first time. Julian commented, “I throw all sorts of problems at Niagara Falls Castings. I’ve been working with them now for a few years and the castings are spot on every time. Some of my master patterns really are very intricate and difficult to cast.” It can be particularly nerve wracking for a one-off carver like Julian who can lose months of work through a mistake made at the casting stage.
Most recently Julian has come to the attention of an American audience via an internet blog site ‘The Moronosphere’ who review a wide range of subjects including skull rings which are a speciality of Julian’s. “We’ve received a number of enquiries and orders for jewellery through this site, also myspace.com is proving to be a useful vehicle for Ruby Crush right now”
To complete the rock n roll image Julian can be found blasting through the countryside on a big V twin Harley. “Just to blow away the cobwebs "
The highlight for fine jewellers at January’s Top Drawer trade show was Collections – a snapshot preview of a design-led jewellery exhibition planned for Top Drawer 2008. Will this make Top Drawer more relevant to fine jewellers?
Walking into Top Drawer this January, my overall sense was one of feeling rather lost. Amongst a sea of gifts and sparkly things, much of which was admittedly attractive fashion–driven beaded jewellery, the search for higher value contemporary designer jewellery was a difficult one.
Many jewellery exhibitors I spoke to are now pinning their hopes on next year’s Collections, seeing it as a sign of a classier, more upmarket presentation of quality jewellery in the context of a trade fair. Personally, I’m just hoping there will be some signs to tell me where to go.
“The jewellery at Top Drawer was more or less in one area, but I feel we might have missed something. The layout at the NEC for Spring Fair is clearer,” says Lynn Swift, the owner of Rococo, a Marlow-based fashion jewellery and gift boutique.
That notwithstanding, buyers who came to Top Drawer searching for fashion jewellery clearly had plenty to choose from. “We always go to Top Drawer and end up picking up a couple of new suppliers. We wouldn’t miss it,” says Swift, who stocks Hot Diamonds alongside German designer Coeur de Lion, British award-winning designer Babette Wasserman and ornate silver and gold semi precious pieces by Israeli designer Ben Or.
When you go to a trade show and exhibitors are saying they view their attendance as more about promotion than about selling, you know something is up. “We mainly meet the independent gift stores at this show. We would however like to see more buyers from the multiple retailers and department stores,” said Babette Wasserman, who has been showing at Top Drawer for seven years, where she has found her entry price point Glitter and Dragon ranges have proved popular. Wasserman, well-known for higher end semi-precious fashion cufflinks and jewellery found in Harrods and Selfridges, says her most important shows of the year remain IJL and Pitti Uomo in Florence.
As for Collections - the preview to a buying event due to take place alongside Top Drawer Spring in January 2008 – exhibitor reviews showed promise. Sixteen designers had been enticed to enjoy free exhibition space at this year’s show in a brightly lit dedicated area with black carpet and specially designed showcases. All this stood in stark contrast to its surroundings – almost like an oasis of glamour in the midst of the blur of a trade fair. Collections was very elegantly asking to be taken very seriously.
In some ways, Collections succeeded in accentuating the fact that Top Drawer in its current format and with its current visitor profile, simply isn’t the right environment for fine jewellery. “People like my designs but they are taken aback by the prices,” said award winning jeweller Sarah Jordan, while staffing her Collections booth. “It’s more a taste of what’s coming next year when we’ll see higher end jewellery running alongside Top Drawer,” she added.
Meanwhile, Marianne Anderson’s thoroughly refreshing, individualistic designs incorporating pierced silhouettes of oxidised silver and pearls seemed almost out of place. “I haven’t really seen the kind of buyers I’m after,” said Anderson, whose jewellery can be found in Notting Hill’s jewellery gallery, Flow, and at Contemporary Applied Arts in London’s West End.
According to the press information, it is envisaged that at Collections next year, buyers will come from the leading department stores, key independents, mail order, internet and multiple retailers. “Collections will showcase an array of the very latest in bespoke design, fine, platinum, gold, silver and costume jewellery, loose diamonds, watches, loose gems, as well as jewellery services and products to include display and packaging,” says Collections show director, Anna Wales.
“The decision to run Collections alongside Top Drawer Spring is a recognition of the blurring boundaries within the retail environment. It will offer both buyers and exhibitors access to the expanding, shared landscape,” says Andy Baxter, director of Clarion Retail, producers of the event.
There is strong evidence to suggest that Collections has genuine potential to fill a gap in the market – even if it does go head to head with the designer pavilion at IJL. Johnny Rocket, whose jewellery can be found at Selfridges, Liberty and Harrods as well as European and American stockists was at Collections this year. He regularly attends IJL, but says he is only interested in its designer pavilion.
“Collections will serve the growing retail market for jewellery in the UK and provide a platform for national and international buyers to source the best jewellery design,” claims show director, Anna Wales.
Paul Spurgeon, who has 50 retailers across the UK and who was invited to exhibit at Collections this year, is confident that Collections is the way to go.
“I’m right behind the Collections concept. The industry is ready for a show with fresh vision, one which understands the benefits of showing fine jewellery to buyers the same way we present and display jewellery to the private individuals who ultimately buy it,” he says, acknowledging that the time is ripe for this kind of initiative and that the key is differentiation between the high and low end.
“Slick marketing is not just for customers who buy jewellery in a shop, the trade needs it too. We need to behave more like retailers,” says Spurgeon.
This all seems a rather natural progression in a marketplace where we are seeing a mainstreaming of luxury and premium goods and a blurring of categories. In recent years, semi precious stones have made their way comfortably into high end jewellery. Increased branding means that sometimes the distinction between fashion and fine jewellery is not even valid.
Consequently, it’s no surprise that jewellers positioning themselves at the higher end, many of whom specialize in producing one-off pieces, have a strong desire to differentiate themselves from mass marketed jewellery. All of which suggests that Collections is likely to be a foreshadow of better things.
Diamonds making a difference in Africa – for the good
By Anne-Marie Reeves
Anne-Marie Reeves is an independent marketing consultant to the diamond industry, formerly of Diamond Trading Company.
If you haven’t read or heard about the issue of Conflict Diamonds and the new ‘Blood Diamonds’ film staring Leonardo DiCaprio, shame on you! In brief, this film is set against the background of civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, focussing on the unpleasant and unacceptable side of the diamond industry as it was then, before the new industry controls were put into place.
Sensational headlines and scandal sells newspapers. An investigative journalist with a captivating headline finds a celebrity to comment, adds a mystery shopper to the scenario and there we are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. TV prides itself on ‘exposing’ the rogue trader, those who exploit their workforce or run a corrupt business, out to make a quick buck. We all watch with interest but are we prepared if the industry they decide to focus on is ours and the emphasis is on diamonds? This impacts on everyone involved in the diamond business, but by being prepared, it could be turned to our advantage.
Every owner, manager and member of staff working in the jewellery industry must be ready to answer any customer questions about the diamond pipeline, and this may happen outside the business environment too. By discussing the type of questions customers may ask, deciding on your response, rehearsing the key messages, the customer is reassured that diamonds are still the ultimate gift of love.
They need honest, simple answers to reassure them that the diamond industry cares. The messaging to use falls into two categories:
Firstly industry confidence, that you are able to reassure that you do not sell conflict diamonds, your suppliers have assured you that their diamonds are not sourced from areas of conflict and that the diamond industry has established the Kimberley Process to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds.
Secondly that diamonds actually make a difference. The diamond industry, directly and indirectly, employs 10 million people globally. As one of its major resources, diamonds are actually helping transform Africa and the lives of its people by providing jobs, building hospitals and roads as well as funding education.
There has been an enormous amount of work put into producing materials to give background information on the diamond industry and everyone, without exception, should look at www.diamondfacts.org. There has been extensive coverage on industry ethics so let’s focus on the positive side of how diamonds are making a difference.
As one of Africa’s major natural resources, diamonds are helping to transform southern Africa and the lives of its people in four key areas. Diamonds provide a significant economic contribution to the countries in which they are found; help to tackle the HIV pandemic in southern Africa; create education and skills opportunities and employment.
The diamond trade now contributes more than $8.4bn per year to Africa, accounting for 65% of the world’s diamond production. The key producing countries, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa have taken major steps to build a more prosperous future for themselves.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 10% of world population but over 25 million live with HIV/Aids. Through the funding of counselling, testing, education, treatment programmes, clinics and hospices, the industry is helping to tackle the problem. In addition, the construction of hospitals now ensures that over 5 million people have access to appropriate healthcare.
Education is the cornerstone to the future, critical to social and economic development. With significant investment in education and training at all levels, children can dream of a better future through sound educational opportunities.
More than 28,000 people in Southern Africa are employed by the diamond industry. Recent economic empowerment in South Africa is part of the transformation, encouraging the redistribution of wealth and opportunities to previously disadvantaged communities and individuals.
To briefly highlight the importance of diamonds to the major countries, diamonds were first discovered in Botswana in 1966 but now account for 76% of the export revenue, 45% of the Government revenue and 33% of GDP. The De Beers/Government of Botswana joint-venture, Debswana, invests over US$350,000 in corporate social development projects annually such as two major community projects, one an education initiative for children and secondly a community based natural resources management and heritage project.
To quote President Mogae of Botswana, “for our people, every diamond purchase represents food on the table; better living conditions; better healthcare; safe drinking water; more roads to connect our remote communities and much more ...”. Due to revenues generated by diamonds, every child in Botswana now receives free schooling to the age of 13. The diamond mining industry is the largest single employer.
Graff, through its sister company Safdico, recently unveiled its vision to build a diamond centre in Gaborone to be known as the Diamond Technology Park. This will position Botswana at the top of the diamond technology curve by housing the nascent Botswana diamond industry in a finite, secure, commercially viable state of the art environment. Safdico’s factory will be the first facility to be built followed by other world class diamond companies shortly after.
As for Namibia, diamond exports there account for 40% of the country’s revenue and the single largest employer after the government. A joint venture between De Beers and the Government of Namibia (Namdeb), invests approximately $300,000 in corporate social development projects annually. However, half of Namibia’s population live in marginalised rural communities.
The creation of sustainable income generating opportunities for rural women is of paramount importance to future prosperity, especially for the next generation, as women are responsible for the upbringing of the children. By owning and running small co-operatives, these women are transforming their dreams into reality, not only earning money, gaining a sense of independence, competence and confidence from their efforts, but shaping the future. It has been said, “Empower a woman, empower a country”.
South Africa employs 19,000 people in the diamond industry and is by far the largest diamond producer for southern Africa and has been one of the major industries in this country for decades. The outreach by the industry, and particularly De Beers, and continued investment has seen significant developments and transformation over the years.
To quote Nelson Mandela, “They say that no man is a island and certainly no business can afford to exist in isolation from the communities in which is lives and works”.
Over 160 individual projects are currently being funded by the industry, such as a field band, which is about so much more than just music. It provides budding young musicians from different cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds to develop life skills together, through mutual respect, teamwork, problem solving and living a healthier future.
From an environmental perspective linked to the mining industry, conservation and adherence to international best practice standards is paramount. The development of local community projects creates a society where people can help themselves to build a brighter future.
De Beers is a name synonymous with diamonds and South Africa, summed up by the vision of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer back in 1954 where he dedicated the company “to make a real and lasting contribution to the communities in the countries where they operate”. That vision has become reality and his dream and passion for diamonds has now been embraced by the wider diamond industry and has begun to become reality. Long may it continue.
Martin Rapaport, the American diamond pundit, reported in his weekly e-mail broadcast in late January. “U.S. trading markets slow with better demand for Indian goods. 80s, 90s hot and in short supply. Good demand for caraters with shortages in F+,VS1+ goods and oversizes. Large sizes (5 ct+) scarce and drawing speculation.”
J-dex spoke to David Gotlib of IceDiam in Antwerp. IceDiam are sightholders with ALROSA the giant Russian diamond miner.
November/ December 2006 were flush with goods and the market responded well with the Indian market in particular showing strong purchasing. Oversupply of certain sizes of goods in the middle market has been smoothed out by ALROSA through withdrawing those goods for a period of months. The market has become much more orderly in recent months with ALROSA matching supply closer to demand.
The volatility of the middle of the year has gone in Antwerp with a now stable market.
The only shortages are in the largest sizes of 4ct plus.
Clark Diamonds
We spoke to Mark Barrows, managing director of Clark Diamonds a leading UK diamond merchant based in Birmingham.
“The specialist niche players are busy with a trend towards better quality diamonds in all sizes. Mark commented: “In the UK the whole industry has changed direction because of manufacturing abroad. We have spread our wings to cover other, better, stock which designer jewellers, independent retailers and lower production companies will want. We’ve had to react to the changing market with good service on a selection of better quality, larger stones. In addition fancy shapes are more popular with princess cuts being the favourite fancy shape.”
Clark Diamonds purchases from a network of suppliers in the major cutting centres. “There is a shortage of bigger, finer diamonds which are in high demand and commanding high prices,” says Mark.
We spoke about his successful customers “These are the companies who are putting effort into raising their profile. They have to instil confidence in their product. As with us they keep abreast of the changing times and marketplace, doing what we all do really well.”
M.Vainer.
We spoke to Richard Vainer, managing director of M.Vainer Ltd the natural fancy coloured diamond specialist based in London.
Richard explained: “There is an imbalance in the market concerning buying replacement stock. A number of companies previously not in the natural fancy coloured diamonds market are now trading in these stones.
Over the last few years traders from other areas of the industry have scatter-gun bought, paying prices that are difficult to understand. There has been a big increase in prices for natural coloured fancy diamonds sometimes doubling in the last few years. People are holding stones and not selling on to the next level. There is a lot of buying without real knowledge of the market.”
Yves Frey Diamonds.
Yves Frey, a member of the London Diamond Bourse & Club, specialises in natural fancy colour diamonds.
We asked if Yves had a successful 2006.
“Due to increasing demand for natural fancy colours worldwide and our efforts to satisfy customer orders I cannot deny we had a good year.” he says.
Asked if demand had exceeded supply for natural coloured diamonds Yves said,
“Demand in the UK follows the global trend already existing in the United States and Far East for the customer who wants something different to the usual white diamond. This trend is even perceived here in the UK which is otherwise a very traditional market.” Yves continued, “The most popular colour is natural fancy yellow and natural fancy intense yellow which have been very popular in the last couple of years. It’s the same for the pinks due to the scarcity of the goods and the publicity around celebrities wearing them.”
Yves finished off by commenting, “Some jewellers, who are not aware of the scarcity of natural pink diamonds, still struggle in coming to terms with why these diamonds are so dear.”
And finally.......in Antwerp
Rapaport reported, ‘Antwerp Raid Hits 20 Firms, some Sightholders.’
Belgian authorities raided Antwerp’s diamond district, January 25, 2007, shutting the offices of some 20 diamond firms, some of which are reportedly Diamond Trading Company sightholders, names were not provided.
Witnesses claim the raid was a continuation of Belgium’s investigation of Monstrey Worldwide Services, a shipping and security firm targeted for investigation in October 2005. Police confiscated documents and escorted people away for interrogation.
Six firms were raided in December 2006 and in one case diamond dealer Nikhil Manilal, 46, suffered a heart attack during a raid at his home and subsequently died during the raid when police failed to call for medical attention.
In its 22nd Anniversary year at the Intergem gemstone exhibition, held in Idar Oberstein- Germany, Susan Sagherian the Swiss gemmologist and diamond expert, delivering her lecture on trends, gave credence to the influence of the World Football Championships, which brought signal colours into prominence.
Make it mysterious
A desire for mystery appeared in the trends leading to a passion for black gems in fashion. “Add colour and contrast, deep velvety purple, dark green, chocolate and midnight blue, this will complement black.’ suggested Susan. Celebrating the sartorial elegance of ‘the black gemstone’ referred to as the ‘mystery maid’ its influence promised to bring gemstone chic to the modern and elegant woman ‘Team it with smokey quartz, rose quartz, lemon quartz, sapphire or moonstone’ and ‘the mystery picture will be complete.”
Brighter tones
“Use the signal colour of red - in contrast to neutral dark basics- pink, brass yellow or other bright colours, outfits should be meticulously planned” said Susan “Add one stunning piece of jewellery, sporting a big bold amethyst, peridot, citrine, golden beryl or possibly coral’.
A third but enduring trend was sighted as gold or metal, enhanced by wearing contrasting dark backgrounds, adding drama and sparkle.
Susan’s experience told us that: “Jewellery would have to meet the challenge of fashions varying structures, shapes, dimension, finish and colour and while continuing in the same way with foil colours, light gemstones would take over from dark in the summer months”.
Shape
Shape dominated jewellery and gemstones at the show once again, large carved statement stones were displayed on fine wire in bold designs on finished jewellery, in both the main show and student sectors, in turn the artisans made their statements with carved brilliance, pottery, recycled paper, rubber and metal reminiscent of the unique styles seen at Intergem each year.
Lorenz Edelstein’s uniquely carved pendant or brooch illustrates the bold influence of carefully chosen natural stones for cutting. Echoing the market driven desire for individuality, this prominent piece ticks all the boxes for colour and form.
Thomas Stoffel award winning goldsmith and gemmologist, in his hidden diamond range shows crystal and gold, flashing the metallic elegance for chic and the understated colour for summer.
Changes for Intergem
In his welcome address, Jochen Muller, president of the Diamonds and Gemstones Bourse Idar Oberstein, predicted the opening of the new hall for Intergem would be launched with 150 exhibitors.
He said “The new hall would be referred to as ‘ The Intergem Forum’, and would be well worth the long wait that the trade had endured.” The new hall will be fitted with state of the art infrastructure.
www.intergem.de office@intergem.de
J-Dex asks Emagold president, John Coupland (JC), what it’s all about.
In recent years Trade Show visitors will have become used to seeing a group of well know suppliers unified under the name of Emagold UK. The organisation has been in existence since the early 90’s but voices have been heard in the past criticising a lack of presence. Is this part of an increased marketing effort? J-Dex asks John Coupland, “What’s the point?”
J-Dex: What is Emagold and why is it there?
JC: It was first started by the World Gold Council in Italy with the aim of promoting a universal mark for high carat gold in a country without a hallmarking system. It subsequently expanded into several other countries. A group of committed suppliers here in the UK felt that working together to raise the profile of 18ct gold and the trade had to be a good thing so they formed Emagold UK. The objectives were somewhat different as we had hallmarking. Most of the original founders are still in the organisation.
J-Dex: Is Emagold still operating in the same way?
JC: No, it has changed a great deal and in the UK we chose to have a joint presence at the Trade Fairs to show who we are. Now the UK sector is the strongest and largest there is, while the Italian branch has shrunk dramatically.
J-Dex: So has being at Trade Fairs on a joint pavilion made a difference?
JC: Yes, but not on its own. Rather it gives the customers one port of call to see quality suppliers working together to promote high standards.
J-Dex: Are customers interested in what is important to you?
JC: Well we believe in the move to higher carat gold, high ethical standards, honesty, good service and quality production from well known suppliers and customers know they can get this from Emagold members. We believe these things are important in today’s marketplace.
J-Dex: So are you saying that the increase in 18ct sales is all down to Emagold?
JC: No, some of this was going to happen as the customers have moved up market but it is a fact that we have been preaching the same message for over 15 years!
J-Dex: So what kind of influence has Emagold UK been on the industry and its members?
JC: We have run industry-wide campaigns to promote 18ct to consumers through PR while also working with organisations like the National Association of Goldsmiths. In addition we have recently gained four new members. If they thought there was no point, they would not want to join!
J-Dex: So in a nutshell, what is the point--- for the future?
JC: To continue to represent the professionals in the industry and so attract a limited number of new members. In addition to work more closely with the NAG and to invest to enable us to promote quality jewellery. By doing this, we will increase the business levels of our members who are some of the UK’s top jewellery professionals.
J-dex magazine 
