Modern Jewelry Trends

As Rob Bates so eloquently said on the topic, not buying diamonds from Sierra Leone and other countries where alluvial diggers toil in unspeakable poverty, would be “the equivalent of finding a person in intensive care and then attacking them with a baseball bat.” Of course, as we all know, “to not buy would be worse” is hardly a solution: the problem remains and the Kimberley Process, focused on regulation, doesn’t address any of the deeper systemic economic issues. The Diamond Development Initiative, formed by Partnership Africa Canada, the Foundation for Environmental Sustainability and Security, De Beers, the Rapaport Group, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, and the Communities and Small-Scale Mining Secretariat of the World Bank, is working to improve the lives of small scale miners in the diamond industry. Now a new initiative, The Madison Dialogue, is trying to widen the focus to sustainable and responsible economic development in general, “promoting communication and collaboration among companies, civil society groups and others seeking verified sources of responsible gold, diamonds and other minerals.” (Including The Association for Responsible Mining, Ethical Metalsmiths, Earthworks, and Conservation International.) The Madison Dialogue just launched a website with a report on the DDI. Although the proliferation of jewelry groups and initiatives focused on these issues, (Don’t forget WDC, CIBJO and CRJP and, in the US, JA and JVC) can seem a bit bureaucratic at times, it’s wonderful to see so many in the trade working to build a better, more equitable industry for all.

Last year, MacDaddy’s, a collection of gold fishing lures and flies, began a campaign to promote their brand of precious flies and lures that can be worn, hung on a wall or actually used. To attract media coverage, the company came up with some pretty irresistible bait: the Million-Dollar Lure, a fishing lure created from three pounds of 14k and 18k gold and platinum and encrusted with 100 carats of diamonds and rubies. The lure was manufactured by high-end jeweler Uneek. Then to make the story of the Million Dollar Lure even more tempting, the company got the governor of Baha, California to actually use the lure at the world’s largest marlin fishing tournament, the 26th Annual Bisbee’s Black and Blue Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. CNN, ESPN, Rocky Mountain Television, National Geographic, and Mexico’s Televisa network filmed the event and ESPN also did a feature segment on the lure for Wanna Go Fishing in April. The lure received lots of mentions in holiday gift guides, including Maxim and Forbes Life. The Million Dollar Lure is now available for retailer trunk shows and events. For fundraisers, the company offers charities the chance to auction off the lure, with 5 percent, or $50,000, to be donated to the charity. So far the lure hasn’t sold. But the idea has been so successful that MacDaddy’s intends to create a second Million Dollar Lure. When the second lure is auctioned, the company will donate $75,000, and the third $100,000. The company hopes to keep donating $100,000 a year, and reaping the rewards in publicity, for years to come.

As any gemologist knows, gemstones stimulate both the right and left brain. Their beauty may inspire poetry but they also serve as evidence of the patterns and structures to be discovered in the natural world. Bill Atkinson knows something about the intersection of art and science: at Apple Computer, he designed much of the initial Macintosh user interface and wrote the original QuickDraw, MacPaint, and HyperCard software. Today, he is a full-time nature photographer. His new book, Within the Stone, pairs 72 stunning images of ornamental gemstones with poetry and essays inspired by each mineral landscape. The contributors, who treat the intricate patterns in each stone as Rorschach blots, are a talented group of overachievers themselves: Diane Ackerman, poet and psychologist; Philip Ball, Nature editor and dramatist; John Horgan, science writer and philosopher; Andrew Revkin, New York Times reporter and screenwriter; Dorion Sagan, science writer and novelist; Tyler Volk, NASA biologist and architect; and David Zindell, science fiction novelist and mathematician. And the book has its own science to match the artistry of the photos: in an appendix, mineralogy experts Si & Ann Frazier and Robert Hutchinson provide mineral commentary for each specimen.

Although Ventura is known for mechanical chronometers in hardened titanium, the watch brand also has always included high-end digital watches, including the 1990 “watch” by Danish designer Flemming Bo Hansen which is in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2000, Ventura introduced the world’s first self-winding digital watch, SPARC, still the only of its kind. Ventura’s v-tec line of digitals features contemporary design and a unique operating system: instead of pushbuttons it uses a single cylindrical wheel-barrel, for scrolling through multiple functions just like on an iPod. Two new v–tec styles will be launched at the Basel fair this April: Kappa and Zeta. Kappa is a rectangular design by Swiss architect and designer Hannes Wettstein. The v-tec Kappa, shown below, is titanium which has been exposed to high pressure and heat under vacuum before being cooled by liquid nitrogenand covered with a layer of liquid glass coating to resist fingerprints and protect from scratches. If that’s not high-tech enough for you, there is a special matte-black ion-coated Kappa with an even harder surface. Kappa will be available in early summer starting at around $2,000. For high-tec women, the new v-tec Zeta is a smaller unisex version of the Sigma men’s watch, designed by Paolo Fancelli, who also designed the Sigma and the SPARC rx. The Zeta will be available in early summer starting at $ 1,600.

A new World Gold Council consumer advertising campaign that launches in May will use an iconic gold bar to connect gold’s symbolic meaning with its contemporary appeal. Each ad features a gold bar engraved with a message conveying the precious metal’s role in the culture: like “Only Gold is Divine” or “Only Gold Signifies True Power.” The ads target the self-purchasing woman with an emotional rationale for buying gold and feature high-end designer pieces from Temple St. Clair, Gurhan, and SeidenGang.

“These ads are about the history and culture of gold meeting the contemporary usage of gold,” explains Michael Pace, WGC Vice President, Marketing USA. “It also touches on the investment rationale that is going on in peoples’ minds, especially when the price of gold is strong like it is today.” The campaign will initially appear in 17 leading fashion and lifestyle publications in May and June 2007, including Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Real Simple, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W and will continue in the fourth quarter with additional executions and partners.

Abondance, a new jewelry collection by Faberge that will be launched at this year’s Basel fair, piles on gemstones in a profusion of different cuts, sizes, and colors set at different heights and accented with yellow and white gold discs and complex, guilloche enamel circles in pastel green adorned with stars. It’s delightfully too much.

The 2007 Baselworld watch and jewelry fair in Basel, Switzerland is scheduled for April 12-19, 2007. In the next few weeks we will bring you a preview of the abundance of new products that will be launched in Basel this year.

CIBJO, the World Jewelry Confederation, has written the book on jewelry retailing. The Retailer’s Guide to Marketing Diamond Jewellery is available for free download at www.cibjo.org. The 99-page guide, which is in a pdf format, has a lot of good basic information on evaluating and improving your retail jewelry business. There are some handy forms and worksheets on everything from how to have a friend mystery shop your store to evaluating ad media.

Sections include: Your Business, including strategic planning and using SWOT analysis; Your Customer, including motivation and a template for a customer database questionnaire; Staff Training, with a mystery shopping questionnaire; Branding, which includes seven reasons why it’s a good idea; Merchandising, including a guide to window display that recommends devoting 10 percent of your promotional budget to your windows; Public Relations and Events, including a template for writing a press release; and Advertising and Promotion, including a guide to working with an agency. In addition to business tool formats, the guide also includes case studies of retailers in the United Kingdom in many of the sections. Although all the examples and some of the recommendations are tailored to the U.K., there are plenty of tips that are helpful for U.S. retailers as well. The section on customers is based on De Beers research on customer motivations and how male and female customers have different needs and different expectations. It discusses the power of the “diamond moment” and tips for insuring that your customers achieve it. And, hey, the price is right.

One of the first things you learn as a jewelry journalist is that grading documents that you get from a lab are called “reports,” not “certificates.” That’s because the results they give are opinion and not guaranteed beyond that. But now one lab, Gem Certification & Assurance Lab, actually does issue diamond certificates backed by a guarantee of accuracy. Until now, the lab has given itself one-grade wiggle-room in that guarantee. Yesterday, they tightened that to guarantee the specific quality and weight of the diamond described in the certificate. Of course, GCAL itself judges whether the grade is in fact correct (and, thanks to the Gemprint they take of each diamond they grade they can recognize each gem that is resubmitted for grading again.) You can’t submit a GIA report with a different grade and expect them to pay up. But GCAL’s parent company, Collectors Universe, has already paid consumers $391,000 under similar guarantees in its other divisions, like coins and stamps. Here’s how the new GCAL guarantee works: if you believe your GCAL-certified diamond does not meet the carat weight or quality grades stated within two years of the date on the certificate, submit your diamond for review. If GCAL determines that either the weight or quality grade is lower than the weight or quality grade originally assigned on the applicable certificate, or the diamond is not authentic, GCAL will either reimburse you for the difference between the current retail value of your diamond at the original grade or weight and the current retail value of your diamond at the newly established grade or weight or replace your diamond with an authentic, natural diamond of weight and quality grade as stated in the original certificate. Even without considering grading disputes, the guarantee will probably attract customers who worry about undisclosed treatment or synthetics.

GoldVish, the luxury phone company that is affiliated with sightholder Dianish, will exhibit in Basel this year, displaying a million-euro diamond encrusted phone that is the ultimate in over-the-top functional luxury. The diamond-encrusted TV and the diamond iPod headphones are just publicity stunts in comparison, as GoldVish’s business model actually seems to be working (although the million-euro phone is definitely aimed at the large press contingent in Basel.) “GoldVish is ready to expand, market, and distribute the most exclusive cell phone brand on a global scale,” says Michel Morren, company founder. “There is no better location to take this important step than at Baselworld, the world’s leading show for the watch and jewelry industry.”

Natalie Padveen, owner and lead designer of Mystic Fe Designs, got the inspiration for her new line of jewelry during a trip to Iceland where she discovered the ancient powers of Nordic runes, the pictorial alphabetic script that came into use in Europe around 500 B.C. “Rune” is derived from the word “runa,” meaning “secret” or “mystery.” For centuries, Norse people have these magical symbols for good fortune. They are also kind of cool looking, which doesn’t hurt either. Padveen’s new jewelry collection is focused on five runes: Peace, Love, Good Health, Good Luck, and Protection. She uses the five runes in a sterling silver collection of dog tags for men and women and a 14k gold and diamond collection of cuff bracelets, rings and pendants. Retail pricepoints range from $325 for a sterling silver dog tag to $2465 for a diamond pave symbol on a gold plate. If these runes really do have powers, Mystic Fe is destined to succeed: it’s named “Fe,” the Icelandic name for the Fehu rune which is said to provide success, advancement in career, wealth and prosperity.