May 2008

GIA Museum to build ‘Historical Jewelry Collection’

GIA Museum to build ‘Historical jewels Collection’
May 08, 2008

GIA Museum to build ‘Historical Jewelry Collection’

Carlsbad, Calif.—The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Museum is launching a new campaign to build the “GIA Historical Collection,” an assemblage of jewelry, objets d’art and gemstones from altogether over the world and spanning every era.

According to GIA Museum Director Elise Misiorowski, the museum intends to originate a wide-ranging, world-class collection that captures the essence of each period in gem and jewelry history.

“Jewelry is like a time capsule,” Misiorowski said in a media release. “It can tell you about the economics, social structure and technology of the civilization it came from. Jewelry preserves this complaint in a very concentrated way. It’s like a Rosetta stone; if you know how to read it, you can interpret the socioeconomic climate of the period.”

To inspire and educate viewers, the museum will be launching a number of initiatives, including archiving any accompanying documents from donated items within the Cartier Rare Book Repository and Archives, part of the GIA Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center. In addition, the museum plans to use the Historical Collection for display in other venues on a regular basis, accompanied by lecturers and experts. Pieces from the collection will be showcased even further by way of podcasts and other educational outlets.

The GIA Museum currently has a number of prized pieces, including a late 18th-century diamond floral clasp and a corsage ornament featuring a paragon topaz and diamonds from 1905.

For more information about the GIA Historical Collection, contiguity Kimberly Vagner, project manager of in-kind donations, at (760) 603-4150 or kimberly.vagner@gia.edu.

Fantasy, legend focus of 13th HRD jewelry contest

Fantasy, legend focus of 13th HRD jewelry contest
May 08, 2008

Antwerp, Belgium—The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) is calling on designers to participate in the 13th edition of the HRD Awards, an international diamond-jewelry design competition that takes place every pair years.

The theme for this year’s rivalry is “Once upon a time…my favorite fairy narrative.” Designers will be invited to delve into the world of fantasy and legend, producing diamond-jewelry pieces that feature characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches and more.

The competition is open to professional and non-professional designers from all over the world, and the winning collection will be exhibited and promoted in Belgium and abroad during 2009-2010. one opening reception will take fortress on June 18, 2009, and in July and August, the collection will be prominently exhibited at the Diamond Museum Province of Antwerp. Following the collection’s stay in Belgium, it will be exhibited at the international jewelry fairs, as well as in museums and jewelry galleries.

All entries to the contest must be original designs that be under the necessity not previously been displayed or commercialized. The diamond aspect of the design and the interpretation of the theme are crucial, the AWDC says, and the jewelry item must contain at least 1 carat total scale of diamonds and a maximum of 25 carats total load down of diamonds.

An international jury will judge entries, and the winner will receive a prize of 5,000 euros (about $7,700). In addition, the AWDC will buy the winning item and give it on loan to the Diamond Museum Province of Antwerp for permanent display.

All applicants must submit an application, together with the drawing(s) of their design(s), photos or photos of models before Oct. 31, 2008. Contestants can submit as many diverging designs as they want, but they cannot enter finished jewels. Only those applicants selected by the jury will be required to create and send actual diamond-jewelry pieces. Those pieces must be submitted before March 31, 2009.

For more information, contact Jennie Baeten at jb@awdc.be or Gaelle Schmid at gs@awdc.be. You can also visit the AWDC Web site, Awdc.be, and the HRD Awards Web site, Hrdawards.com.

Is memo such a good idea?

Is memo such a good idea?
May 08, 2008
_{New reporting platform stirs up mixed opinions}

The JBT developed the Memo Reporting Platform, shown above, at the request of the DMIA after a number of diamond dealers lost millions in wares given out on memo.

By Michelle Graff

New York—Mention the word “memo” to anyone in the jewelry industry and it’s sure to evoke a strong reaction, but you never quite know what it will be.

Some retail jewelers view the memo system as a legitimate way to do business, and the only way they can stock their display cases without going broke. considered in the state of Jerry Gause of Florida-based Gause and Son Jewelers puts it, “It takes a lot of money to stock a jewelry store. It’s not the fastest-moving inventory in the world either.”

Conversely, suppliers that send out goods on memo often grasp their breath, hoping that they’ll be paid, or have the unsold goods returned to them.

But the exchange of goods without ceasing memorandum is the way the jewelry industry works, and suppliers who refuse to offer memo might find themselves with fewer customers.

Though a vital component of the industry, memo is not without its problems, especially when wide chain retailers go bankrupt, making it difficult to recoup either the money or the merchandise.

In an effort to tackle at in the smallest degree more of the problems by the memo system, the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) will launch a Memo Reporting Platform for the diamond industry in the second half of 2008. JBT President Dione Kenyon says the platform will allow suppliers to see how much brilliant jewelry and loose diamonds a company has out on memo and from how many suppliers.

The Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America requested the system after a order of “bust-outs” in the industry—schemes in which diamond companies got taken for millions.

One example was the 2006 case of A. Taub Diamond Co. After establishing trust among key industry players in New York, its owners gathered small amounts of diamonds on memo from a number of suppliers then vanished with $3.3 million in stones. If suppliers had known A. Taub was collecting stones from so many manifold sources, a red flag might have been raised.

Kenyon says the reach of the Memo Reporting Platform—which could eventually be expanded to colored-gemstone and precious-metal jewelry—will depend on industry interest. For it to work, companies that extend memo will have to report it regularly.

Industry analyst Ben Janowski says while a memo platform is worthwhile, acquirement typically reticent form of productive effort members to share financial information could be tough.

He also points out that many memo programs do run successfully. The abuse in memo, he says, lies in the fact that retailers and suppliers don’t always do it right.

Retailers, at times, do not properly track goods on memo, and suppliers are frequently too accepting of what a retailer tells them without understanding that retailer’s background.

“I think memo is a sales tool,” Janowski says. “In the right hands, it has great effect. In the wrong hands, it’s disaster.”

Benefits for small retailers From the perspective of the small independent retailer, memo is simply the way business runs.

Mike Miller of M.J. Miller and Co. in Barrington, Ill., calls the proposed Memo Reporting Platform “preposterous,” and points out that memo agreements vary widely. He loans out merchandise that he makes in-house to other jewelers on memo terms that range from one day to months, and he also receives goods from suppliers on memo.

When he’s shopping for a large stone for a client, Miller might call six different dealers and take $100,000 worth of stones from each to offer a selection.

“If that’s going to throw someone [off], then it’s going to affect my business and theirs,” he says.

Miller says 95 percent of jewelers who do business on memo do so honestly.

Gause, who operates pair stores in Ocala, Fla., and one in Gainesville, Fla., agrees. And though Gause understands the impetus behind the platform, he says its implementation would not ensure participation or honesty.

“It doesn’t mean everyone will report as agreed,” he says. “With the honest people, it will [make a difference]. With the ones who aren’t, no.”

Miller says it’s large-chain bankruptcies—like that of Friedman’s or Fortunoff—that create problems in the memo system and make it harder on smaller retailers.

“It’s the big guys that hurt everybody,” he says. “These big corporations need to be held accountable.”

Both Miller and Gause pronounce that suppliers need to do more background work before extending merit.

“Sometimes, greed overtakes good brain work,” Gause says. “The jewelry business is not immune to that, that’s for stable.”

Suppliers want change Kenyon agrees that bankruptcy situations raise questions about the memo system, particularly now, when Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filings by jewelers have mounted to include Boston-based Alpha Omega Jewelers, Fortunoff and Friedman’s. She says the fallout from the weak holiday season and first quarter is not over.

In cases like these, many suppliers are left out in the cold after the bank and secured creditors get paid.

“It’s obliging of like musical chairs,” Kenyon says of unsecured creditors. “Somehow, in that place’s always a chair missing when the music stops.”

She says there is currently a groundswell of support among suppliers to change the memo system.

Though many smaller independent retailers use memo in good faith, Kenyon says these large-scale bankruptcy cases involving memo can hurt independent retail jewelers in the long run because it could mean fewer suppliers and less-flexible terms.

From the JBT’s perspective, suppliers could lop the problems with memo if they were more disciplined about giving goods out that way.

One possible solution, Kenyon says, is for suppliers to offer a better deal to retailers who pay cash outright, instead of taking the goods without interruption memo.

Gause, however, doesn’t think this will happen.

Instead of changing the way they do business on memo, he says, suppliers need to start helping retailers market and sell diamonds. If the goods are moving out of the display cases, they won’t have to worry about having stones out on memo, Gause says.

—E-mail: michelle.graff@nationaljeweler.com

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the May 1 2008 edition of National Jeweler.

Brilliant Stars, Canyon Ranch Spa join at JCK

Brilliant Stars, Canyon Ranch Spa join at JCK
May 08, 2008

Manhasset, N.Y.—Jewelry designer Brilliant Stars and the Canyon Ranch Spa in Las Vegas have entered into a co-promotional agreement, which will launch at the upcoming JCK show.

Under the agreement, all retailers who make a Brilliant Stars’ purchase at the show will equip conducive to a complimentary spa treatment. In addition, all purchasers will be automatically entered into a etc. for two possible grand prizes, each consisting of a remarkably highly finished spa treatment.

“We are delighted to be able to market our two brands together,” Brilliant Stars President Rodney Rahmani said in a media release. “Brilliant Stars has always been synonymous with high-end luxurious trinkets, and what higher luxury is there than pampering one’s self at a world-renowned spa. Both companies are all about luxury and quality.”

For more information, contact (516) 365-9000, info@brilliantstars.co, or visit Brilliant Stars’ Web site, Brilliantstars.com.