The end of May into the beginning of June marks U.S. Market week for the fine jewelry and watch industry each year. Thousands of vendors and thousands more retailers, buyers, media and industry big wigs descend upon Las Vegas and what happens there not only doesn’t stay there, but effects the businesses of many for the entire year and beyond. Obviously, this year everyone was nervous heading into Vegas ’09. Will people be buying luxury jewelry with news of economic strife in the industry? While it’s nearly impossible to get hard and fast statistics from this antiquated industry, the word on the street was; Centurion was dismal, JANY Winter was a bust, and the new InStore show was only good for a handful of big box manufacturers. So we arrived with fingers crossed and breaths held, hoping for the best.
The final word? Not bad….not bad at all!
The final word? Not bad….not bad at all!
Of course, traffic was definitely down, but it was down a lot less than people expected. Beyond that, I think people were not only doing better than they expected, they were doing better than they’d ever hoped for!
One David Yurman worker bee said to someone on the elevator one morning, “I don’t mean it’s a good show in the sense that it’s better than we expected, I mean it’s a good show!” This sentiment seemed to prevail on both sides of the road, and at all different price points.
At the Luxury by JCK show one morning I was visiting with Phyllis Bergman outside her Mercury Ring Corp booth, and she pointed to the jam packed booth behind her, every table taken up by people writing orders, and, with a big grin on her face, she said “I’ve got nothing to complain about!” Now when Phyllis has nothing to complain about, you can believe there is nothing to be complained about!
Moving away from Phyllis’s “sweet spot” of extremely reasonably priced platinum pieces to the opposite end of the spectrum over at the Christian Tse booth, the anchor of the JCK Design Center, things were also looking good. Christian was showing some very "important" stones, you know, the kind of diamonds that range in the international phone number price point? He used, as always, his signature micro-pave to off-set these stones in some of the most amazing designs, like his octopus ring. It is only a designer of the caliber of Christian Tse that can take a stone valued at over $1Million and say "yeah, I can design with that!"
www.christiantse.com
www.christiantse.com
So why the financial upswing? Since I’m not an economic pundit and I hate when people who clearly aren’t pretend to be, I can only speak to what I know, and that’s the jewelry.
I can’t say there was any one, aesthetic trend that emerged. Sure, Black & White was hot, and one trade editor sited diamond encrusted keys as another trend, but I think the trends we saw were more related to the buying habits of today’s consumer rather than any type of aesthetic choice:
• In both the high end, as at Christian Tse and Gem Platinum one of a kind was big across the board. Seems some people want to make sure that nobody else in the world has what they have and bespoke and one-of-a-kind is a great way to do just that.
• In both the high end, as at Christian Tse and Gem Platinum one of a kind was big across the board. Seems some people want to make sure that nobody else in the world has what they have and bespoke and one-of-a-kind is a great way to do just that.
• In the "sentimental" department of jewelry with meaning, were Shambala Jewels, these really cool "prayer" beads made of platinum, gold, gemstones and precious metals and woven with silk cord (www.shambalajewels.com). Heather Moore's customizable globe pendants on a long chain hit the trend of both the long chain (which is still super hot) and the "bespoke" category. You can put tiny diamonds where either you've traveled or where you want to travel. http://www.heathermoorejewelry.com/
• Speaking of a higher meaning, the jewelry industry is finally getting on board with sustainable design, and it’s about time. Lori Bonn Designs was hitting two important trends, sustainable design, and jewelry with feeling. In addition to incorporating some really unique stones in very friendly pricempoints, like this polka dot agate stone from Montana or colorful drusies virtually kicked up in fields in India, she was also a big hit with her initial pendants incorporating her signature metal work. www.LoriBonn.com The extremely innovative and cutting-edge Bonn is going above and beyond simply putting “we’ve gone green” at the bottom of their corporate emails and have created initiatives to inspire the entire industry to consider the environmental and social impact of their creations. Stores across the country are scooping her up like hot cakes.
Über-fabulous, high-end watch company Wintour launched at the Wynn not only with strict, green manufacturing guidelines, but with a party invitation that included a reusable shopping bag and a guest list that included international royalty!
• Many high-end diamond jewelry companies have come up with much smaller versions of their big-ticket items; staying true to their core while also understanding the changing economic situations of their customer base.
• We’ve gone beyond the ONLY 18K or platinum trend into some designs in palladium, more available in 14k yellow or rose gold (even, shhh, some gold vermeil), sterling silver, and other treated metals. This is bringing costs down while keeping the same look. Platinum however, remains A#1 in bridal.
• We’ve gone beyond the ONLY 18K or platinum trend into some designs in palladium, more available in 14k yellow or rose gold (even, shhh, some gold vermeil), sterling silver, and other treated metals. This is bringing costs down while keeping the same look. Platinum however, remains A#1 in bridal.
Overall it was a lot less “bling” and more “feeling” put into each collection. People want to invest in what they love as they are going to keep it for a long time.
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