news review

Transcription

news review

MARCH 2011 / VOL. 02 ISSUE 03
www.professionaljeweller.com
NEWS , ANALYSIS AND TRENDS
TREND
D S FOR
F O R JEWELLERY
J E W E L L E R Y & WATCH
W AT C H PROFE SSIONAL S
BASEL
BEAUTIES
A preview of what to see
at BaselWorld from Brits
abroad to Far East brands
GOLDEN
TRENDS
Six new ways of working
with gold from filigree and
electroforming to gold plate
BEING HELD
RESPONSIBLE
NEWS
REVIEW
CHARLES
JENCKS
PRODUCTS
WIN A
STAND AT
TREASURE
As 120 businesses face certification
we investigate the RJC audit trail
HAPP
B I RT H Y
D
WE LO
O K B A AY
O
C
To celebrate the launch of Fairtrade gold
we bring you a very special ethical issue
UR F
K ON
C E L E B I RST Y E A R
&
R
L I T T L AT E W I T H
E HEL
A
P F RO
OU R F
M
RIEND
S
UK Sales Manager Judith Wade - T. +44 7834 490060 - www.tisento-milano.com - All Ti Sento Milano Jewellery is made of sterling silver - prices form £ 35,-
FRONT
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News Review
A round up of this month’s jewellery industry news.
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News in Quotes
Who said what in the jewellery world this month.
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Bench Fresh
We take a look at Central Saint Martin’s Xin Ran Lu.
Voice of the Industry
Alyssa Smith on the trials of launching a business.
8
16
3
Speakers’ Corner
Retailers and manufacturers give feedback on The
Jewellery Show.
ON THE COVER
12
Happy Birthday to Us!
Industry stars celebrate Professional Jeweller’s first birthday.
16
Good as Gold
We delve into the world of the new certification and
what it’ll mean for the industry.
28
Cosmic Speculation
Landscape architect Charles Jencks on how designing
jewellery for charity may have brought a new direction.
29
The Audit Trail
We investigate the Responsible Jewellery Council’s
auditing trail to separate fact from fiction.
44
Basel Preview
Who to see and what’s set for launch at the world’s
largest jewellery show.
50
Golden Trends
How the World Gold Company’s six gold trends for 2011
are translating into jewellery design.
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44
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50
REGULARS
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Showcase
Our monthly pick of the most breathtaking jewellery.
THIS MONTH’S COVER SHOOT
Photographer: Trevor Leighton
Model: Lisa Butcher
Model wears: Jewellery by Pippa Small
New Products
Th is month’s inspirational selection of fi ne and fashionable
jewellery designs.
www.professionaljeweller.com / MARCH 2011 / PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER
1
COMMENT
ITP PROMEDIA PUBLISHING
It is easy to dismiss ethical
campaigners as hapless hippies
who have no place in a competitive commercial market, but it is
not so easy to dismiss their latest triumph.
As many retailers focused on increasing sales over the Valentine’s
weekend, a small group of jewellers
and activists celebrated the longawaited arrival of the Fairtrade standard for gold.
But it wasn’t a group of sandalwearing tree huggers, it was big businesses and leading designers: Stephen
Webster, Weston Beamor, EC One and
Garrard, to name but a few.
A decade ago, Fairtrade coffee and
chocolate were curious novelties characterised by inflated prices compared
with mainstream groceries. Now,
Fairtrade products are often the fi rst
and only choice for many shoppers.
With this in mind, we’ve tailored this
edition of Professional Jeweller to all
16A Baldwins Gardens, London, EC1N 7RJ, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 31 764228
Fax: +44 (0) 20 31 764231
EDITORIAL
EDITOR Rachael Taylor, [email protected]
ASSISTANT EDITOR Kathryn Bishop,
[email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS Alyssa Smith, Andrew Seymour
COMMERCIAL
SALES MANAGER
Terri Woodhams, [email protected]
STUDIO
GROUP ART EDITOR Daniel Prescott,
[email protected]
DESIGNER Lucy McMurray
things ethical. With features on topics
such as recycled versus fair trade and
the Responsible Jewellery Council it
is a guide for those who are forwardthinking enough to take the rise of
ethical jewellery seriously, not as just
a quirky offshoot. Enjoy responsibly.
RACHAEL TAYLOR
EDITOR
[email protected]
DIGITAL
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Hitendra Molleti, [email protected]
ONLINE PRODUCTION Ernesto Ceralde,
Rose Yorobe, Bryan Silva
PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
DIRECTOR
Kyle Smith, [email protected]
DEPUTY PRODUCTION MANAGER
Matthew Grant, [email protected]
DATABASE MANAGEMENT Manju Sajeesh,
[email protected]
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE
+971 4 286 8559
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Alyssa Smith is
Andrew Seymour
an up-and-coming
was previously
Web: www.professionaljeweller.com
jewellery designer
group editor for
Printed by: The MANSON Group Limited
working with silver
Channel Middle
and gemstones. She
East, overseeing
aims to create beau-
technology and
tiful jewellery full of sparkles, and has
retail business-to-business publications
recently moved to a new studio. Alyssa
in Dubai. He has recently returned to the
tells us more in Voice of the Industry.
UK as editor of GiftwarePro magazine.
COMMENT OF THE MONTH
Deborah Miarkowska
on Emotions run high as
Fairtrade gold is launched
(edited)
“It was an exceptionally
emotional day, so powerful.
As comment of the month Deborah has won a pair of
silver hoops with colourful briolette-cut gemstones by
Kat Zahran, worth more than £100. To be in with a chance
of winning in April’s issue all you have to do is join the
community at professionaljeweller.com and make
your opinions known.
The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability
for error or omissions in this publication, however
caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers.
Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before
acting on information contained in this publication,
which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances.
The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part
of this publication or any part of the contents thereof
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form without the permission of the
publishers in writing. An exception is hereby granted
for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.
It truly felt like history in the
making which we can all join
and celebrate to bring an end
to such horrendous injustices
with such a precious metal.”
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PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER / MARCH 2011 / www.professionaljeweller.com
Published by and copyright 2011
Promedia Ltd, incorporated and
registered in the British Virgin Islands
under company number 1559854.
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
THIS MONTH IN THE JEWELLERY INDUSTRY
NEWS IN BRIEF
NEWS IN QUOTES
STUDENT FOCUS
VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY
SPEAKERS’ CORNER
PEOPLE MOVES
WEB HIGHLIGHTS
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PRE-PLANNED PROPOSALS, SILVER AND
CHARMS LEAD SPEND THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
V
alentine’s shoppers
in the UK were
estimated to spend
£1.6 billion on gifts
this year, according to a survey
by PayPal, and while most
retailers registered inflated or
at least level takings, the focus
this Valentine’s Day was very
much on lower-priced items
such as silver and charms, while
February 14 proposals provided
a pre-Valentine’s boost to
engagement ring sales.
Laings of Glasgow said that it
enjoyed “an excellent weekend”
with purchases sitting in the
£100 to £500 bracket. Managing
director Stuart Laing added:
“Fashion jewellery, silver mainly,
is a real gift item for Valentine’s
Day.”
Pawnbroking and jewellery retail chain H&T said its silver collections were also a Valentine’s
sales driver. H&T chief executive
John Nichols said: “The range of
new silver was the most popular,
with the most expensive piece
from the range the bestseller.”
Overall Nichols said that the
chain was “very pleased with re-
sults and we still have good likefor-like sales”. He added that the
company also enjoyed a betterthan-expected uplift on stone-set
cluster rings and eternity rings.
Online retailer Coloured Rocks
reported that its Valentine’s sales
were 5 percent above target but
said that ticket prices were lower.
London retailer Kabiri echoed
this. Co-owner Nathalie Kabiri
added: “Spending was up last
year which tallies up with some
cheaper price pointed brands
that we have recently got in.”
Willie Hamilton, chief execu-
tive of buying group Company
of Master Jewellers, said that its
retailer members had reported
strong sales of charms throughout February. He added: “The
giving of memories and romantic
appeal that bead and charm sales
are built on provided an easy and
meaningful Valentine’s gift.”
Northampton retailer Steffans
created pre-made charm bracelets for male Valentine’s shoppers
who were looking to buy charms
for their loved ones but feared
making a selection.
story continued on page 7
FOR MORE ON VALENTINE’S DAY 2011 AND DAILY BREAKING NEWS VISIT
3
FRONT / NEWS REVIEW
NEWS REVIEW
Rox reported a 25 percent
year-on-year uplift on online
sales over the festive period as its
shoppers turned to the web during tough weather conditions.
The Scottish jewellery and watch
retailer said that sales at its four
stores remained stable over the
festive period with figures on par
with Christmas 2010, however its
web orders raced ahead of 2010’s
online sales figures.
Member governments of the
Kimberley Process gave their
agreement to a document that
would allow for the recommencement of exports from approved
concessions in the Marange region of Zimbabwe. Before exports
resume, authorities in Zimbabwe
will need to complete a series of
consultations with Kimberley
Process chair Mathieu Yamba
representing the democratic Replublic of Congo. The consultations
are believed to be sensitive and
ongoing, and Yamba has asked
for understanding and patience
as efforts are made to reach a
conclusion. The World Diamond
Council is advising retailers and
jewellers that until an official
conclusion is reached, diamonds
from approved concessions in
Marange do not carry the approval of the Kimberley Process.
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Discount jewellery retailers HPJ
Jewellers and Jewel Nation
were bought out of administration, saving 329 jobs. The business was bought by two newly
formed companies Gemstone
Retail and Gemstone Operations, owned by private equity
fi rm Gordon Brothers, in December. The company employed a restructuring programme to save
the most profitable parts of the
business while reducing debt.
Gordon Brothers has bought 52
of the 78 stores, saving 329 jobs.
It has closed 26 of the chain’s less
profitable stores and has already
made the staff , which is said to
be approximately 156 people, redundant and returned the leases
to the landlords.
Steffans announced a 100%
year-on-year increase in online
sales between November and
December. The Northamptonbased multi-brand retailer said
it is currently experiencing the
strongest sales in the past four
year period. The shop has just
signed a deal to stock Theo Fennell’s new silver brand.
OJS Jewellery, which owned
the Kolorbox jewellery brand,
has gone into liquidation. The
family-run Birmingham-based
company, which specialised in
what it described as coloured
stone precious jewellery, went
into liquidation on February 8.
OJS Jewellery was part of the
CMJ and sales director Oliver
Crouch said that he “would like
to thank all CMJ members for
their support over the years”.
Somerset-based Hiho Silver announced plans to launch its fi rstever wholesale range. The jewellery designer and retailer’s range
will include four capsule collections, based on a taste for the best
things in life, with RRPs from £29.
The Best of British collection continues the trend for British nostalgia with iconic London charms
including red telephone boxes
and London buses. The collection
will also include gemstones in
red, white and blue in homage to
the colours of the union flag - a
widespread trend which is set to
continue through 2011.
Alexander Davis “soft
launched” his new boutique at the
site of Stephen Webster’s old shop
in Duke St, near Selfridges in London. Davis refurbished the shop
at the end of last year but plans
to have the official launch for the
boutique during London Jewellery Week in June. The jewellery
designer also told Professional
Jeweller of an upcoming collaboration with Amber Atherton,
founder of jewellery retail website
My Flash Trash. The pair will
launch a collection focused on
Davis’ and Atherton’s influences
and will be set at a lower price
point, opening up a new market
for Davis. The collection will initially be sold online, exclusively
through My Flash Trash. There is
no date as yet when the collection
will be available.
Jewellery brand N.oor saw its
designs on the catwalk at London
Fashion Week, in collaboration
with fashion designer Issa. Designs from N.oor’s U-Tube and
Touche de Bois collections featured, including sculpted, branchlike ebony bangles and gold, diamond and ebony earrings. N.oor
also gave Issa designer Daniella
Helayel a special glove to wear,
made from tiny ebony beads,
playing on the idea of touching
wood for good luck. Issa is best
known for its sell-out sapphire
blue dress worn by Kate Middleton at the announcement of her
engagement to Prince William.
Albemarle & Bond announced positive interim results for the six months ending
31 December, with performance
driven by contributions from
gold buying. The volumes by
value of gold bought doubled
year-on-year and total gold
buying profits were up, despite
a step down in sector margins.
The group absorbed a 24% increase in costs to £18.8m, with
£2.6m of capital investment and
continued profit dilution from
2010 and 2011 store openings.
American actress Lindsay Lohan was charged with stealing
a £1,500 necklace from a Venice
Beach boutique. Lohan entered
a plea of not guilty insisting that
the jewellery store - Kamofie &
Company - gave her the necklace
to win them publicity. When the
store saw no return of interest,
Lohan claims they backtracked,
saying she had stolen the necklace. If found guilty, the actress
could face a jail term of up to
three years.
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
NEWS IN QUOTES
“I became involved in mining because I’m a single
woman with four children to support. Mining is
very difficult and I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices.”
Peruvian gold miner JUANA PENA ENDOVA just before breaking
down in tears at the launch of Fairtrade gold in London as she
addressed the audience to speak of the many hardships she had
suffered while mining for gold at 3,000m above sea level.
“We work with gold every single day but we have
no understanding of the work it has taken to get it
out of the ground. And I feel it is as important for
the miners to come here and see what we’ve done
with the metal.”
Weston Beamor director YVONNE BROOKES on the benefits of
working with Fairtrade gold and why the company decided to
introduce Peruvian miners to the delights of Birmingham’s NEC.
“If the retailers are negative about silver then this
will get passed on to the consumer. We need them
to explain to customers why the price has risen,
so they don’t think that it is our brand that has got
more expensive – rather, it is in line with what is
happening in the market.”
Kit Heath chief executive JEFF LANCASTER on why retailers need to
educate shoppers about silver, or the new 9ct gold as he has dubbed
it, so they can understand why they are paying more for silver now
than they are used to.
“We were very impressed with Sarah’s design
skills and her ability to create pieces that marry
traditional symbolism with contemporary trends.
It was a hard decision to make, however Sarah
definitely had the edge.”
Houlden chief executive STUART LAING on why Sarah Ho was the
winning girl for him when picking a winner for the buying group’s
inaugural Designer of Excellence award at The Jewellery Show.
>> Something to say? Email [email protected]
5
FRONT / NEWS REVIEW
NEWS REVIEW
Chinese jewellery manufacturer TTF Jewelry announced an
environmentally-focused design
competition open to jewellery
designers from both China and
overseas. The 2011 Shenzhen International Jewelry Design Competition, which is based on the theme
of “blue sky, home land”, is open
to anyone involved in jewellery
design and manufacture whether
a student, an independent designer
or part of a larger company or
brand. The company hopes to use
the competition to build up a platform for jewellery designers, while
promoting Chinese culture, raising
awareness of environmental and
ecology issues and exploring jewellery design talent.
Weston Beamor showed its support of Fairtrade gold by inviting
representatives of the Peruvian
mining community to its stand
at The Jewellery Show, where it
promoted its involvement with the
metal. The jewellery company is
one of the first jewellery manufacturers to offer the newly certified
Fairtrade Fairmined gold.
6
The Gemological Institute of
America (GIA) announced that its
GIA education programs offered
in Botswana will be accredited by
the Government of Botswana. The
GIA’s Diamond Grading lab classes
are provided in Gaborone, Botswana and are designed to enhance
the country’s goals of increasing
local employment and added value
services from its diamond production. An education reimbursement
initiative has been determined by
the Botswana Training Authority
(BOTA), a regulatory body of the
Government of Botswana, which
coordinates and monitors the
training provided by vocational
training institutions.
Sho Fine Jewellery founder Sarah
Ho was announced as the winner
of buying group Houlden Group’s
Designer of Excellence contest
held at The Jewellery Show. The
inaugural Designer of Excellence
award was created through a new
collaborative partnership between
the Houlden Group and The Jewellery Show which saw the Houlden
Group sponsor its new Design
Quarter Gems feature.
Trollbeads launched an “extremely limited edition” collection
of precious and semi-precious
gemstone beads at The Jewellery
Show last month. The Danish bead
brand had a limited number of the
special edition beads available to
those visited them at the show. The
collection featured a selection of
coloured gemstones including rose
quartz, labradorite, blue goldstone
and obsidian. The sought-after
beads were available in kits of 12,
priced at £312 per kit.
BENCH FRESH
CELEBRATING EMERGING TALENT
XIN RAN LU Central Saint Martins, London
Xin Ran Lu is not due to graduate from
named Cross. Taking inspiration from
his BA in jewellery until this summer
his friend’s name, it is made up of three
but his work has already caught the
layers of crosses, each smaller than
attention of industry heavyweights
the next, which are fixed by a pin at-
Cartier, Shaun Leane, Swarovski and
tached to a gold finger print. The print
QVC. This pendant design was created
belongs to Cross and was formed by
by the student as a gift for his friend,
casting a liquid wax impression in gold.
>> Are you a student or recent graduate and want to be featured
in Bench Fresh? Email [email protected]
STORE ENVY
LUNA & CURIOUS Arnold Circus, London
This quirky east London shop
on the UK’s first ever council estate
revels in creating imaginative
in London’s Shoreditch. The build-
displays. Jewellery can be found
ing used to be a squat, but Luna
displayed on a mix of antique-style
& Curious has lovingly restored it
mannequins, reclaimed cabinets
while making a feature of its Victo-
or draped over less conventional
rian accents. The shop is also used
items such as lampshades and sus-
as an exhibition space to draw in
pended stools. The shop is located
extra shoppers.
>> Got a Store Envy suggestion? Email [email protected]
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
story continued from page 3
that it “did well with silver gifts”
over Valentine’s and that shoppers seemed more prepared to
shop this year.
With Valentine’s Day falling
on a Monday, retailers had a full
weekend to get shoppers’ attention and this proved to be a positive. Hamilton said: “Customers
had the weekend to prepare and
many CMJ retailers reported
good trading, significantly up on
the previous year.”
Baker Brothers Diamonds’
Lizzie McAuley also noted more
pre-spending this year. She said:
“Nearly all purchases were made
on Saturday with a few on the
day but [shoppers were] more
prepared than usual.”
Not all shoppers, however,
used the weekend to their full
advantage. H&T’s Nichols said
the chain still experienced a
boom on the February 14th as
last-minute shoppers scrabbled
for gifts. He said: “With Valentine’s Day being on Monday we
were apprehensive about the day
[itself] but interestingly we sold
almost twice as many pieces on
the Monday 14th as we did in the
run up on Saturday 12th.”
Online sales for jewellery
retailers over the Valentine’s
period boomed. Alex Monroe
reported that its online sales for
the fi rst half of February were up
50 percent on the same period in
2010. The brand had developed
a number of Valentine’s-focused
product ranges, which founder
Alex Monroe said had been
received well. He added: “Our
exclusive Valentine’s collection in
Harrods was very well received,
at the Valentines launch of [new
collection] Daisy Bell in Liberty
several pieces sold out immediately and Net-a-Porter sold out of
our Daisy earrings in three days.”
The brand has suffered from
distribution issues at peak times
in the past as all of its stock is
handmade in the UK, but Monroe said that improvements to its
head office processes and encouraging retailers to pre-stock
efficiently has led to “things running smoother”.
Steffans also registered a rise,
with web sales up 100 percent on
the same period in 2010. Its store
sales were also up by 50 percent
on the previous year’s totals.
Steffans owner Steff Suters said:
“It was brilliant, well in excess of
last year.”
Steffans celebrated an unusual
Valentine’s proposal by dedicating a whole window display to
one unsuspecting customer.
The fiancé to be asked Steffans
to display a bejewelled bottle of
Moet champagne, a rose and an
engagement ring with the message “Jodie Farrell will you marry
me?”
Suter said: “They got engaged
in the shop and spent £2,500 on
an engagement ring.”
NEWS REVIEW
Gemstone company TanzaniteOne achieved its annual produc-
tion target of 2.2m carats, up from
1.9m carats in 2009. The average
grade was 59 carats produced per
tonne, compared with 51 carats
per tonne previously. TanzaniteOne also reported a positive shift
in fourth-quarter production,
which totalled 0.54m carats from
the processing of 8,280 tonnes
of material at an average grade
of 65cts per tonne. Tanzanite
sales for the year were US$15.8m
(£9.7m), up from US$12.5m (£7.7m)
in 2009. The company has said it is
continuing talks with the Tanzanian government regarding a ban
on the export of rough tanzanite of
more than five carats, which came
into effect on December 31.
Kit Heath chief executive Jeff
Lancaster declared that silver is
“the new 9ct gold” in an interview
with Professional Jeweller at The
Jewellery Show, and urged retailers
to re-educate shoppers about silver
and explain why the price of silver
jewellery has increased.
Pandora was announced as
sponsor of the Glamour Awards
as part of its recent high-profile
consumer awareness drive. The
jewellery brand will be the headline sponsor for the event, which
will take place in June, and will
also sponsor an individual award,
the category of which is yet to be
confirmed. Separately, Pandora
plans to move its London head office from the city’s Farringdon to
a more central location on George
Street, near Selfridges department store. The move to larger
premises has been necessary to
accommodate Pandora’s growing
number of staff. Pandora expects
to be in its new offices on April 1.
London Metropolitan University
announced the launch of Digital
Works, a series of two and threeday workshops focused on the
use of digital design technology
and CAD design programs. The
workshops will examine specific
methods of digital manufacture
including laser and water jet cutting and rapid prototyping. They
will be led by specialist technicians from the university and
attendees will have to chance to
see live demos of the machinery,
learn about materials and hear
talks from inspiring designers
and artists who use the machines in their own work. They
will also get a chance to use the
facilities themselves, taking away
valuable hands-on experience
rarely offered to the public.
Brown & Newirth unveiled plans
to revamp its Hatton Garden shop
The Wedding Store and rename
it Brown & Newirth London.
In-keeping with the company’s
rebranding process it will be redesigned to include a champagne
bar for events and consumers.
7
FRONT / NEWS REVIEW
VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY
The trials of being a
start-up designer
ALYSSA SMITH
jewellery designer
W
hat is it that spurs
who sent me on start-up courses,
a young woman
which I would recommend to
to start up her
anyone thinking of starting their own
own business?
business.
Is it economics? Ego? Or perhaps
I ran my business from home until
it’s simply a mind-blowingly strong
recently, and although it was ideal at
desire to create exciting jewellery.
first, it soon became unmanageable.
We all know that it is hard starting
I found it extremely hard to balance
a business at the best of times, but
work with home life and using my
choosing to launch my jewellery
time productively. I now work from
company at the age of 23 with the
a studio at a business centre which
economic climate in tatters has
suits me much better.
been tough. Some called it complete
Jewellery is my one passion, and
insanity to walk away from my
dreaming up designs in gold and
graduate job with an international
silver to translate into real, wearable
jewellery designer, but I always knew
pieces gives me the biggest buzz.
deep down that I needed to work
I’ve also realised the demand for
for myself, in my own way, designing
bespoke jewellery, so I now also
and making jewellery I could call my
concentrate on bespoke work.
own. I remember thinking “It’s now
It is difficult to gain recognition
or never...”, and sheer determination
and build a name for yourself in such
and enthusiasm is what spurred me
a competitive industry, but I believe
to take the leap.
that if you are determined and willing
Is there ever a right time to start
the past year, I have gained support
can be a very lonely and daunting
from TV presenters and have
path, even with a good support
sent bespoke pieces to celebrities
network around you. Finance is
including Sienna Miller.
Jewellery brand Mawi announced plans to team up
with fashion house Hugo Boss
to create the jewellery for its
autumn/winter 2011 runway
show during Berlin Fashion
Week. Mawi has created a collection of jewellery featuring
the brand’s signature Mawi box
chain and claw set pearls on
chunky necklaces, statement
cuffs, bracelets and rings. The
collection was designed in close
collaboration with Hugo Boss
to ref lect the themes of its fashion collections.
My hard work is finally starting to
of the biggest obstacles for me.
become worthwhile, but I am always
Finding start-up funding was virtually
looking for new ways to push myself
impossible. But I discovered Business
and my business forward. 2011, here
Link, a government organisation
I come!
8
Despite rocketing diamond
prices MasterCut is yet to pass
on any rises to its retail customers. The diamond jewellery
brand said that it has re-priced
products on a weekly basis in
line with precious metals price
fluctuations but is yet to react
to diamond price hikes. The
brand’s James Maxwell said
it would hold off for as long as
possible.
to work hard, you will succeed. Over
a business? I don’t think so, and it
always an issue and has been one
NEWS REVIEW
A gang of motorcycle robbers
who stole designer watches
worth £332,000 from Ernest
Jones’ Oxford Street shop in
London were ordered to pay back
just £12,000. The robbers, who
are now serving a combined total
of 26 years in jail, raided the shop
in September 2009, smashing the
windows with sledgehammers
and fleeing with Rolex and Breitling watches. The 46 watches
stolen in the raid were never recovered and a sixth suspect still
remains at large.
PureJewels announced it
will continue work with its 2010
Platinum Heritage Collection
designers on a new diff usion
collection designed to complement both last year’s work and
the new designers joining the
project in 2011. Jayant Raniga,
brand manager at PureJewels,
said: “We have decided to increase our relationship with
the designers who created the
Platinum Heritage Collection
2010 and introduce collections
around the themes that were
generated last year.”
Professional Jeweller teamed
up with newly launched trends
analysis service Adorn Insight
as its official trade media partner. Adorn Insight is run by
Juliet Hutton-Squire, founder of
jewellery trends website Adorn
London, and fashion journalist
and author Maia Adams. They
will now contribute each month.
>> Got a story? Email info
@professionaljeweller.com
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
SPEAKERS’ CORNER
JOHN BALL
Sales manager, DMJ
BEN WILLIAMS
Marketing manager,
Domino
PEOPLE MOVES
STEFF SUTER
Owner, Steffans
HOW DID YOU FIND THE JEWELLERY SHOW 2011?
“ If I were to sum up the show in
“ The Jewellery Show this year
“ I went to the show knowing
two words it would be ‘pleasant
was really positive for Domino.
which designers and brands I
surprise’. It looked the part and
Our trend-led and fashion-led
wanted to see. For me Ti Sento
the footfall was great, and 80
ranges were very well received
stood out, as did the Daisy Chakra
percent of the retailers we saw
and our new wedding rings
bracelets which are a great price
were new to us. Fewer companies
attracted a lot of attention. Our
point, young and fun. Brown
build big stands now but there
diamond-set wedding bands did
and Newirth’s new look is a big
were about a dozen or so that
very well and one in particular – a
improvement and is definitely
pulled out the stops this year and
white gold ring with a twist design
taking them in the right direction.
the show needs that. We would
and white diamonds – was the
I think it was a positive show and
have liked to be writing more
standout piece. There seemed to
it’s improving year on year. We’re
orders at the show but that’s just
be higher footfall and I hardly had
learning a lot from the European
the way the market is – retailers
chance to leave our stand. We
shows and brands about how to
are not as gung ho as they were
were definitely up on last year, so
market our jewellery here in the
five years ago.”
overall a very good show.”
UK and it’s making a difference.”
NEWS FLASH
CURTEIS got creative at THE JEWELLERY SHOW with the aim of getting its
client base to order online. The wholesaler had fake money printed with
boss Henry Curteis’s face on it, offering
retailers £10 off their first web order.
Staff on the stand said that the quirky
marketing ploy attracted a lot of attention at the show. Curteis relaunched
its website in September and
since doing so has doubled sales. The jewellery
For more
supplier is offering
galleries visit
other initiatives such
professional
as free postage, cinema
jeweller.com
tickets and chocolates
to tempt retailers online.
Former Hot Diamonds managing director Jonathan Crocker
is now working with jewellery
designer Ana de Costa and watch
distributor Top Brands. Crocker
is now a director at Ana de Costa
and is helping the designer to expand her business both in the UK
and internationally. In his work
with Top Brands he is helping the
company to relaunch Elle Time,
the fashion watch brand inspired
by Elle magazine, in the UK and
is currently setting up distribution channels for the brand.
The industry was saddened to
lose Brown & Newirth managing
director Chris Sanders who died
following complications after
catching swine flu at Christmas.
He died aged 64 years of age
with colleagues describing him
as a fit and energetic man who
went to the gym twice a week to
swim 50 lengths and work out.
British Jewellers’ Association
vice-chairman Gary Williams
called him as “a genuinely lovely
guy and respected by all.” Sanders joined Brown & Newirth in
1970, starting out as a diamond
miller. He became managing
director in 1984. Sanders’ family have asked that instead of
sending flowers those wishing
to pass on their condolences
should instead donate money
to his favourite charities RNLI,
Whizz Kidz, Red Cross and Barnados. In a statement, his family
said: “Because Chris was such a
generous supporter of so many
charities, we are sure he would
rather the monies being spent go
to more worthy causes.”
9
FRONT / NEWS REVIEW
MOST READ ONLINE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
EDITOR’S CHOICE
World Gold Council’s Six Key
Trends for 2011
Opinion
VIDEO
Retailers must be more than
friends on Facebook
Stephen Webster talks
about Fairtrade gold
Retailers are quick to join social networking
sites, but they must improve their interaction
with shoppers, writes Rhys Timson.
PJ was on hand to fi lm the jewellery designer
during an emotional recollection of his trip to
Peru to join the Fairtrade gold revolution.
Kate Moss engaged with
vintage diamond ring
PHOTOS
FEATURES
GALLERY: London Jewellery
Week press launch party
The Pandora Catwalk
extravaganza
World Gold Council trends
Gold price dips to lowest in
three months
Katy Perry becomes the face
of Thomas Sabo
Asos launches European
Facebook store
Industry mourns Brown &
Newirth managing director
Professional Jeweller unveils
Treasure competition
Store fined for NAG
falsification
Mad Men star loses 850k
bracelet at Golden Globes
Join the debate as to whether you loved or hated
the catwalk at The Jewellery Show with our
gallery of snaps from the frontline.
Professional Jeweller breaks down the WGC’s
six key trends in gold for 2011 and picks out
some great examples of jewellery for retailers
interested in fitting those trends.
JEWELLERY TWEETS
WHAT FOLLOWERS OF @PJEWELLER HAVE BEEN TWEETING THIS MONTH
Just got a lovely rose from @
10
Really like these, remind me of My
PJeweller
PJewel
wel @RachaelTaylor Hot 100. It’s
Little Pony, no idea why! RT @PJeweller:
lovely, thank
t
you. I hope I’m the only
Sweetie-coloured watches unveiled by
jewelle to be sent one lol
jew
jeweller
Swatch
@BobbyWhiteLDN
@Bob
b
@BelieveEve
Good
d 4 us: we give fair prices & part-ex
Did you give someone special a Trollbead
RT @PJ
@PJeweller OFT cracks down on
for valentines day? Did you get one? Let us
rogue cash for gold
know. Picks too!
@nicholsonsgems
@trollbeadqueen
59#4185-+#)&41'5%*+564#55'64+'5'0.+'%*6'056'+06
%7561/'45'48+%')'/5610'5"59#4185-+%1/99959#4185-+)'/5%1/
PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER / FIRST ANNIVERSERY SPECIAL
THIS MONTH LAST YEAR WE LAUNCHED THE FIRST COPY
OF PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER INTO THE MARKET. AS
WE CELEBRATE OUR FIRST BIRTHDAY WE LOOK BACK
OVER THE PAST ACTION-PACKED 12 MONTHS, LET YOU
IN ON OUR PLANS FOR 2011 AND REVISIT SOME OF THE
STORIES WE WERE COVERING IN MARCH 2010.
P
1
1
ue
The first ever issue
ne.
of the magazine.
2
Hosting a round
nd
C.
table with QVC
2
12
rofessional Jeweller is a
year old this month, following a dazzling first
year. The website and
magazine have got people talking, the daily news alerts have
become an inbox must-have, and The
H
Hot 100 became one of the industry’s
m
most sparkling events.
Since the fledgling BaselWorld issue
in March last year, Professional Jewelle
ler has delivered sincerity through an
ev
ever-expanding magazine dedicated
to bringing the most up-to-date news,
th
the most forward-thinking trends and
al
all the while allowing the industry to
sp
speak for itself.
In 12 months Professional Jeweller
h
has done great things: supported the
re
relaunch of London Jewellery Week,
h
helped new designers to exhibit for free
at selling show Treasure, organised a
ro
o
roundtable
event with QVC to help give
u
up-and-coming jewellers advice on
b
branding as delivered by some of the
industry’s leading names, and dared to
cover controversial topics such as the
shop-in-shop invasion, cash for gold
and Pandora’s meteoric rise.
The pinnacle came in September
when we announced our Professional
Jeweller Hot 100 in celebration of the
brilliant stars of the UK jewellery
industry, from Business Big Shots
and Retail Stars to Trendsetters and
Nexgems – the magazine’s pick of
those new designers to keep an eye
that included Tomasz Donocik, Jessica
De Lotz, Alexander Davis and Daisy
Knights. Retailers and industry members alike spoke of their excitement at
being involved, and the accompanying
Hot 100 book demanded a second print
run to meet demand, after becoming a
must-have souvenir.
Professional Jeweller welcomed its
first guest editor Shaun Leane in January’s for a special Art Issue. Leane focused the issue on his love of the melding of jewellery and art, interviewed
Boucheron president Jean-Christophe
Bédos and found himself in the hot seat
answering questions from the jewellery community about his favourite
designs, inspiration and whether he’d
ever consider celebrity endorsement.
January also saw the launch of
WatchPro, a dedicated watch magazine within Professional Jeweller.
Kicking off with a focus on luxury
timepieces by MB&F, the January issue of WatchPro included an exclusive
interview with Ralph Simons, global
director at Frederique Constant and a
round-up of the best new watches, catering for fashion-conscious shoppers,
digital fans and Swiss watch devotees
alike. The magazine within a magazine
has continued to capture exclusive interviews from the watch world including bosses at Omega, Graff, Hamilton
and Binda.
FIRST ANNIVERSERY SPECIAL / PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER
WHAT WE WERE
WRITING ABOUT
IN
I MARCH 2010...
Va
Valentine’s
trading in 2010 was not as
lu
lucrative
as many traders had hoped.
A report by MHR Retail suggested that
sales
sa would rise 2.4 percent a year on
fro 2009, however jewellery retailers
from
sa footfall and sales were relatively
said
lev with Dinny Hall adding: “We
level,
di
didn’t
have the usual peak this year.”
3
4
The sudden death of Alexander
M
sent shoppers flooding into
McQueen
re
retail
stores to snap up his fashion and
jeew
jewellery
lines. McQueen’s own collectiio – which was taken over by fashion
tion
designer Sarah Burton - is still sold at
Liberty and online through Matches
Fashion and Net-a-Porter.
Scottish jewellery retailer Rox had
plans to move into England, with the
aim of opening stores in Manchester,
Leeds and Newcastle, while their online sales had jumped 69 percent in the
eight weeks to January 2010.
Richemont was celebrating a “better-
than-expected” festive period as
shoppers began spending again in the
luxury goods sector. Sales at the group
had risen 2 percent in the three months
to December 2009.
The magazine has just returned from
a busy trip at The Jewellery Show at
Spring Fair, where it delivered rolling
coverage online live from Birmingham
with news updates, videos, picture
galleries and interviews appearing on
professionaljeweller.com as they happened, with an analysis in this issue.
Later in the year Professional Jeweller has more big plans. As well as acting as the official trade media partner
for London Jewellery Week in June for
the second consecutive year, teaming
up as publishing partner with trends
analysis firm Adorn Insight and joining
forces with London retailer PureJewels
to deliver exclusives on its Platinum
Heritage collection, the magazine is
also proud to announce that it will be
resurrecting the daily newspaper at IJL
in September. Drafting in top-quality
journalists and photographers, the
newspaper will deliver quality, glamorous content about the show exclusively
for IJL. A TV crew will also be on hand
to shoot film from around the show
that will be hosted online at professionaljeweller.com and delivered in the
same timely fashion as the online news.
Professional Jeweller has enjoyed
the support of so many members of the
British jewellery industry and beyond.
We have been welcomed and rewarded
with our readers’ warmth, opinions,
contributions and passion for the industry and for that the magazine would
like to extend a big thank you to our
readers and supporters. Here is to another glittering 12 months – and many
more beyond!
New York jewellery designer Alexis Bittar was “thrilled” to have Joan
Collins as the face of his brand, adding:
“She deserves credit for much of the 80s
fashion that is mimicked today.”
Following Theo Fennell ’s return to his
eponymous brand, chairman Rupert
Hambro said: “We are pleased with
the business turnaround achieved so
far and the positive reception to Theo’s
new designs.”
3
Jessica De Lotz as
Dower & Hall had good things to say
seen in the Hot 100
about The Jewellery Show at Spring Fair
in February 2010. Brand owner Diane
Hall said: “It has been really positive
and we’ve gone back to the Spring Fair
we had five years ago.”
NexGems section.
4
Jason Holts was a
Hot 100 Retail Star.
13
PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER / FIRST ANNIVERSERY SPECIAL
In its first issue, Professional Jeweller had an exclusive interview with Alex Monroe about the opening of his first ever standalone store and was given a sneak
peak at the building plans. A year later that opening is almost a reality. Kathryn
Bishop catches up with Alex Monroe to find out how 2010 turned out, and how
he’s going to make 2011 even better.
To read more birthday messages we’ve received visit our
Facebook page at facebook.com/professionaljeweller
14
Alex Monroe is excited. His fi rst standalone store in London Bridge is set
tto open in London Jewellery Week.
““Expect a fantastic space,” he says. “It’s
ssmall – we wanted it intimate – but
tthe space is lovely.”
The shop was described in the
m
maiden issue of Professional Jewelle
ler in March 2010 as going to be “like
w
walking into your granddad’s potting
sshed”. Monroe is still confident that
tthe store will be far from clean lines,
eendless glass and suited sales asssistants, and will instead match his
quirky, off beat jewellery designs. “It’s
not going be your conventional shop,”
he affi rms. “Th is is our place to express ourselves and delight our fans.”
In 2010, the craftspeople at Alex
Monroe’s headquarters in south London were hand-making more than
40,000 pieces of jewellery just to meet
demand. Today, the team is still maintaining the handmade in the UK ethos
that Monroe is keen to uphold.
In his interview in the fi rst issue
of Professional Jeweller, Monroe had
said he intended to close his original
workshop but with an ever-increasing
production schedule he says that this
has changed. Instead he will run the
two buildings with an increased staff.
“Turnover has more than doubled in
a year,” he says. “The new place will
make it easier, but we’re going to keep
the old place on because we’ve already
outgrown ourselves.”
Monroe, who is always quick to
thank and celebrate his team, says
that it’s his staff of “really committed
craftspeople” that keeps the brand
moving forward.
Musing over what’s to come this
year, Monroe says: “2010 was amazing,
but funnily enough I reckon 2011 will
be even better.” There is a new, yet-tobe-announced collection lined up for
AW11, while the SS11 Daisy Bell collection has been selling out since its
launch at London Fashion Week.
Always looking for that next path
to tread, Monroe is looking overseas.
“We have huge export plans this year,”
says Monroe, who already operated a
dedicated Japanese website to sate the
demand for his jewellery in Asia.
The 12 months that have passed
since that fi rst interview have seen
Alex Monore go from strength to
strength, and this innovation and
progression makes one of our very fi rst
interviews one of our favourites.
Royal Wedding 2011
To commemorate the Royal Wedding of Miss Catherine Middleton and Prince William, Chamilia
is introducing a special engagement bead to their collection. This exclusive bead features two
large, oval Swarovski sapphire crystals surrounded by a total of 32 Swarovski crystals.
Created in sterling silver and 14ct gold, Chamilia collection is classic, yet fresh and versatile
for personalising with combinations of hundreds of beads that can be interchanged between
bracelets, bangles, necklaces and earrings. With Chamilia, you are creating more than
a sale, you are creating a customer for a lifetime.
To learn more about our collection and our retailer programmes please contact
Chamilia at [email protected] or call 0844 811 21 42.
MADE WITH SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS SWAROVSKI® is a registered trademark. © Disney.
© Chamilia Europe Limited 2011. All rights reserved.
FAIRTRADE GOLD / HOT TOPIC
THE VALENTINE’S LAUNCH OF FAIRTRADE GOLD WAS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
TO TRANSFORM A LUXURY INDUSTRY WITH MORE THAN A FEW SKELETONS IN THE
CLOSET INTO A RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS. RACHAEL TAYLOR INVESTIGATES WHAT IT
MEANS FOR THE TRADE AND INTERVIEWS THE FIRST 20 FAIRTRADE JEWELLERS.
V
1
Miners at the
Fairtrade Cotapata
mine in Bolivia.
16
alentine’s Day 2011
was a special one for
the industry; a day that
will go down in history
as the beginning of a
revolution. It was the day that the world
was introduced to Fairtrade gold.
The official certification is the culmination of years of campaigning, protesting and fighting for the rights of workers
who bring to the surface something that
is often a romantic gesture and something to treasure, but it is something that
is often produced in ugly circumstances
where human rights are neglected and
the environment is mistreated.
At the London press launch of Fairtrade gold a few days before its official
launch on February 14, Fairtrade Foundation executive director Harriet Lamb
begins her speech by highlighting the
link between human emotions and gold.
“Giving gold jewellery is so much about
love and romance but how gold is mined
is not pretty,” she says, paying homage
to the 15 million people who work in
small-scale artisanal mining. “Too often
they face serious injury and risks and are
taken advantage of by middle men.”
To hammer home the human element
of gold mining, the Fairtrade Foundation
has brought some gold miners to the
UK. Juana Pena Endova is a mother of
four and gold miner in Bolivia. The cooperative mine she works at is situated
in Cotapata, a national park, and so has
been running more ethically than most,
and had filled 40 percent of the Fairtrade
requirements before even entering the
certification process. But at 3,100ft above
1
sea level the freezing conditions are
harsh. Now the mine has achieved certification, Endova says her working life
will improve. She adds: “Now that we’re
in Fairtrade, we’re receiving a premium
and we’d like to increase our productivity
with investment in machinery.”
Such investment at grass roots level is
vital as it is not usually the mining communities that prosper from gold. Manuel
Renisso Rivas, a miner and vice-president
of the Association for Responsible Mining, says: “Gold prices rise internationally
but the percentage of what miners get is
very small.” He speaks of Peru as the only
country in the world with laws in place to
protect artisanal miners but he is hopeful
that others will follow suit.
The fight to clean up this trade has had
to get rough, and Greg Valerio, founder
of ethical jeweller Cred and a long-time
activist, has been one of the leading
forces in pushing for an officially recog-
nised Fairtrade standard. In recent years
he has become more akin to speaking
negatively about problems in the industry
and highlighting bad situations in order
to promote positive change, but now he
doesn’t dwell on the bad and says he only
wants to focus on the positives of the
project. “This is the start of a revolution,”
says Valerio. “We’re going to put the soul
back into gold.”
Fairtrade is now a well-known brand,
endorsing everyday products from cotton to bananas to coffee, and what it will
mean for gold mining communities is a
fair price for the product they produce.
Fairtrade goldmines will receive a
minimum price for the gold they produce
that is set at 95 percent of the London
Bullion Market Association’s (LBMA)
fixing at the FOB export point. They will
also receive a Fairtrade premium, set at
10 percent of the LBMA fixing, that can
be used to reinvest in the mine, but if
HOT TOPIC / FAIRTRADE GOLD
the mine passes standards for Fairtrade
Ecological gold by extracting the precious
metal without the use of chemicals the
premium will be increased to 15 percent
of the LBMA fixing.
The Cotapata Mining Co-operative
in Bolivia was the first Fairtrade and
Fairmined conventional mining
organisation to be certified,
and Condoto Iró Community Council from the Oro
Verde initiative in Colombia was the first group
certified to produce
ecological gold. The Fairtrade Foundation says it
2
expects to announce more
in the coming months.
Lamb adds: “We will be starting pilots in Africa later this year,
then Asia. The mining communities
are queuing up.”
Adding a Fairtrade premium will
increase the price of gold by between 10
percent to 15 percent, but the first wave
of jewellers working with Fairtrade gold
seem undaunted by the prospect of upselling their customers.
“For the price of a meal out, you can
have an Fairtrade ring instead of one
made with standard gold and feel happy
in the knowledge that the people who
mined the very same gold that is on your
finger were paid fairly,” sums up Harriet
Kelsall, a Hertfordshie-based jewellery
designer and one of the first jewellers
to work with Fairtrade gold. “When we
are talking about the important life moments, such as a ring as a symbol of engagement or to mark the birth of a child,
this seems especially worthwhile.”
Stephen Webster, creative director of
Garrard and his eponymous brand, says
that the price won’t be an issue for his
customers as he is planning to swallow
the excess. “Even though the cost to us for
such gold is over 10 percent higher we will
be absorbing this premium,” he says. “We
don’t want price to be the reason not to
choose a more responsible product.”
Unlike Lamb and Valerio, Webster
was not an ethical crusader. While he has
undertaken charity projects in the past,
he admits that when first approached
about ethical gold, he was sceptical.
Eight years ago I was just starting to
hear about ethically sourced gold and we
wanted to work with it,” he remembers.
“We pursued it for about a year but it became very obvious very quickly that our
supply chain was an out-of-work actor
and a knapsack, and it was just not going
to work as he would come up every now
and then with a little nugget.”
Webster dropped the project but
three years ago he was approached by Solidaridad,
a company that does
pre-work for the Fairtrade Foundation,
with an assurance
that they could create a viable supply
chain. “I was cynical
about it, but I wasn’t
that cynical that I was
going to say no,” says
Webster. “[Solidaridad] said
that with groups like theirs that
are properly funded they could create the
supply chain, and that was key for us.”
The issue of the supply is the most
difficult aspect of Fairtrade gold. While
many jewellers would
like to switch
over completely, the small
amount
available
makes
3
this
impossible for most
without drastically
reducing output.
At present there is only 400 kilos of
gold available that has been made available to the limited group of 20 designers
that have been chosen to work with
the metal in 2011. Outside this initial
group, the only way to get involved with
Fairtrade gold is to buy a wholesale piece
from one of the designers you will find
listed on the following pages, but to sell
Fairtrade gold as a retailer you must pay a
license to use the Fairtrade mark, which
works out at about 1.7 percent of the
wholesale price of the jewellery.
For jewellers outside of the initial
20, they will be able to get access to the
metal in the future – although there are
strict rules about not mixing it with other
metals and the Fairtrade Foundation
says it is not yet willing for it to be used
for gold plating – and should sign up on
the Fairtrade website to register interest.
However, jewellers should note that they
will need to be pre-audited by the Fairtrade Foundation before being allowed
to work with the metal, which will vary
in cost depending on the size of the business, starting at about £400.
Lamb says that investing in Fairtrade
through a license fee or an audit will deliver commercial rewards. “Nine out of 10
people in the UK know about Fairtrade
and it has a high level of trust,” she says.
Lamb adds that the Fairtrade marketing
materials have been altered for the jewellery sector, with the yellow and blues
recognisable in products such as coffee
swapped for black, white and gold for
more of a luxe feel.
While it is estimated that small-scale
artisanal miners account for 90 percent
of the work in gold mining, their output is
only 10 percent of the world’s gold supply.
To drive the project forward, Fairtrade
needs to open up a dialogue with the
large mines. Alliance of responsible mining director Cristina Echavarria sums up
the current attitude of most large-scale
mines with a tale of a flat tyre. She recalls:
“We got a puncture outside a large-scale
mine, took off the wheel and our driver
went inside to the mine for help
and found out he was on
a black list because he
works alongside smallscale miners.”
But Lamb says
that there are some
mainstream mines that are
making changes by working with organisations such as the Responsible Jewellery
Council, but she adds that more need to
come on board to make a real change in
the industry and to help its reach its target of 5 percent of all jewellery sold in the
UK being Fairtrade or Fairmined gold.
The road towards wholly ethical trading in the gold market will be a long
one, if it is ever achievable at all, but the
important thing is that it has started and
everyone can get involved. From designing or stocking a piece of Fairtrade gold
to helping promote the work of others,
everyone in the industry can do their
bit to help promote change and create
a world where the process of extracting
precious metals is not sullied by abuse of
people and the planet. As Valerio aptly
puts it: “Welcome to the adventure, it’s
going to be one hell of a ride.”
2
Horse-inspired
goldsmithing
by ethical brand
Caratess, which
has received a
sum of Fairtrade
gold.
3
A sculptural piece
of jewellery by
ethical and now
Fairtrade jeweller
Ute Decker.
17
MEET THE 20 DESIGNERS AND BRANDS THAT WILL BE THE FIRST JEWELLERS IN THE WORLD TO WORK
WITH FAIRTRADE AND FAIRMINED GOLD, AND FIND OUT HOW THEY PLAN TO INCORPORATE THE
ETHICAL METAL INTO THEIR WORK.
EC ONE
AMANDA LI HOPE
London retailer EC One will go
down in history as the first jeweller
to have a piece of Fairtrade gold
jewellery hallmarked. Owner Jos
Skeates used the gold to create a
simple men’s wedding band, saying
he didn’t want a complicated design to interfere with the message.
Amanda Li Hope has only been in
business for little more than year. She
says that she is planning to use the
gold to make her XX and YY jewellery
collections, which feature simple elegant
shapes. She also says that she has plans
to create a “long overdue” wedding ring collection, adding: “After all, this is
the best gold story around and what better way to celebrate new nuptials
and lifelong partnerships?” Li Hope has been accumulating a small collection of ethically sourced rubies and sapphires to use in the designs.
APRIL DOUBLEDAY
April Doubleday is an ethical jeweller working
on the north coast of Devon on bespoke commissions. Doubleday has been using ethically
sourced gold from a Colombian mine for the
past five years which is now certified, so in
March she will create her first piece of Fairtrade Fairmined Ecological jewellery. Doubleday has 60g of 18ct gold and says she will use
this to create wedding, engagement and civil
partnership collections.
CARATESS
Caratess launched its Distinctive
Animal collection at IJL in September
and will now create this collection
using Fairtrade gold. The brand is an
ethical champion and all of its jewellery is alreasy made using ethical materials from Oro Verde in Columbia.
Caratess designer Christine Lawrence
says: “Given that the nature of our
designs is a celebration of the natural
world, it seemed only right to produce
them using materials produced with
the intention of preserving the
environment” Lawrence says
that Caratess will continue its
relationship with Oro Verde
through its manufacturers
Vipa Designs within the Fairtrade licence agreement.
118
8
CRED JEWELLERY
Cred Jewellery has been a pioneer of
ethical jewellery for many years and
was an obvious name on the inaugural
list of Fairtrade jewellers. It has teamed
up with jewellery designer Anna
Loucah to use its Fairtrade Fairmined
Ecological gold to create a bracelet
and earrings for Colin Firth’s wife Livia
Firth to wear at the Oscars. It will also
create a limited-edition collection of 10
rings for London Jewellery Week and
boss Christian Cheeseman said it will
launch of its first wholesale collection.
ELEMENT
JEWELLERY
Element Jewellery held a
launch for its Fairtrade gold
collections during Fairtrade
Fortnight at the end of February at its shop in Hebden
Bridge, hosted by Cred
founder Greg Valerio. To
tempt shoppers through the
doors the retailer offered free
refreshments and discounts
of up to 15 percent on all Fairtrade gold jewellery.
FIFI BIJOUX
Fifi Bijoux is highly regarded in the
ethical jewellery trade. Designer Vivien Johnston runs her ethical brand
from a sustainable farm and wildlife
resort in Scotland and worked with the
National Association of Goldsmiths
to form an ethics working committee.
She says that Fifi Bijoux will use Fairtrade Fairmined Ecological gold for a
special range of wedding wings. She
says: “Once the mining projects we already work with are all certified, hopefully very soon, the whole range can be
certified from the point we introduce
the initial batch of certified gold grain
across our production.”
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FOUNDATION JEWELLERY
Foundation Jewellery is
described as a luxury ethical
jeweller with its products currently stocked at Jacobs of
Reading and CS Bedfords in
Ruislip. It only uses diamonds
that are 100 percent traceable
through the CanadaMark brand and up until now has been offering
its customers recycled gold only. Now that the company has taken
on Fairtrade gold it will offers its customers a choice between recycled gold and Fairtrade gold.
GARRARD
Garrard, under the direction of creative director Stephen Webster, will introduce Fairtrade gold as an option in its wedding
jewellery category. The historic jewellery house and creator of
the most talked about engagement ring this year, the one now
belonging to Kate Middleton, prides itself on being
an innovator in the bridal market. The house claims to have
introduced the six-prong
setting to the market in 1897
and the three-stone ring in
1901, both of which have
become bridal classics, so
its involvement in Fairtrade wedding jewellery
will no doubt prompt a
few followers.
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19
HARRIET KELSALL
Harriet Kelsall is a jewellery
designer based in Hertfordshire.
Since the business started 10 years
ago, the team at Harriet Kelsall have
been passionate about making jewellery responsibly. The business is a
member of the Responsible Jewellery Council and has strived to use
ethically sourced gemstones, conflict-free diamonds and can now
offer Fairtrade gold. And Kelsall has
a quirky way to push the premium
that will be added to Fairtrade gold
– she is likening it to the price of a
takeaway for the family, or a meal
out for a pricier carat, which is not,
she says, too much to part with to
be happy in the knowledge that
your jewellery purchase is helping
other families.
LEBLAS
Leblas is relatively new to the jewellery scene but has been making
waves with its approach to creating
contemporary jewellery with sustainable practices. Leblas will use its
Fairtrade gold to switch all of its wedding jewellery collections to Fairtrade
gold. It will also create a heart motif
collection of non-wedding jewellery
using 18ct Fairtrade gold and ethical
Canadian diamonds.
20
INGLE & RHODE
Ingle & Rhode is an ethical jeweller based in
Mayfair, London, that has strives to offer ethical jewels that do not compromise on design.
The jeweller plans to mix its Fairtrade gold
with ethically sourced gem stones and is also
going to create a short film exploring what fairness means today to mark the occasion. Founder
David Rhode says: “The launch of Fairtrade and Fairmined gold represents everything we stand for, that creating jewellery without causing suffering is possible.”
JOHN TITCOMBE
John Titcombe is a wedding jewellery
specialist and claims to have more than
600 engagement rings in stock at any
one time at its shops in Cirenster and
Bristol. The jeweller will be using its Fairtrade gold to further this wedding offer.
With the first collection expected to be
completed in March, John Titcombe will
at first use existing designs when working with Fairtrade gold but has plans to
create special designs exclusively for the
ethical metal.
LINNIE MCLARTY
ORIA
Linnie McLarty has
designed two new jewellery collections, called
Discreetly Bizarre
and Bizarrely
Enough. Offering bespoke
versions of
pieces from
these lines in
Fairtrade Fairmined gold, the
designer, who
opened an ethical
jewellery pop-up
shop in London in February
with fellow Fairtrade gold
jeweller Ute Decker, created
gold-plated silver versions
of the designs to show to
customers in anticipation of
receiving her Fairtrade gold.
Oria is an
ethical
jewellery
brand
that uses
responsibly
sourced materials to create
fashion-forward designs. Before
Fairtrade gold, the brand either
designed in recycled silver or
gold sourced from small alluvial
cooperative mines in Argentina
that do not use toxic substances.
PIPPA SMALL
JON DIBBEN
Pippa Small has been working with the same mine for 24 years
to source ethically viable gold, but now that the mine has
achieved Fairtrade certification she can officially create Fairtrade Fairmined gold collections. In the past, Small has made
gemstones the hero of her pieces but is now planning to make
gold drops the hero, presenting it like a gemstone., a topic explored in our gold trends feature. The new lines feature pebbles
of Fairtrade gold attached to rings, strings and chains.
Jon Dibben, a jeweller based in
Surrey, has decided to buck the
trend for using Fairtrade gold in
wedding collections and instead
has decided to use his first lot of
Fairtrade gold to create showstopping pieces of jewellery.
The first piece he is working on
is a ring with a large central turquoise-green tourmaline with
smaller tourmalines of a
similar colour spilling
round the finger.
STEPHEN WEBSTER
Stephen Webster will use his Fairtrade gold for
wedding jewellery initially, but is not ruling out the
possibility of extending the use of Fairtrade gold
to some of his mainstream collections as bespoke
editions. He says that should a customer demand it,
and he says he is confident that some of his clients
will, then he will use his allocation to make special
Fairtrade editions of classic Stephen Webster designs. He also says that the brand will swallow the
10 percent price increase of Fairtrade gold. He adds:
“We don’t want price to be the reason not to choose
a more responsible product.”
UTE DECKER
Ute Decker is a pioneering ethical
jeweller and in the past has worked
mostly in recycled silver, but now
she will use Fairtrade Fairmined
Ecological gold to create a range of
sculptural jewellery called Pure.
The handcrafted pieces of jewellery will be available an a commission basis. In February Decker
opened an ethical jewellery pop-up
shop in London in partnership with
Linnie McLarty, where she held a
launch party attended by some of
the Fairtrade miners.
WESTON BEAMOR
Weston Beamor used its stand at
The Jewellery Show to let the trade
know about its involvement in
Fairtrade gold by inviting some of
the miners from a newly certified
Fairtrade gold mine to the show.
Weston Beamor director Yvonne
Brookes said: “It is wonderful that
we begin to understand both sides.
We work with gold every single day
but we have no understanding of
the work it has taken to get it out of
the ground.”
21
ETHICAL JEWELLERY / MARKET UPDATE
Take Some
WITH THE VALENTINE’S LAUNCH OF FAIRTRADE GOLD, THE
INTEREST IN ETHICAL JEWELLERY WILL NO DOUBT RISE, BUT
HOW TO GET INVOLVED? KATHRYN BISHOP INVESTIGATES THIS
TRICKY MARKET AND TALKS TO JEWELLERS ABOUT FAIR TRADE
VERSUS RECYCLED, GETS ADVICE ON GETTING THE MESSAGE
ACROSS TO SHOPPERS AND EXPLORES THE BENEFITS OF
CHARITY PROJECTS.
M
ost companies
want to run ethically, but the market is a minefield.
The term ethical
means different things to different
people; from working with a charity to
reducing carbon emissions or stocking
jewellery that uses ethical materials.
The terminology is tricky, and with
so many options, just working out
whether you’re doing it right can be
daunting. For those willing to take the
plunge and find a more sustainable and
responsible way to trade it is rewarding, but if the ethical market is this
difficult to decipher for a professional
jeweller how do you educate shoppers?
“Tell your customers the truth”,
advises Greg Valerio, founder of Cred
Jewellery, Britain’s first high street
ethical jewellery store. “Most jewellers
22
will know where their gold comes from,
they should know its origins and they
should be able to tell customers why
they use particular metals.”
Valerio says that using the term fair
trade is the easiest way to explain jewellery that has been sourced and produced ethically because customers will
instantly recognise and understand the
phrase from the coffee and chocolate
they buy.
Having launched Cred Jewellery in
1996, Valerio first introduced fair trade
gold to the UK six years later, sourcing
it from fair trade metals cooperative
Oro Verde in Colombia where gold is
mined without the use of chemicals
such as cyanide, and the working conditions are controlled by strict human
and environmental criteria. For Valerio
– who today works as both an ethical
jewellery designer and a campaigner
and activist for the cause – ethical jewellery is about traceability and transparency in the supply chain, something
at the heart of Cred’s initial creation.
The case for transparency is something ethical jewellery brand Oria has
long worked towards. Using experience
and knowledge gained from working
for jewellery retailers, the designers behind Oria, Tania Kowalski and Synnove
Saelthun, spotted a gap in the market
and launched the company in 2007.
“The aim of Oria is to be design-led
but have all our jewellery originate
from sustainable and ethical sources,”
says Kowalski. “When customers approach us about what we do and where
our product comes from we explain
which licensed fair trade Argentinean
mine our gold is from and which fair
trade Bolivian mine we source our
silver through.”
MARKET UPDATE / ETHICAL JEWELLERY
Giving consumers this basic understanding is a vital first step in an
industry where only a few years ago
designers such as Oria experienced
both retailer and consumer reluctance
towards fair trade jewellery. “When we
first started it was an unknown industry,” Kowalski explains. “We were unsure about how Oria would be received
but there’s been a positive shift. Retailers like knowing they can give their
customers a choice. Stocking ethical
jewellery isn’t saying everything not
made from fair trade metal is bad, it’s
about how fair trade can be of benefit
to a jewellery store.”
Ethical jewellery brand Fifi Bijoux
started out at a similar time to Oria
and founder Vivien Johnston describes
the problems she faced using ethical or
fair trade labels with consumers. “A lot
of people were mixing up ethical and
ethnic,” she says. “When I would
explain about ethical jewellery
they thought it would be hippyish, they didn’t realise it was
fine gold jewellery.”
Now that more customers are looking for the fair
trade offer, retailers and
designers such as Johnston
are openly prepared to
explain the origins of their
jewellery. “Most of our
customers welcome the
idea that their piece of
jewellery has traceable
roots,” says Johnston. “I
call my jewellery ethical
because of the human
work involved. The gold,
platinum and silver is
fair trade.”
Johnston’s passion
for ethical jewellery is
further demonstrated
through her commitment as a stakeholder
of the Alliance of
Responsible Mining
(ARM) – of which
Greg Valerio is a cofounder – and as a
member of Communities and Small Scale
1
Mining (CASM).
Recycled metals are an affordable
ethical option that many retailers are
opting for as an alternative to fair trade
metals. Typically silver, the key selling
point of recycled metal is that it can be
purified and made into new jewellery
over and over again. As a result, recycling should reduce environmentally
damaging mining.
Michelle Tuck has been working
with 100 percent recycled silver for
some time under her brand name of
Avasarah. Tuck heavily researched the
options available when she decided to
move into ethical jewellery production
and made the decision to use recycled
silver because of its limited environmental impact.
2
“A lot of people were mixing up ethical and ethnic.
They thought my jewellery would be hippy, they
didn’t realise it was fine gold jewellery.”
“We found that there was a lot of
debate about recycled versus ethically
mined,” she says. “Most ethical jewellers understandably feel quite strongly
that their choice is the best. I feel that
both fair trade and recycled have great
benefits and value, and there are pros
and cons to each avenue.”
For Tuck, however, the environmental issues were of top importance.
“With 100 percent recycled precious
metals, most of the time the recycling
is done in developed nations and the
quality and conditions are very high,”
she explains. “The big benefit with
100 percent recycled silver is that no
further damage is being done to the
planet, and barely a fraction of the
energy and natural resources such as
fresh clean water are being used to
supply it.”
Tuck goes on to say that she prefers
recycled materials because even if new
materials are mined responsibly, mining is still bad for the environment.
“Recycled silver addresses ecological
and environmental concerns,” she says.
“In the end, mining of any description
is destructive to the planet, even when
3
1
A miner smiles
for the camera at
4
a newly certified
Fairtrade gold mine.
2
Recycled silver
necklace by
Avasarah.
3
Tania Kowalski and
Synnove Saelthun
of brand Oria.
4
Vivien Johnston of
Fifi Bijoux.
23
THE RED & GREEN BOOK – A FREE GUIDE TO FAIR TRADE JEWELLERY
Cred founder and fair trade gold activist Greg
Valerio has been working with numerous organisations to create a special guide for retailers
and designers about fair trade metals and gemstones. Called the Red & Green Book, the publication has been produced in association with the
National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG), the
Birmingham Assay Office, the Company of Master Jewellers and Christian charity CAFOD.
The book is broken down into five modules
about fair trade mining and will outline the basics of metals, diamond and gemstone mining,
5
A shot taken
outside the Clogau
mine in Wales.
24
the miners get a fair wage and don’t
use cyanide or mercury. With so much
precious metal already above ground,
it’s better to use what we already have
rather than go digging for more.”
When explaining the use of recycled
silver to consumers, Tuck is quick to
give out facts and figures to make sure
that her process are transparent. “I
would explain to them that most jewellery contains around 20 percent recycled metal, but with our designs the
precious metal is 100 percent recycled
and is certified as such through our
supplier – Hoover & Strong – who have
third party independent certification.”
In October eco-friendly precious
metals refiner and manufacturer Hoover & Strong received its second year of
certification from independent auditer
and sustainability expert Scientific
Certification Systems (SCS) for its Harmony Metals products – a sign that 100
percent of the products in the range use
metals from recycled sources. Hoover
& Strong was the first manufacturer in
the jewellery industry to win SCS certification back in August 2009.
Tuck says that this official mark of
recognition helps her to sell the ethical
story of the jewellery she makes using Hoover & Strong’s metals. “We are
delighted to be able to offer this reassurance to our customers,” she says. “As
so many companies jump on the green
marketing bandwagon, it is becoming
more and more important to back up
ethical claims with solid documentation and now we are able to do this.”
Jewellery designer Joanna Cave also
with sections dedicated to human rights and
supply chain issues, models of good practise,
terms and explanations and finally the challenges that many retailers looking to supply fair
trade metals may face.
Due for release in the coming months, the Red &
Green Book will be available for free from both
Valerio and the NAG’s websites, and has been
designed for both jewellery retailers and designers alike.
Head to Greg Valerio’s site for more details about
the work he’s doing at gregvalerio.com.
works in recycled silver and feels it
is unnecessary to keep mining to a
minimum when so much silver can
be reused. “I love the idea of making
something new from something old
and forgotten,” Cave explains. “It’s like
giving it a new lease of life.”
Cave buys her silver from a company
that purchases old silver, purifies it and
re-sells it to designers. However, she
says there are difficulties in the supply
chain. She explains: “It’s sometimes
hard working with recycled silver because the quantities that I need aren’t
always available, or I have to wait for
5
the recycling and melting process to
take place.” Cave does note, however,
that she finds recycled silver is no more
expensive than new silver.
Just how much silver is being recycled is hard to measure, but Valerio
points out that “recycling silver is a
positive step in the right direction”,
even if it is unquantifiable. Furthermore, the issue with recycling metals
in developed countries means that
mining work – however detrimental
it might be – is taken away from those
who rely on the demand for precious
metals for their livelihood.
MARKET UPDATE / ETHICAL JEWELLERY
6
7
8
9
With a view to what consumers are
looking for when they approach ethical
jewellery, it seems that wedding jewellery is a large part of the market, while
quirky designs are an important way
of grabbing the public’s attention and
bolstering the ethical theme.
Oria produces several ethical silver
and 18ct gold collections, bringing out
new collections twice a year. Certainly,
ethical wedding and engagement rings
have become popular choices for the
Oria customer. “Our orders for wedding
and engagement rings have doubled
each year since we began,” notes Kowalski. “And our silver items have started
to get their own fan base, with customers anticipating the next collection.”
Designs include laser-cut pendants
featuring owls and a chunky collection
of men’s jewellery based on wolves.
Having been chosen as one of the
companies to use Fairtrade Fairmined
gold, Oria has already been busy designing a collection. “Our Fairmined
gold collection will be launched in the
next few weeks, taking elements of our
bestsellers and making delicate, affordable jewellery,” says Kowalski. The Fairtrade Fairmined hallmark has added a
small premium to the current price of
fair trade gold, something retailers will
and designers will be conscious of, but
this can be balanced out by the added
desirability the Fairtrade certification
will bring.
At Fifi Bijoux, the returning customer has become an important asset.
Many customers who start out buying
Valentine’s gifts or birthday presents
are now returning to the brand for
wedding and engagement rings. “It
is a luxury knowing the provenance,
origins and story behind a piece of
jewellery, and with customers buying
ethical wedding and engagement rings
from Fifi Bijoux they are combining
their story and sentimentality with the
human story the jewellery already has,”
explains Johnston.
Bespoke orders are also important
for the designer, who has experienced
a surge in commissions and a rise in
engagement and wedding ring orders encouraging news for ethical designers
and retailers. “I have not stopped for
the past two months, I’ve got a waiting
list of bespoke engagement ring orders
for the first time since 2007,” she says.
Building up an online community of
designers, Tuck sells a range of fashionled ethical jewellery through the Avasarah website, creating a go-to online
shop for consumers. “We don’t just
produce our own recycled EarthAngel collection, we also support other
ethical designers and have invested
in a fabulous range of collections by
local and international jewellers,” she
explains. “These jewellers represent
both the ethically sourced and the 100
percent recycled options.” She goes on
to add that each brand she works with
is ethical as each is striving “to create a
better world in its own unique way”.
And it’s not just individual designers
and emerging brands who are building
ethical offers, big brands are getting on
board too. As part of the launch of Fairmined gold several well-known British
brands have been approached including Stephen Webster and Garrard and
are now working with the metal to offer
ethical options in its wedding jewellery
categories, with Webster adding that
he will make bespoke Fairtrade gold
commissions from main lines available
under his own brand.
Welsh gold brand Clogau Gold has
been interested in using fair trade gold
for some time, and is beginning talks
with the Fairtrade Foundation to discover how it can incorporate it into its
collections. “We have a very exciting
project in the offing where we intend to
use fair trade gold,” says Clogau Gold
6
Ethical luxury from
Ingle & Rhode.
7&8
Gold jewellery
designs by Oria.
9
Recycled silver
from Ute Decker.
25
A BRIEF ETHICAL GLOSSARY
Ethical jewellery – The overarching term for jewellery that
is made from metals that have been responsibly sourced,
have a traceable supply chain and uphold fair trade standards.
Fair trade – A term used to describe materials that have
been sourced from organisations that use fair working practices and ensure that workers are paid fairly. The term fair
trade is not to be confused with the brand Fairtrade, which
is a mark that a company has been successfully independently audited to reach Fairtrade standards.
Fairtrade – Products like fruit, chocolate, cotton and now
gold that have the official Fairtrade certified mark which
meet criteria defined by the Fairtrade Foundation. Fairtrade
gold is mined without the use of cyanide and mercury. Employment is freely chosen by miners, working conditions
are safe and hygienic, there is no child labour, wages are
paid and working hours are not excessive. The standards of
Fairtrade mines are independently audited.
Fairmined – Fairtrade jewellery and metal products that
have the Fairmined mark, as introduced on February 14. The
Fairmined mark is the trademark of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) and is an independent certification label.
Recycled – Recycled precious metals have been scrapped,
melted down and then reformed for designers to use from
scratch. Recycling means that less new metal is being taken
from the ground, which reduces environmental impact,
with the majority of recycling carried out in developed
countries.
10
10
Gold earrings by
Linnie McLarty.
11
Ethical gold
pendant by fine
jeweller Fifi Bijoux.
12
Recycled silver by
Joanna Cave.
26
11
managing director Ben Roberts. “The
parties who have been involved in this
whole Fairtrade area have been very
helpful to us indeed.”
The brand’s history is intertwined
with an ethical jewellery story, although to date it is not one that it has
pushed on the market. Welsh gold is
in fact an ethical material, something
that has been verified by an independent auditor. It was mined in the UK
using traditional methods that rely
on gravity-only extraction and so did
not use mercury. However, due to the
scarcity of Welsh gold it is mixed with
mainstream gold to create the brand’s
jewellery so it loses the ethical edge,
which is why Clogau Gold has never
really promoted this.
But there are other ways to bring
ethics to the jewellery industry than
product alone. Several ethical designers
have launched successful side projects
that work with the mining communities they source materials from. Documentation of these projects can then
be used to further hammer home the
importance of ethical jewellery to the
end consumer by adding that crucial
human element.
Through its Flawless Proposal service, Fifi Bijoux offers customers the
opportunity to sponsor Ugandan children through education with support
raised through engagement ring sales.
“We sponsored five children to help get
them out of mineral mines and into
education, but once they were living
better lifestyles all I could think of was
those who remained,” says Johnston.
In a drive to help more children she
founded the Flawless Proposal and to
date the project has helped 101 Ugandan children, some of who are now
12
applying to go to university to further
their education
Similarly, Oria has donated proceeds
from its silver collections to the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species, supporting endangered species including
lions, wolves and owls – the animals
that have inspired its silver collections.
Tuck has also taken time to work with
community projects overseas, and
regularly travels abroad, most recently
returning from South Africa, where
she works with a grass-roots jewellery
project training people from impoverished communities to become gold
and silversmiths. In addition, proceeds
made from the sales of Avasarah’s Essence and Lotus collections are donated to a women’s charity in India called
Apne Aap.
Consumers will have the chance to
get to know more about the ethical side
of jewellery as more retailers offer fair
trade products and continue to educate
shoppers. For those retailers who are
feeling overwhelmed by the market but
are still considering stocking or making ethical jewellery, Valerio has some
words of comfort. “It’s a complicated
arena, the names and processes aren’t
easy to understand and I’m sympathetic to any jewellery retailer who is
looking to move into ethical and fair
trade jewellery,” he says.
But for each company, designer or
retailer interested in ethical jewellery,
they are helping to spread the word and
whip up public interest - something no
doubt welcomed by the campaigners
such as Valerio, who have been working
tirelessly on this project for more than a
decade and are finally seeing their hard
work get the recognition and certification that it deserves.
CHARLES JENCKS FOR HAMILTON & INCHES / CHARITY
2
POSTMODERNIST HERO CHARLES JENCKS HAS TEAMED UP WITH HAMILTON & INCHES TO TRY HIS
HAND AT JEWELLERY DESIGN FOR THE FIRST TIME TO RAISE FUNDS FOR CHARITY MAGGIE’S. HE TELLS
RACHAEL TAYLOR WHY JEWELLERY DESIGN IS A GREAT VACATION FOR HIM AND REVEALS PLANS FOR
A WHOLE COSMIC-THEMED SPIN OFF.
1
L
1
The Garden
of Cosmic
Speculation.
2
The silver and
malachite pendant
designed by
Charles Jencks.
28
ooking down on The
Garden of Cosmic Speculation from an ariel
view, you can almost see
potential ready-made
jewellery designs staring back at you.
The carefully constructed stairways,
curving pathways, stark sculptures and
strategically placed lakes of this garden
within the grounds of Portrack House in
Dumfries, Scotland, would provide rich
inspiration for any jewellery designer,
so it is perhaps of no surprise that its
designer Charles Jencks has decided to
turn his creative hand to jewellery design. And, it’s for a good cause.
In the jewellery industry most charity
projects tend to involve impoverished
mining communities in the third world,
but this project, for which Jencks has
teamed up with retailer Hamilton &
Inches, is benefitting people very much
closer to home.
The legendary landscape architect,
and author and critic of postmodernism,
has designed a pendant that will sell
though Hamilton & Inches shops in Edinburgh and London to raise funds for
Maggie’s, a charity that provides cancer
caring centres in the UK.
The charity is close to Jenck’s heart as
he founded it in the mid-1990s with his
late wife Maggie Keswick Jencks, who
died of cancer the year before the first
centre opened. Maggie herself was also
a landscape designer, as well as a writer,
painter and mother of two. Design was
very important to the pair, so much so
that each Maggie’s centre and surrounding gardens is designed to be a visually
stunning architectural project in its
own right. As well as a shared passion
for design, the pair have a belief that
fighting cancer is much better done in
inspiring surrounds.
While Jencks has designed many
gardens in his time and is famed for his
books on postmodernism, but he has
never extended his design skills to jewellery, until now.
Design projects for Jencks are normally a long, drawn-out process, as the
sculpting of landscapes to fit his vision
and terrifyingly high standards, is a
complicated process. So when it comes
to designing jewellery, Jencks says it is
“like a great vacation where you can
express things simply”.
While he has enjoyed his holiday from
landscape architecture, he has not left
it behind altogether. The silver pendant
with malachite central stone that he
has designed for Hamilton & Inches is
inspired The Garden of Cosmic Speculation. Jencks says that transferring
his design skills to jewellery is simple
enough. “The thing about jewellery is
it’s very like furniture or a pavilion or a
chair: fairly small but like a mathematical puzzle,” he says. “It’s a wonderful
exercise of thought.”
Jencks says it is a natural progression
for architects to excel in the creation of
jewellery and gives the example of his
friend Frank Gehry, an architect who
designs collections for Tiffany & Co.
A key theme to Jencks’ work is the
cosmos, and he says that the pendant is
also inspired by what he terms the galactic roundabout. “It’s when two galaxies get close and they strip each other of
matter and so the two galaxies have a
central black hole holding a whole galaxy,” he explains. “The lines of the force
become the design.”
While Jencks has found the design
process relatively simple in comparison
to landscape he says that there has been
lessons to learn about jewellery making,
particularly with materials – Jencks
had originally wanted to use hammered
silver but found this was unsuitable.
“There are some techniques that you
think are simple that are very difficult
and expensive,” he muses. “There is a
learning curve and that’s why you must
work closely with experts.”
Jencks has enjoyed the project so
much that he says he is hoping to spin
out his collaboration with Hamilton &
Inches into a “series of cosmic jewels”.
No extension has been confirmed but
Jencks says that he would design the collection under his own name and would
continue to use it as a way to raise funds
for Maggie’s, so this could be the beginning of a beautiful partnership, in more
ways than one.
WatchPro
MARCH 2011 / ISSUE 03
NEWS, TRENDS AND MARKET INTELLIGENCE FOR THE BRITISH WATCH INDUSTRY
HAMILTON
SURE AND
STEADY
NEWS
PEOPLE
PRODUCTS
OPINION &
COMMENT
BASELWORLD
PREVIEW
MY WATCHES
AND I
CUSTOMER
EVENTS
THE LUMINOX
BLACKOUT
Made by hand
to touch your heart
Frederique Constant passionately supports charity.
We donate the cost of a life-saving heart scan
for each Frederique Constant Double Heart Beat
watch sold. Through donations to the International
Children’s Heart Foundation and the American
Heart Association, we promote our campaign to
cure children with heart malfunctions.
Liveyourpassion
Baselworld
Hall 1.0 Stand B31
For an appointment, please, contact
Argento Fine Products Ltd, on 020 7722 2438
Chocolate
Double
Heart Beat
14
FRONT
6
3
News Review
A round up of this month’s watch industry news.
6
News in Quotes
Who said what in the world of watches this month.
7
Watch Watch
MGS’ Steve Brydon on the effectiveness of customerfocused shopping evenings.
3
8
ON THE COVER
8
Hamilton: Continuing the Tradition
WatchPro meets Hamilton’s newly appointed brand
president Sylvian Dolla and finds out his plans for the UK
and online markets.
12
My Watches and I
Head of Houlden Group and Laings of Glasgow’s Stuart Laing
on the watches which have shaped his life and business.
14
BaselWorld Preview
What’s new and who to see among watchmakers at Basel.
7
12
REGULARS
22
24
New Products
A fresh selection of timepieces above and below the
£1,000 mark.
Tech Spot
Th is month, WatchPro can’t get enough of the glowing
Colourmark Blackout by Luminox.
14
24
THIS MONTH’S COVER
The stainless steel Khaki
SkyMaster UTC by Hamilton
www.professionaljeweller.com / MARCH 2011 / WATCHPRO
1
COMMENT
ITP PROMEDIA PUBLISHING
The atmosphere at BaselWorld is often used as an annual barometer of the state
of the global watch market.
Offhand remarks made in the
aisles at the show and inebriated witterings overheard at
the bars of the BaselWorld Village are often transmogrified
into cold hard fact. But what
will the mood be this year?
If the latest Swiss watch export
figures are anything to go by, it should
be fairly buoyant. It seems that the
world – the US, France and China in
particular – has a healthy appetite for
Swiss-made watches.
And feedback from purveyors of
fashion watches has also been positive
of late, with the rise of multi-watch
owners and the continuing appetite
for quick fashion fi xes such as bright
silicone watches sustaining for the
moment.
Last year at BaselWorld the overarching mood was one of cautious
optimism. Most brands presented
classical, safe, more commercial
design options and a huge variety of
brands, from De Grisogono to ToyWatch, steamrolled into the colourful
trend with brights and neons, hoping
to profit from the zeitgeist.
To get a flavour of the new offering
of watches that will be on show at
BaselWorld 2011 read on to fi nd our
show preview of a selection of brands
exhibiting at the annual watch extravaganza. You’ll fi nd a lot of reissues
and reconfiguring – a sign that the
market is still playing safe? You’ll have
to wait for our post-Basel review next
month to fi nd out, but why not make
a few of your own predictions in the
meanwhile.
16A Baldwins Gardens, London, EC1N 7RJ, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 31 764228
Fax: +44 (0) 20 31 764231
EDITORIAL
EDITOR Rachael Taylor, [email protected]
ASSISTANT EDITOR Kathryn Bishop,
[email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS Steve Brydon, Stuart Laing
COMMERCIAL
SALES MANAGER
Terri Woodhams, [email protected]
STUDIO
GROUP ART EDITOR Daniel Prescott,
[email protected]
DESIGNER Lucy McMurray
DIGITAL
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Hitendra Molleti, [email protected]
ONLINE PRODUCTION Ernesto Ceralde,
Rose Yorobe, Bryan Silva
PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
RACHAEL TAYLOR
EDITOR
[email protected]
GROUP PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
DIRECTOR
Kyle Smith, [email protected]
DEPUTY PRODUCTION MANAGER
Matthew Grant, [email protected]
DATABASE MANAGEMENT Manju Sajeesh,
[email protected]
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE
+971 4 286 8559
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Steve Brydon is
Stuart Laing is
Web: www.professionaljeweller.com
sales director at
chief executive of
Printed by: The MANSON Group Limited
MGS, distributor
The Houlden Group
of watch brands
and owner of Laings
including Lacoste
of Glasgow, special-
and Tommy Hilfiger
ists in fine watches
and part of Steerwell Group, distributor
and jewellery. He dedicated his time this
of Raymond Weil. Steve talks to Watch-
month to WatchPro’s new feature My
Pro about the benefits of consumer-
Watches and I, revealing his favourite
focused events.
watches and what they mean to him.
COMMENT OF THE MONTH
The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability
for error or omissions in this publication, however
caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers.
Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before
acting on information contained in this publication,
which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances.
The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part
of this publication or any part of the contents thereof
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form without the permission of the
publishers in writing. An exception is hereby granted
for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.
Kyle on Interview: Ralph
Simons, Frederique Constant
“Great interview. Congrats
to Mr.Simons and FC on
their continued success.
Impressive.”
2
As comment of the month, Kyle has
won a men’s Moorea Vintage watch
by Pequignet, with black dial and date
worth more than £700. To be in with
a chance of winning in April’s issue
all you have to do is join the online
community at professionaljeweller.
com and comment on a watch story..
WATCHPRO / MARCH 2011 / www.professionaljeweller.com
Published by and copyright 2011
Promedia Ltd, incorporated and
registered in the British Virgin Islands
under company number 1559854.
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
TOP STORY
NEWS IN BRIEF
NEWS IN QUOTES
WATCH WATCH COLUMN
PARTIES
3
4
6
7
7
THIS MONTH IN THE WORLD OF WATCHES
SWISS WATCH EXPORT MARKET CONTINUES
TO FLOURISH IN JANUARY AFTER STRONG 2010
S
wiss watch exports
enjoyed a buoyant start
to the year despite a
slowdown in sales in its
biggest market of Hong Kong in
January.
Overseas sales of Swiss watches
rose 14.6 percent in January, according to new figures released by
the Swiss customs office, despite
facing tough comparables from the
year before. Adjusting for inflation,
this figure was 16.9 percent.
This healthy start to 2011 is
especially sweet as it has been
achieved despite a drop off in sales
in Hong Kong, the largest export
market for Swiss watches. Sales in
Hong Kong dropped 6.1 percent in
January after 13 months of rises.
Despite this cooling off in Hong
Kong, the region remained the
industry’s largest export market
with sales of CHF215.3 million
(£141.5m).
Analysts were not overly concerned about the decline in Hong
Kong, suggesting that it might
have been the result of sluggish
sales brought about by an earlier
Chinese New Year and figures
faced tough comparables from
2010. It is expected that sales in the
region will pick up again in coming
months.
The decline in sales in Hong
Kong was offset by a boom in
export business to France and
the US. Sales in the US rose by
30.3 percent to CHF114.1 million
(£75m), securing it a place as the
Swiss watch industry’s second-
best market. Sales in France also
rocketed, according to figures
from the Federation of the Swiss
Watch Industry, showing growth
of 40.7 percent to CHF81.8 million
(£53.8m).
Sales in China also enjoyed
good growth, up 20.8 percent to
CHF90.9 million (£59.8m).
The positive January figures
come after a year of positive
growth for Swiss watchmakers in
2010 when the sector registered
story continued on page 6
FOR DEDICATED WATCH INDUSTRY NEWS ONLINE CLICK THE WATCHPRO TAB AT
3
FRONT / NEWS REVIEW
NEWS REVIEW
INDUSTRY MOURNS
WATCHMAKER
Leading figure in Swiss watch
making Claude-Daniel Proellochs passed away in January, following a short battle with cancer.
He was preparing, with his son,
to launch his own brand named
de Bougainville, as a tribute to
the famous 18th century French
seafarer. Proellochs had devoted
his entire career to watch making, fi rstly with Omega, then with
Eterna, where he was general
manager for fourteen years.
OOZOO WATCHES
SNAPPED UP BY
JOHN LEWIS
CASIO SIGNS BRITAIN’S NEXT TOP
MODEL JOY
C
asio women’s watch brand
Baby-G unveiled Joy
McLaren, best known for
her participation in 2010’s
Britain’s Next Top Model, as its new UK
brand ambassador. Casio awarded the
contract in collaboration with Britain’s
Next Top Model, in a competition judged
by model Elle Macpherson, fashion
designer Julian MacDonald, stylist Grace
Woodward and male model and actor
Charley Speed.
ELLE TIME TO
RELAUNCH IN UK
Fashion watch brand OOZOO
has signed a deal with department store chain John Lewis.
The Dutch watch brand will be
stocked by the retailer following a deal struck at Spring Fair.
OOZOO launched in the UK
18 months ago and is already
popular in Europe. The fashion
watches have an RRP of £50 to
£130. OOZOO UK boss Stuart
Baxandell said: “The watches are
like Gap jeans – they are cool
even though they are cheap.”
Elle Time is planning to relaunch in the UK market.
Distributor Top Brands is working with former Hot
Diamonds managing director Jonathan Crocker in
the UK to set up a retail distribution for the watch
brand. Crocker said: “The very talented team at Top
Brands have totally revitalised the product line and
have a retail proposition that should prove to be
very successful on the world stage. I am now looking to fi nd distribution in the UK to work with to
ensure there is a solid foundation to build from.”
4
BURTON MCCALL
TAKES ON LUMINOX
Burton McCall has taken over the UK distribution
of Luminox, the brand that created the Always
Visible self-powered illuminated watch. Luminox
watches employ Luminox Light Technology to
provide reliable visibility in the darkest of conditions and as a result are worn by SWAT teams,
helicopter rescue crew, stealth fighter pilots and the
Navy Seals. Every model in the collection remains
luminous for up to 25 years, without the need for
an external light source. Derek Salter at Burton
McCall said: “We are thrilled to add Luminox to
our portfolio of watch brands including Victorinox
Swiss Army, Mondaine Official Swiss Railways
Watch and Cuervo y Sobrinos Habana.We believe
that the brand offers a unique proposition at a very
competitive price point, and with the right retailers
on board we are certain Luminox will be as much of a
success in the UK
as it is internationally.”
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
SWATCH EYES COMPONENT MAKERS
TO HIT FOUR YEAR SALES TARGET
S
watch Group, the world’s largest
watchmaker, is looking to acquire
component makers to help achieve
annual sales of CHF10 billion within
four years. Swatch may spend between CHF250300 million to increase capacity, and CHF150
million on distribution, said chief executive
Nick Hayek. “There are some companies around
that would deserve better management,
and if we would take them over, it would be
added value for these companies and their
shareholders,” added Hayek. He declined to
identify potential candidates and said he has no
defi nite acquisition plans. “The Swatch Group
has a fantastic portfolio of brands”, said Hayek,
who added that he is not looking to increase the
number of brands currently owned by the group.
DMJ LAUNCHES
WIZE & OPE
French fashion watch brand
Wize & Ope was treated to a
show stopping launch at The
Jewellery Show in Birmingham
last month, through distributor
DMJ. The watch brand, which
is fronted by a Japanese-style
cartoon creature, had its own
dedicated stand design to attract visitors’ attentions to the
new range. Wize & Ope accessorised their space with a
silver-coloured Chopper-style
bicycle and disco ball. DMJ sales
manager John Ball said that the
range had attracted a lot of attention at the show and that the
brand was already in talks with
a major department store.
ROYAL LONDON HOSTS STAFF AWARDS
Condor brand Royal London hosted its fi rst staff
awards, rewarding two members of staff for
outstanding work over the last 12 months. Dean
Craske has been named Area Sales Manager
of the Year, with Dinesh Bhudia recognised for
his strong consistent performance. The judging
criteria was based on performance in sales, all
round customer service, area management and
development of the area over a year-long period.
Craske was presented with an engraved crystal
trophy and rewarded with £1,000 of holiday
vouchers, while Bhudia was given £500 of holiday vouchers for “a much deserved break.”
BREITLING OPENS NY STANDALONE STORE
Breitling has opened its first
standalone store near Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. The Swiss
watch brand unveiled the 3-storey,
4,500sq ft store, complete with
New York-inspired pop-art theme
in January. Throwing a party to
celebrate the launch, Breitling saw
a number of guests attend including its ambassador, the actor John
Travolta - known for his aviation
hobby - and sports stars including
the New York Islanders’ Swiss ice
hockey player Mark Streit.
PEQUIGNET
REBRANDS LOGO
Watch brand Pequignet rebranded its logo in favour of a
stylised fleur-de-lis to connect
with the brand’s French heritage. The new logo will officially
launch at BaselWorld and will
be introduced to the brand’s
watch dials, jewellery and
packaging. Pequignet UK brand
manager Guy Allen believes the
new logo will become monumental for the watch brand.
Likening the stylised fleur-de-lis
logo to Gucci’s interlocking GG
logo Allen said that it could become iconic for Pequignet.
5
FRONT / NEWS REVIEW
NEWS IN QUOTES
“I love the watches because they’re not office-y
they are really fun, colourful and come in a nice
variety of styles.”
Britain’s Next Top Model contestant JOY MCLAREN gets practicing
her speeches as she becomes brand ambassador for Baby-G.
“I would like to express my gratitude for the
bravery of the members of the public who
intervened. Whilst we would always urge people
not to put themselves in danger, I can only
applaud the actions of those who intervened
whether directly or by filming events.”
story continued from page 3
exports worth CHF16.2 billion
(£10.7bn), up CHF2.9bn (£1.9bn)
on the previous year.
Th is annual growth of 22.1
percent indicates a return to a
healthy and robust situation for
Swiss watchmaking, with a level
slightly higher than the 2007
result, which was considered at
the time to be excellent.
The recovery was noticeable from January 2010, with
all months in 2010 showing an
upward trend, often in excess
of 20 percent, or even 30 percent as was seen in March and
June. Growth accelerated each
quarter, fi nally bringing watch
exports to a rate of increase of
24.3 percent in the second halfyear, compared to 19.6 percent
in the fi rst.
The decline seen in 2009 has
not been fully erased, as the sector has still to return to the level
of export encountered in 2008.
The latest results indicate however that the recovery is based
on fi rm foundations and is set to
continue in 2011.
Wristwatches accounted for
nearly 94 percent of the exports
by Swiss watch manufacturers, recording an increase of
22.7 percent to CHF15.1 billion
(£9.9bn). With a view to popular
styles and materials, steel was
the material of choice for more
than one in two timepieces,
while gold watches were also
close to the yearly average.
A trend for bi-metallic timepieces achieved particularly
strong growth, rising 50.7 percent by value.
Watches with an export
price of less than CHF200
(£130) were largely responsible
for the rise in the total number
of timepieces, with an increase
of 18.5 percent. Interestingly,
timepieces priced between
CHF500 and 3,000 were situated slightly below the average,
while watches costing more
than CHF3,000 (£1,980) recorded an increase of 24.2 percent
by value and 29.8 percent by
volume, indicating strength in
the luxury watch market.
Hong Kong imported almost
double the number of Swiss
watches compared to its 2009
imports, with 2010 seeing a 46.9
percent rise in imports. The
USA market grew 13.8 percent,
with Switzerland’s close neighbour France importing 20.5
percent more Swiss watches
than the previous year.
Overally, China saw the largest
number of Swiss watch exports,
reaching 57 percent more than
2009, equating to just over
CHF1 billion (£660.2m).
Detective Superintendent JOHN O’LEARY, from the Met’s Flying
Squad, thanks those who stepped in to thwart a gang robbing Ernest
Jones in Kensington, London, in October.
“A man of culture and letters, a lover of Italy and
all things Italian. Claude-Daniel Proellochs was
a master of subtle humour and leaves only fond
memories to those who had the good fortune to
know him.”
The Federation of the Swiss Industry remembers former Vacheron
Constantin president CLAUDE-DANIEL PROELLOCHS, who died
following a short battle with cancer.
“It’s really very special and much more dynamic
than the EP logo. Moving forward it will become
an integral part of who we are.”
Pequignet UK brand manager GUY ALLEN on rebranding the EP logo.
>> Something to say? Email [email protected]
6
>> Got a story for WatchPro? Email [email protected]
NEWS REVIEW / FRONT
WATCH WATCH
THE GUEST LIST
It’s amazing what a little
tea party can do for
retail sales
RAYMOND WEIL PRESENTS SPECIALEDITION WATCHES TO THE WINNERS
AND PRESENTERS AT THE BRIT
AWARDS 2011
STEVE BRYDON
sales director, MGS
S
wico and MGS have been
consumer something new to stop
successfully distributing
them on the high street.. For us, this
brands such for over 35
might entail visuals to promote Hugo
years, and our portfolio
Boss signing as the official watch of
includes Raymond Weil, Hugo Boss
Cowes or using samples of the latest
and Juicy Couture. One of the main
Juicy Couture fragrance to coincide
reasons for our success has been
with a TV campaign. The aim is
the level of effort we put into making
always to increase activity, interest
our brands work within our stores.
and therefore sales.
Because we have invested heavily
I have attended some superb
in the support teams for stores we
customer events and evenings, and
are able to deliver a much greater
I am always impressed by the level
level of activity for the shops. Any
of effort and commitment that goes
good retailer knows they must
into making these a success. I am
constantly promote and reinvent
surprised that more shops do not
themselves to stay one step ahead
do any activity of this sort. Some do
in the market and for us the process
not even seem to keep an up to date
is twofold.
database of their customers.
Firstly, how do we retain our
Our team would always support
existing customer base and keep
such events and indeed we run
them engaged and spending with
them on behalf of some of our
us? And secondly, how do we attract
customers. Last year we operated
new customers?
a hugely successful series of Juicy
The proactive retailer will invest
Raymond Weil signed up as the official watch partner for the Brit Awards
for the fourth consecutive year. The
brand designed 60 special timepieces and presented them to Brits winners and presenters at the ceremony in London on February 15, who
included Jessie J, Cee Lo Green and
Arcade Fire (pictured above). Raymond Weil created a 42mm handcrafted steel case chronograph on a
black leather strap for the gents and
a 32mm watch set with 72 diamonds
with a black mother of pearl dial for
the ladies.
Couture Tea Parties with our
both time and money in a wide
retailers. We supplied the party kit
variety of activity to achieve these
and all the store had to do was invite
aims. Many host events such as
their customer base and keep the
diamond evenings and constantly
kettle on. It was great fun, increased
change the look of their windows.
sales for us as a brand and for the
This doesn’t mean constantly
stores across all of their products.
changing brands, but does mean
It’s amazing what a little imagination
that windows need to offer the
and effort can do.
7
HAMILTON / INTERVIEW
8
INTERVIEW / HAMILTON
CONTINUING THE TRADITION
INCOMING HAMILTON BRAND PRESIDENT SYLVIAN DOLLA IS HAPPY WITH HIS LOT.
INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PUT HIS STAMP ON THE AMERICAN WATCH BRAND, HE TELLS
RACHAEL TAYLOR THAT HE IS HAPPY TO SAIL THE COURSE ALREADY SET WHILE
BOLSTERING THE UK MARKET AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, CONQUERING ONLINE.
F
or a man who has just
secured a top job at a
leading watch brand, Sylvian Dolla is remarkably
unambitious. In fact, he’s
positively comfortable.
“This is the first time in my life that
I don’t think, ‘what will I do in the future?’,” says the new brand president
for Hamilton, as he relaxes back into a
sofa in a central London hotel during an
exclusive interview with WatchPro.
The reason for this calm, according
to Dolla, is that he has been working
with the brand for a number of years
and is enjoying the direction it is heading in. While some new presidents
might steam into the role and want to
rip up the rule book and start again,
as an internal candidate who has been
with Hamilton for six years, Dolla is
quietly satisfied to build on what he has
been involved in creating since joining
the company.
“The brand has been put in a direction that is very successful and I don’t
want to revolutionise it,” says Dolla,
who has risen through the ranks at
Hamilton. Before securing his position
as brand president, Dolla was head of
sales at Hamilton, and before this he
worked elsewhere within Hamilton’s
parent company Swatch Group.
His strategy it would seem is to build
on what the brand has already achieved
and make it stronger, rather than
branching out in completely new directions. “I would like to double turnover
in the next few years and strengthen
our markets,” says Dolla. “We have no
plans to expand, we want to focus on
what we are doing.”
One area that he hopes to improve on
is Hamilton’s retail distribution in the
UK. The brand currently has 88 points
of sale in the UK and Dolla says that the
plan is to achieve “qualitative growth”.
“We want to build slowly but surely
in the UK,” he says. “Today, the UK is a
relatively small part of the business but
has a very high potential for growth.”
As part of its marketing strategy
for the UK the watch brand is getting
involved with local events, most notably
through link ups with rugby. The brand
is the official watch supplier to London’s Harlequins Rugby Club.
“The rugby player and the rugby
fan is the perfect customer for us,”
enthuses Dolla. While other watch
brands have made moves to align
themselves with the world of rugby,
such as TAG Heuer’s sponsorship of
England Rugby , Hamilton believes that
it is one of the first watch brands to get
involved at local club level.
“Rugby is not something that we
will develop on the worldwide stage
but something that is local to the UK,”
explains Dolla.
Looking at the worldwide stage
there are a couple of markets outside
of the UK that Hamilton is interested
in strengthening, in particular northern Europe and China. “There is huge
potential in the UK, northern Europe
and China in the next four to five years,”
reveals Dolla.
But the real push for Hamilton on
the world stage is not in one particular
geographical country, but the planet as
a whole through its online division.
Hamilton is breaking new ground
online and is dedicated to using the
web to push its business forward.
“There are brands that see the internet
as a risk but we see it as an opportunity,” states Dolla.
The online team at Hamilton is an
important part of the business, with
dedicated webmasters located in every
major city it operates in, including
HAMILTON NOVELTIES
FOR 2011
In 2012, Hamilton will celebrate its 120th anniversary
and to celebrate it has looked back through its archives
and is reissuing modern updates of a Hamilton classics from decades gone by.
1930s: The Lady Hamilton Vintage is a reinterpretation of an original 1930s timepiece. The elegant watch celebrates the blurring lines between
jewellery and dress watches and to bring it up
to date in 2011 it has been coated with a PVD treatment to give it a tarnished, vintage effect.
1940s: The Khaki Skymaster UTC pays direct
tribute to the Hamilton chronometers it made in the
1940s that integrated sidereal time, which
measured time relative to the motion of
the stars around the earth, as opposed
to that of the sun. This new trio of
timepieces with GMT functionality uses
contemporary design and current airport
abbreviations to celebrate the impressive
voyage that navigational timekeeping has made to modernity.
1960s: The Hamilton Thin-O-Matic takes
a wistful look back to the 1960s, when the
original model of this name integrated a
breathtakingly flat Swiss movement
1970s: Pan Europ was one of the first automatic chronographs and with a case size of
42mm in the 1970s,
it would have been the equivalent
of a 52mm in present day sizes. In
2011, the watch has been updated
with a new movement based on
the ETA Valjoux, given increased
power reserve to 60 hours, the spiral has been turned around to make
a semi-circle, the barrel has been
altered and the case size has been
set at 46mm.
9
HAMILTON / INTERVIEW
1
public,” says Dolla. “Maybe the university will be copied but we were the first to
do it and that is important; we want to
keep leadership in terms of new ideas.”
The heavy investment in its website
has paid off. The site has phenomenal
traffic with 7,000 unique users visiting
the site each day and 5 million unique
visits a year.
The online interaction works both
ways at Hamilton, with the brand
regularly visiting the social networking
pages of its customers and potential
customers. “We pull all the Facebook
comments [made about the brand]
every morning,” reveals Dolla. “Before,
we needed to call retailers to get feedback but now we have direct feedback
on our novelties. It’s not always positive
but we don’t see that as a threat.”
The next step for the brand is to set
up an e-commerce site in the US, which
it will do in April. Dolla says that the
online shopping function will be more
about marketing the brand than generating sales, but it will be a new departure for the brand, which has never
sold direct to consumers online before.
Dolla says that there are no plans as yet
to do the same in Europe.
While e-commerce is a new direction
for the brand, the overriding strategy
being employed by Dolla is to play to
Hamilton’s strengths. The brand will
celebrate 120 years in business next
year and Dolla says that as it has aged,
the brand has become more secure
about what it is all about.
The brand is famous for its tie-ups
designed to educate
Shanghai and New York. It also has an
in-house team of web designers from
all over the world including Spain,
England, Switzerland and Croatia. “Everything is done internally so we can be
very reactive,” says Dolla.
The website looks slick, but Hamilton
is interested in creating a functional
site, not just a good-looking web presence. Its site is now optimised for use
on all types of smart phones, iPads
and traditional laptops and desktop
computers.
And the site offers more than an
About Us page, a bit of brand history
and a couple of watches; it hosts an
education tool for watch enthusiasts.
Dubbed Hamilton Watch University,
the tool launched in September 2010
and is an online resource for people
who want to learn more about watches.
Visitors to the site can read up on topics such as movements, functionality
and quality control, as well as finding
out more about the history behind
Hamilton, its watches and its links with
Hollywood.
The Hamilton Watch University is
open to the public, but the watch brand
initially considered keeping it protected
with a password and use it as a training tool for retail staff only. “At first we
wondered if it should have a log in but
at the end of the day we have put the
resources into it and we should make it
10
1
Elvis Presley wore a
Hamilton watch in
the film Blue Hawaii
2
The Hamilton
Watch University is
2
with Hollywood and Dolla says this
tradition will continue. The brand recently had one of its best bits of movie
placement to date, with its Khaki Field
Officer Auto being worn by lead actor
Ryan Reynolds in the film Buried, a film
about a man who buried alive with just
a torch and his trusty Hamilton watch.
It will also continue to create its
extra special limited-edition novelties
under the Hamilton Lab umbrella. This
year the brand has created a watch that
looks like a silver-coloured lipstick and
has dual time zone analogue faces that
can be screwed up and out of the case
just like a lipstick. The watch, which
can be worn on a string round the neck
or a band round the wrist is still in the
prototype stage, but Dolla promises
that fans of the brand will see it in a fi lm
sometime soon, although which film is
yet to be decided. “Hollywood likes us
because we do crazy things,” he laughs.
A lipstick-style watch certainly is a
crazy idea and after seeing the prototype, WatchPro is unconvinced, but
this is the beauty of the brand; it is
willing to innovate, to try new things.
Whether it is sponsoring local rugby
clubs, designing watches that don’t
fit on wrists or establishing an online
watch university, it is pushing boundaries.
So while Dolla says he wants to play
it safe in his new position of power,
what this actually means is he is innovatively forging forward; it just so happens that breaking new ground is old
ground for Hamilton.
Pure des=gn.
Unmistakable face. Distinctive hands. Undeniably Swiss.
The renowned Official Swiss Railways Clock skilfully reproduced as a watch.
Available in a range of sizes for men and women from £ 129.00
www.mondaine.com
To become an authorised stockist, please contact Raj Vadera on 0116 234 4656 or email [email protected]
STUART LAING / COLLECTORS
&
MY WATCHES I...
STUART LAING
LAINGS OF GLASGOW AND HOULDEN GROUP BOSS STUART LAING SHARES
WITH US HIS LOVE OF ROLEXES, HIS SURPRISE AT STAINLESS STEEL
TIMEPIECES AND GIVES HIS TIPS ON HOT AND COLD WATCH SECTORS.
A
s Laings of Glasgow
owner and Houlden
Group boss Stuart
Laing drops into conversation memories
of driving in his inexorably expensive
sports car on the way to his second
home in sunnier climes, it is clear to see
that he enjoys the good things in life.
When WatchPro comments that he
has set an unusually fancy location for
our meet to and he humorously retorts
“Well, that’s because I’m a pretty posh
guy!”, it seems these assumptions are
now fact.
So which brand would be the watch
of choice for a pretty posh guy? “Rolex
is a wonderful company, it will always
reign high in the industry,” enthuses
the always charming Laing. He goes on
to say that the new 31mm ladies Rolex
with a scattered diamond bezel has
enjoyed “a phenomenal launch” at his
luxury jewellery store in Glasgow.
Laings of Glasgow has been enjoying a boom period in the watch sector
with Laing describing business as
being “through the roof”. He substantiates with figures, revealing that watch
sales over the festive period were up
5.5 percent on the year before, with the
comparative 2009 figures described as
having been strong.
As well as running his retail empire
in Glasgow and coordinating the Houlden buying group, Laing also runs an
online club for watch enthusiasts called
12
Laings Watch Club at laingswatchclub.
com. While Laing manages to get favourites Rolex in the first paragraph
of his opening welcome on the site, he
is keen that the forum should be just
that, and not an output for his personal
tastes or an advertising platform for
brands sold at his shop. To ensure that
impartiality succeeds he has employed
friend and fellow watch collector
Stephen Cosh to manage the site.
The site is a clubhouse for watch fans
where they can meet online and chat
about their favourite new bezels and
trash the latest tourbillions. But the
club also connects with the real world,
organising Laings Watch Club trips to
SIHH and BaselWorld, and extending
invites to instore events at Laings of
Glasgow. The response to the club has
been described as “unbelievable”.
Another unbelievable moment for
Laing has been the entrance of stainless steel watches into the higher end of
the market, with Laing estimating that
such models have doubled in price over
the past decade.
“I would never have believed that I
would be able to sell a stainless steel
watch for more than £7,000,” he says
with amazement, but he has. Laing sold
a stainless steel IWC model for £7,950,
and rather than being faced with a
hard sell, he had three customers fighting over it.
Needless to say, Laing is adding an
IWC stainless steel watch or two to his
PLAYING THE
WATCH MARKET
BUY
Stuart Laing’s tip
of the moment is
mid-sized watches with case
sizes of 30mm
to 31mm, which
he describes as
“a huge growth
area”. “Before
it was mainly
for men with
small wrists or
ladies with larger
writsts, but now
the mid size is
becoming a cult,”
he says.
SELL
Laing says that
there has been a
serious decline
in purchasing
in the 18ct gold
watch sector.
“Rising gold
prices have
priced some
watches out
of the market,
but there is still
some good sales
at the Patek
Philippe level,”
he says.
shopping list, but much to his disappointment, and no doubt that of the
two shoppers who missed out, he can’t
get his hands on another until May.
What to do? Well, we don’t doubt
that a spin in a nice sports car and a
trip to the Rolex cabinet should go
some way to set the world at right.
COLLECTORS / STUART LAING
13
BASELWORLD / SHOW PREVIEW
BASELWORLD
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WORLD’S BIGGEST WATCH SHOW
THE JEWELLERY SHOW FACTS
WHERE: Messe
Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
WHEN: Thursday 14th March to
Thursday 31st March 2011
Daily from 9am to
6pm with early close at 4pm on
the final day
OPENING TIMES:
M
CH Swiss Exhibition, the show management company behind the mighty
BaselWorld, said it is expecting more than 1,800 exhibitors and in excess
of 100,000 visitors to attend the 2011 show, making it the largest watch
and jewellery show in the world. Used as a launchpad for some of the
most important watch launches of the year, the show is a must-attend for serious watch
retailers and collectors. Some launches will be kept under lock and key until the actual
show itself, but most brands have given some indication as to what we can expect to see at
this year’s show. Read on for some highlights that you can see in Basel this month.
BREITLING
BREITLING TO UNVEIL NEW PILOT’S WATCH
T
he new Chronospace Automatic from Breitling
is an authentic pilot’s instrument distinguished
both by its performances and by its unique and
powerful look. The star-shaped design of the
bidirectional rotating bezel ensures simple and accurate
handling of the circular slide rule serving to perform
all airborne navigation operations. The large 12 o’clock
numeral, the square hour-markers and the oversized hands,
all accentuated with a luminescent coating, lend a vigorous
and original touch to the dial while ensuring maximum
readability. The COSC-certified calibre achieves a peerless
level of precision. The dial and strap are available in four
different versions according to individual taste and usage,
thereby offering a personalised blend of performance and
style. HALL 1.0, A13
14
SHOW PREVIEW / BASELWORLD
TECHNOMARINE
FESTINA
TECHNOMARINE DOES
BASIC YET BOLD
A
return to basics for
Technomarine with
a re-introduction of
the brand’s nautical
characteristics. The Cruise Ceramic
Chroma is a bold chronograph
displaying an audacious mix of
ceramic, silicone and diamonds.
Any suspicion of banality is defied
by the option of a blue, green or
pure-red dial, a trio of colours that
underscores the contrast between
the immaculate white of the case
and the strap. HALL 1.1, B51
MAURICE LACROIX
MAURICE LACROIX’S
GROUNDBREAKING
SECONDS MECHANISM
FESTINA REINFORCES CYCLING
LINK WITH NEW RANGE
As a long-time sponsor of the
Tour De France, Festina
will reinforce its dedication to cycling with the
introduction of this
year’s Chrono Bike
collection. The new
Chrono Bike 2011
collection comprises 16 new gents
chronographs with
brightly coloured dials
on either a bracelet or
rubber strap. HALL 1.0, A25
FABERGÉ
FABERGÉ RETURNS TO
BASEL WITH OPULENT
DESIGNS
Having pushed boundaries with the Roue Carrée by creating a totally
new angle to mark the passage of time, Maurice Lacroix has now created a seconds mechanism that differs from its circular counterparts.
Activated by a toothed clover-leaf wheel, the small seconds comes to
life in a lively and steadfast rhythm provided by an openwork square
wheel. To leave the seconds hand squarely in the spotlight, the hours
and minutes are indicated by simple central hands coated with Superluminova. Contemporary and revolutionary, the Masterpiece Roue
Carrée Seconde has given time a new philosophy, in which aesthetics
and engineering go hand in hand. HALL 1.0, D21
Fabergé Horlogerie will
present three signature
collections of watches for
men and women at the show:
Agathon, Alexei and Anastasia.
Agathon features hand-crafted
enamel dials and Frederic Piguet
movement, Alexei subtly references the
past while showcasing artisanal brilliance, and Anastasia is glamorous timepiece dressed in diamonds. The distinctive Fabergé features
of guilloché engraving and enamels thread their way through the collections, and precious details recall the intricacies of Fabergé works
of art through egg-shaped cabochon and diamond crowns, handengraving on the movements and precious gem set buckles.
HALL 2.2, A20
15
FREDERIQUE CONSTANT
FREDERIQUE CONSTANT
CELEBRATES LINK UP
WITH PEKING TO PARIS
F
rédérique Constant will present its new Vintage Racing
collection and confirms its role as Official Timekeeper for
the exciting Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. Its large 43 mm
polished steel case, tone-on-tone silvered dial and resolutely
sporty shape are all inspired by old racing cars and their vintage spirit.
The design will be limited to of 1,888 pieces. HALL 1.0, B31
RADO
RADO REISSUES WORLD’S FIRST
SCRATCH-RESISTANT WATCH
BULOVA
BULOVA TO PRESENT
CONTEMPORARY OPENWORKING
Rado is paying tribute to the world’s first scratch
resistant watch - the DiaStar - with the Rado D-Star
Basel Special 2011. Combining high-tech ceramics
with rubber, Rado has used a high-tech material for
a sharp faceted ellipse case and for the clasp, and the
black matt rubber bracelet is entirely integrated to the
structured case. The Rado D-Star Basel Special has an
unusually thin chronograph movement along with a
tachymeter and with its wide opening, the features
of the dial are clear and simple to read. The date
falls into place at half-past four and Superluminova
enhances the shape and colour of the white and red
hands and triangular indexes. HALL 1.0, C01
Th is model from Bulova Accutron’s
Kirkwood collection has been revamped to meet the very latest trends.
The beautiful architecture that encases and protects the mechanical
movement has exchanged its steel
fi nery for more flamboyant pink gold.
Its skeleton dial is adorned with three
Roman numerals, eight hourmarkers
and, thanks to the openworked dial
and the watch’s transparent back, the
automatic movement can be admired
at leisure from both above and below.
A highly contemporary piece displaying perfect mastery of technique and
design. HALL 1.1, B19
VICTORINOX
VICTORINOX TO PRESENT
SUBDUED DESIGNS
While the Alliance collection has evolved constantly,
its values have remained intact. Reliability, understated design, functionality and Swiss quality are
the unchanging core of timepieces from Victorinox
Swiss Army. The latest Alliance model, which will
show at BaselWorld, has lyre-shaped horns, a round
case and brushed steel form. The charcoal-grey matt
lacquered dial reflects a modest approach echoed by
the counters, the hour-markers including only three
Arabic numerals. HALL 1.1, E41
16
www.policebeyounique.co.uk
LUMINOX
LUMINOX EXTENDS DIVERS’ RANGE
WITH PATENT-PENDING WATCH
T
he new automatic Deep Dive is the latest addition to the Luminox
collection of certified watches designed for diving professionals.
These instruments, which have been used for over 20 years by the
Navy Seals, the U.S. Coast Guard, and Stan Waterman, a pioneer
in the field, are the pride of Luminox, a brand which continually strives to
push back the limits of the ocean depths while fulfi lling the most demanding
specifications. Water-resistant to 500 metres, the Deep Dive features an
automatic helium valve, a patent-pending bezel locking system, and the
unique Luminox Light Technology system. Th is ensures optimum visibility
thanks to the micro-tubes which emit a blue glow, the last colour a diver can
discern as he decends. The Deep Dive is numbered limited edition. HALL 1.1, D41
MB&F’S HM2
LAST CHANCE TO SEE
MB&F’S HM2
After three successful years, the HM2 is preparing to bow out meaning BaselWorld
could be your last chance to see this striking timepiece. The brand will have two
18-piece limited series only, each fitted with the legendary sapphire crystal case,
in order to preserve the exclusive nature of the timepiece. The backdrop of the
HM2-Black SV, composed of a black titanium mainplate, highlights the movement
framed by an electric green gasket, the intensity of which is reflected on the
winding rotor visible through the back. Meanwhile, the HM2-Red SV combines red
gold with touches of black, metallic silvered shades as well as transparency effects.
The result is two superb colour combinations at the heart of these timepieces
embodying a horological revolution in terms of both their technology and of the
construction principles behind them. DREAM FACTORY, THE PALACE HALL
ORIS
SUPERSONIC FLIGHT INSPIRES NEW
SLIDE RULE ORIS DESIGN
Oris will launch a new watch inspired by October 14, 1947, the day the Bell X1
undertook the fi rst manned supersonic fl ight, breaking the sound barrier and
entering the history books. The new Oris Big Crown X1 that will be on show at
BaselWorld is a direct homage to this incredible aviation milestone, featuring
historically accurate slide rule detailing. The Bell X1 pilots undertook their
amazing feat in an age before computers and pocket calculators, relying on the
specially designed slide rule for all engineering calculations. In honour of these
pilots, Oris have included a circular version of the slide rule as part of the design
of the Big Crown X1 Calculator. The watch’s case also has a gunmetal coloured
PVD coating to mirror the copper colour of the Bell X-1 plane, and in a further
nod to its namesake, the re-set pusher of the chronograph is marked with an
“X” and the start stop pusher is marked with a “I”. HALL 1.0, C21
18
BLANCPAIN
DE GRISOGONO
BLANCPAIN CREATES
UNIQUE TIME ZONES WATCH
B
lancpain began the reinterpretation of its Villeret
collection last year and continues
with the exclusive presentation
of its fi rst Half-Hour Time Zone watch. Th is
enables travellers to countries like India or
Venezuela, where there is a half-hour time
zone, to be as punctual as anywhere else.
A veritable complication, this timepiece is
still quite simple to use. The reference time
is given at 12 o’clock and the half-hour time
zone and the seconds in the centre.
HALL 1.0, D09
RAYMOND WEIL
DE GRISOGONO
TONES DOWN WITH
MONOCHROME
Last year at BaselWorld,
fl amboyant brand De Grisogono presented a range
of neon watches. Th is year
it will bring a new range of
coloured watches to the
show but will also exhibit
the subdued monochrome
Meccanico dG. It has dual
time zone with analogue
and digital displays, exposed
movement, and is set on an alligator strap. HALL 1.1, E03
LONGINES
RAYMOND WEIL TO LAUNCH LONGINES CELEBRATES
FIRST MECHANICAL
1950S STYLE
MOVEMENT MOONPHASE
In the 1950s Longines supplied watches to the Swiss national airline,
Raymond Weil will launch its fi rst moon phase complication with
a mechanical movement at the show. Just as the Moon makes one
revolution around the Earth in 28 days, so the new maestro Moon
Phase will evolve around the wrist during the 365 days of the year.
The classic watch features a round
39.5mm case, a date counter
harmoniously positioned at 6
o’clock and a moon phase indicator at 10.30. The RW4500
mechanical movement with
automatic winding in the
maestro Moon Phase
has an advantage with
its power reserve of
38 hours, a longer period of time than one
rotation of the Earth
on its own axis.
HALL 1.0, D15
Swissair and the timepieces, which had been developed specifically
from the brand’s aviators watches, had a very
distinctive 24-hour dial. Th is technical
characteristic met the needs of navigators who, at the time, had to
determine the position of the
aircraft and set up a fl ight
plan. Longines has now
re-issued this watch for
both historical and
functional reasons,
as well as for the
aesthetic attraction it still holds
and will be showcasing the range at
BaselWorld under
the new name of
Longines Twenty-Four
Hours.
HALL 1.0, STAND C01
19
6ISITUSAT"ASEL
Palace 2&4
4OMAKEANAPPOINTMENTORFOR3ALESENQUIRIESEMAILUSON
WATCHENQUIRIES CASIOCOUKORCALL
NOMOS
NOMOS ON HIGH AFTER
SALON QP UK DEBUT
L
ocated in the famous watchmaking town of Glashütte, near Dresden in
Germany, NOMOS is one of the world’s rare “manufactories”, making its own
movements in its beautifully refurbished old railway station factory. Designs,
inspired by the Bauhaus movement of the 1920s, are simple and clean with
the brand claiming that many models have a unisex appeal. The brand showed at Salon
QP at the end of 2010 and distributor The Alexander Collections noted that the stars of
the event were the Automatic Zurich WorldTimer and Tangomat GMT models, which
show dual time zones. HALL 1.1, A27
GUCCI
SEIKO
SEIKO TO EXTEND SOLAR RANGE
AND ADD CHRONOGRAPH
GUCCI EXTENDS G-TIMELESS
WITH LADIES’ OPTION
In 2010, Seiko launched a collection of solar watches,
which it claims “received a quite remarkable response”, with consumer sales far exceeding expectations, something the brand says was a result of the
right product at the right time. At Baselworld 2011,
Seiko will expand the collection and will introduce
a chronograph to the range for the first time. Seiko
launched its first range of solar watches in 1977 but
the new wave of watches have a virtually jet black
dial, as the solar cell is so efficient that there is no
longer any need for the dials to be semi-transparent.
The watches derive their energy from all types of light
and just one minute of sunlight delivers one hour of
charge. The battery is self-recharging so never needs
to be replaced. HALL 1.0, A27
Building on the success of its G-Timeless
for men, Gucci now offers this model in
two ladies’ variations: a chronograph and a
three-hand watch. Designed by Frida Giannini, artistic director for the brand, the two
new timepieces are completely black, enlivened by a sprinkling of Gucci green and
red accents on the strap and dial. The strict
appearance of the black is further softened
by the diamond-style guilloché motif on the
dial. Connoisseurs will appreciate the signature fi ligree G discreetly adorning the dial
and the green-red-green stripe. The result is
a youthful and contemporary reinterpretation of the sense of original luxury embodied by the brand. HALL 1.0, A15
CORUM
AUTOMATIC GOLDEN
BRIDGE AT CORUM
When it was presented in 1980, the Golden Bridge baguette movement opened a new chapter in horology.
Now 30 years on, this exceptional linear movement
still exerts its magic and once more fi nds itself centre
stage with, for the fi rst time, an automatic version in
a larger red or white gold case. In the spotlight is the
new CO 313 calibre, a linear movement demanding an
exceptional level of horological savoir-faire. The twosided dial and four sapphire crystal sides have been
carefully structured to highlight the automatic movement. It is limited edition with 130 watches available
in red gold and 70 in white gold. HALL 1.0, B01
21
PRODUCTS
WATCH
SHOWCASE
/ OVER £1,000
/ OVER £1,000
PAN EUROP BY HAMILTON
This striking chorongraph is a celebration of
Hamilton’s history and is a reworking of a preexisting Hamilton model of the same name
that was issue in 1971. The squared case,
blue dial and bezel backgrounds, punctuated
leather strap and coloured hands make for a
striking look, while two chronograph counters
and tachymeter confirm the watch’s intrinsic
timekeeping competence. Placed neatly at 6
o’clock, the date display completes the symmetrical picture.
RRP: £1,095
Contact: Swatch Group, 0845 272 3200,
swatchgroup.com
MR GREEN BY LADOIRE
Part of Ladoire’s Black Widow range, Mr Green’s
daring openwork structure is multilayered and
delineates three regulator-type off set hours,
minutes and seconds zones with patented HMS
Planetary display complication mounted on
ceramic micro ball bearings. The watches in
the Black Widow collections also feature a GMT
function.
RRP: price on application
Contact: Ladoire, +41 22 301 9290, ladoire.ch
ROYAL OAK OFFSHORE
SINGULAR BY MEISTERSINGER
MONTBRILLIANT 01 BY BREITLING
BY AUDEMARS PIGUET
MeisterSinger is focusing its attentions on
This selfwinding tourbillon chornograph is
Breitling has now fitted its Montbrilliant trime-
single-hand watches. This timepiece works like a
an update on the brand’s Royal Oak Offshore
piece with its own in-house selfwinding chrono-
sun dial and you can tell the time by five-minute
offering from last year. More subdued, this
graph movement, Calibre 01. The 1940s-style
markings between each hour. The range has en-
new model offers a more standard dial layout
watch has been limited to 2,000 steel editions
joyed a stellar launch at London watch boutique
and the case is now made of forged carbon,
and 200 in red gold, as pictured. Each watch has
Jura. Protected by a domed sapphire crystal,
accentuated with a glossy black ceramic dial.
an individual serial number engraved at 9 o’clock
dials come in a variety of colours including this
The new model is also 2mm thinner at 14mm
and has a transparent sapphire crystal caseback
sunburst anthracite with white hands and toning
while retaining the same case size of 44m.
to show off the movement.
dark grey crocoprint calf leather strap.
RRP: £2,185
Contact: Audemars Piguet, audemarspiguet.
Contact: Breitling, breitling.com
Contact: DMJ, 01388 770 870, dmj.info
com
22
UNDER £1,000 / WATCH SHOWCASE
VIPER BY POLICE
C4001 BY OOZOO
This new Viper watch from Police is being
Dutch watch brand Oozoo has been
promoted by the brand in consumer ad-
making a splash in its home market
vertising. The multi-dial clock face fea-
and has now set its sights on the UK.
tures a date function and chronograph.
It offers a wide range of watches from
The watch is fitted with a Japanese move-
colourful silicone models to this oversized
ment, has a stainless steel case and black
timepiece with a focus on fun, fashion and
leather strap. Police has just launched a
readability. John Lewis is a recent stockist
customer incentive scheme called BeY-
of the brand and with low entry price
ounique that allows Police shoppers to
points under £50 the watches are ideal as
win holidays and get special deals such as
part of a gift or fashion offer
cinema tickets.
RRP: £49.95
RRP: £200
Contact: Oozoo UK, 01273 406 477, oozoo-
Contact: Inter City Group, 0121 436
watches.co.uk
1200, policebeyounique.co.uk
LADY COLLECTION BY SWATCH
CHRONOSPORT BY METAL.CH
This colourful offering from Swatch is a range
Metal.CH is a new brand for distributor
of silicone fashion timepieces with a double-
Nuval, which also distributes TechnoMar-
wrap strap feature. The pastel-hued Lady Col-
ine. The oversized Swiss watch brand has a
lection is available in 10 bright summer shades
strong style and this timepiece is typical of
of light blue, purple, peach, light pink, azure,
its sporty offering, complete with double
yellow, green, pale crimson, beige and white.
protection system. The steel watch is avail-
The new line adds to Swatch’s collection of
able is 44mm and 47mm case sizes with or
coloured watches unveiled last year, including
without black or pink gold PVD coating.
the New Gent range of men’s watches and the
RRP: £725
brightly coloured Colour Codes collection.
Contact: Nuval, 0121 233 4680
RRP: £30
NEWPORT YACHT CLUB BY
MICHEL HERBELIN
Contact: Linde Werdelin, 020 7727 6577,
lindewerdelin.com
This sporty watch is inspired by the
America’s Cup and the annual boat race
at Newport, Rhode Island in the US. The
Newport Yacht Club gent’s chronograph
has a stainless steel case, blue rubber
strap and Swiss quartz movement
to 1/10th second and boasts a date
window, titanium-coated face and
luminous hands and dial.
RRP: £665
Contact: Michel Herbelin UK, 01992
815 545, michelherbelin.co.uk
www.professionaljeweller.com / MARCH 2011 / WATCH PRO
23
COLOURMARK BLACKOUT BY LUMINOX / TECH SPOT
Night Vision
LUMINOX WATCHES ARE WORN BY SWAT TEAMS, FIGHTER PILOTS AND
NAVY SEALS BECAUSE OF THEIR ABILITY TO GLOW IN THE DARK. FIND OUT
HOW THE BRAND USES TINY GAS LIGHTS TO MAKE SURE ITS TIMEPIECES
ARE VISIBLE IN ANY SITUATION.
A
t first glance it’s hard to
understand why Luminox
watches would attract the
attention of Navy Seals,
SWAT teams and Stealth fighter pilots,
other than its monochromatic style and
tough look. But the secret to a Luminox
watch is that when the lights go out, its
ability to tell time is unimpaired.
It is this secret function that makes
the brand popular with professionals
who embark on covert missions where
timing is crucial but stealth is essential.
The hands and hour markers of this
Colourmark Blackout 3150 watch appear
white in the light but when put into darkness they glow blue, with the 12 o’clock
marker shining orange to make it easier
to work out which angle the watch is at in
the dark, allowing the wearer to be able
to tell the time in any situation.
To create this glow-in-the-dark functionality Luminox has employed technol-
is also extremely durable, with an anti-
ogy usually reserved for the military,
reflective hardened mineral glass face,
which it refers to as the Luminox Light
and is water resistant to 200m so it can
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Other models in the Blackout collec-
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Luminox watches can stay luminous 24
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24
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THE WATCH AND JEWELLERY SHOW
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INVESTIGATION / RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL
THE AUDIT TRAIL
IN THE NEXT 10 MONTHS 120 COMPANIES WILL HAVE TO RUN THE GAUNTLET OF
THE RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL’S EXTERNAL AUDITING PROCESS AS ITS
CONTROVERSIAL FREE RIDE COMES TO AN END. AS 2011 LOOKS SET TO DIVIDE THE
GREEN FROM THE GREENWASH, PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER INVESTIGATES THE MYTHS
SURROUNDING THE AUDITING PROCESS.
I
1
n the early days of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC),
membership was granted on
a promise. If a retailer, manufacturer or wholesaler wanted
to become part of the RJC all they had
to do was pay a membership fee and
make a public pledge to trade in a
responsible way, but in 2011 all this is
set to change.
The RJC has announced that all of
its members who joined the scheme
before December 31, 2009, must complete an independent auditing process
by the end of 2011, or else they will be
expelled from the programme. Th is
means that 120 companies who have
joined the RJC must now pass though
the auditing process in the next 10
months; a potentially costly and timeconsuming exercise.
Just five RJC members have already
completed the auditing process: Gay
Freres, Cartier, Raymond Bloch, Metalor and Rubel & Menasche. However,
the RJC says it “expects to add to this
in the coming weeks”.
Talking about the certification
success, Cartier’s president and chief
executive Bernard Fornas says he
“believes the RJC standard is a powerful and effective way to drive positive
change through the jewellery supply
chain from mining all the way to retail” and is proud to have been one of
the fi rst companies to have completed
the formal auditing process.
With a huge variety of companies
signed up to the RJC, from huge national chains such as Argos to small
brands such as Leblas and single-store
retailers including London’s Nicholas
James, there has been confusion over
1
Diamond trader
Rubel & Menasche
has completed its
RJC audit.
29
RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL / INVESTIGATION
WHY JOIN THE RJC?
The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international
not-for-profit organisation bringing together more
than 260 member companies committed to promoting
responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices in a transparent and accountable
manner throughout the jewellery industry from mine
to retail. Their commitment aims to reinforce consumer and stakeholder confidence in diamond, gold
and platinum metals jewellery products. The RJC has
developed the RJC Member Certification System, a certification system that will apply to all members’ businesses that contribute to the diamond, gold and platinum metals jewellery supply chain. Certified Members
have the benefit of recognition against an international
certification system, supporting their own reputations
and enhancing consumer confidence in the jewellery
supply chain more generally.
2
Cartier was the
first company to
become a fully
audited RJC
member.
3
Pendant by audited
RJC member Gay
Freres.
4
Cartier boss
Bernard Fornas is
a firm believer in
the RJC.
5
Ring by audited
RJC member Gay
Freres.
6
RJC chief executive
Michael Rae.
30
just how much the auditing process
will cost and if it will be a flat fee.
With a lack of clarity and the rumour
mill working hard, there had been talk
in the industry that a small designermaker, for example, would have to pay
the same as a major corporation.
The idea of a flat fee is certainly a
myth, according to RJC chief executive
Michael Rae. Just like the RJC membership fee is related to a member’s
annual turnover, the auditing costs
will also vary. He adds: “The rates
charged by auditors will vary based
on the nature and scale of the member’s business and competition in the
market, and are subject to commercial
arrangements between the member
and the auditor.”
While the RJC does not set standard
pricing structures, it has provided
guidance in the RJC Assesment Manual which it says members can use to
get “an indication of the scale of the
audit and hence the likely cost”.
To fi nd out what an audit will actually cost, which is based on how many
days the audit takes to complete and
is so related to the size and complexity of the business, members must
directly contact an approved RJC auditor for a quote. For UK members the
only choice of RJC-approved auditors
is SGS or Specialized Technology Resources, but Rae says that he expects
2
to add new auditors to the list in the
coming months.
So costs aside, what will the auditors be looking for? “When assessing
the RJC member’s conformance, by
seeking objective evidence, the auditor will take into account the nature,
scale and impact of the RJC member’s
business,” explains Rae. The so-called
impact of the business is related to the
RJC’s Code of Practices which focuses
on contributing to sustainable business ethics through key areas: business ethics, human rights and social
performance, environmental performance and management systems.
Th is is the same system that RJC
members should have checked their
business against when completing an
initial self assessment when joining, so
in theory should have readied themselves and got the business to a stage
where it would be possible to pass a
formal audit with relative ease.
But this is only a theory. The very
nature of self assessment means that
nobody is checking up; it’s up to the
individual business to make good on
its pledge.
While joining the RJC to public
fanfare only to fail to meet its criteria
would be PR suicide for most businesses and while it seems unlikely that any
would risk its reputation by purposely
doing so, the ethical bandwagon is a
tempting machine to get involved in.
And with no formal checks needed
until this year, many members have
enjoyed years of association with the
RJC without providing proof of responsible jewellery trading.
Even for those members who have
joined the RJC in good faith, the auditing process could be a fi nancial strain
that is impossible to meet in a climate
in which businesses are struggling to
survive. With 120 companies facing
auditing in 2011, would it be plausible
that some members will drop out of
the RJC this year, be it for fi nancial or
business structure reasons?
“All RJC members have joined the
INVESTIGATION / RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL
RJC knowing that independent thirdparty auditing, leading to certification, was a central tenet of the RJC system’s credibility,” says Rae. “We do not
expect to lose RJC members because
of the auditing process. That said,
companies are free to join or leave the
RJC at their discretion. Their reasons
for joining - or leaving – are for them
alone to judge, unless, of course, they
fail to meet the requirements of the
RJC Member Certification System,
when they will be expelled.”
RJC members that have joined the
scheme since the beginning of 2010 or
will join in the future will also have to
face formal auditing but will get two
years’ membership before mandatory
certification. Rae explains the reasoning behind the two-year grace period:
“When the RJC was founded, there was
not a system against which potential
members could be pre-audited. Now
that the development of the RJC Member Certification System has been
completed, it is appropriate for members to be given a reasonable time
period in which to be audited.”
But surely those who want to join
the RJC should be asked to make an
effort to trade in a responsible way
before winning membership – would
pre-auditing not be more appropriate?
Rae says that the RJC is not ruling out
introducing pre-auditing in the future,
but at the moment he says it has “no
plans for that at this time”.
Another rumour that has been doing the rounds in the industry is that
once an RJC member is fully audited,
it can no longer trade with businesses
that are not RJC members. Again, this
is a complete inaccuracy according to
Rae, and would in fact be illegal. Rae
says: “RJC members aspire to demonstrate responsible business practices.
They also expect high standards of
their business partners, such as associate companies, suppliers and
contractors. However, the RJC does
not require that a member’s business
partners, their suppliers or customers, must also be RJC members. Such
a requirement would be illegal as it
would breach anti-trust laws in many
countries, including the UK and USA.
Th is is therefore an individual business decision.”
Even with these myths now dispelled, the layers of bureaucracy can
make joining the RJC and achieving
certification seem confusing to many
people. Th is is something that the RJC
has recognised and has addressed
by running workshops and training
sessions to assist members facing
auditing with training topics such
as Preparing for and Conducting Self
Assessments, specific Sector Guidance
and guidance on the critical Ethical,
Social and Environmental Issues in
the Supply Chain.
The RJC is also working with trade
associations to look at additional
ways to provide support. In the UK,
the British Jewellers’ Association (BJA)
and the National Association of Goldsmiths have teamed up to try and help
the UK jewellery industry to battle
through the RJC red tape.
BJA chief executive Simon Rainer
says that the two associations are
working together to create a panindustry working party that will help
jewellers, brands and retailers that
want to work ethically to do so.
“The whole problem has been the
greyness about this and assumption
has become fact,” says Rainer. “What
I have found is that designers and
manufacturers want to know more so
we’ve formed a small working party to
fi nd out what the issues are and what
the answers are. If people need help
then we are here for them.”
Rainer says the working party will
open up a dialogue with the UK jewellery industry and will try to act on
individuals’ behalves to clarify this
murky area, from sourcing ethical
materials to dealings with the RJC.
The RJC has been building up a
strong brand since its launch and the
introduction of the formal auditing
process this year will add gravitas. For
those serious about trading ethically
in the jewellery sphere, membership
is a worthwhile consideration, but for
those who are in it for the greenwash
this will be the year that will separate
the serious ethical players from the
opportunist marketeers.
3
4
5
6
3
31
THE JEWELLERY SHOW / SHOW REVIEW
WITH AN INJECTION OF FRESH BLOOD, FROM CUTTING-EDGE DESIGNER-MAKERS TO
BIG INTERNATIONAL BRANDS, THE JEWELLERY SHOW AT SPRING FAIR PACKED A PUNCH
THIS YEAR. PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER REPORTS ON WHO AND WHAT INVIGORATED THE
SHOW AND PICKS OUT THE KEY TRENDS FROM THE HALLS.
T
1
Katie Rowland
was one of the new
designers to exhibit.
2
The Pandora
Catwalk Cafe
returned again.
3
First-time exhibitor
Charles Bourne
with Luxenter.
he Jewellery Show has
struggled in previous
years; it’s struggled to get
the quality of exhibitors it
wanted, it’s struggled to
get the quantity if visitors it wanted, more
often than not its struggled with the
bad winter weather and of course it has
struggled with its wholly unglamorous
location within the NEC on the outskirts
of Birmingham.
Succinctly, for a show that is trying to
promote the transaction of high-value
goods, it has often failed to capture the
spirit of luxury. But somehow, this year
seemed to be a little bit different.
Last year the show had made vast
improvements; introducing the Pandora
Catwalk Cafe, with its fashion shows
and seminar program, and successfully
separation of the then newly renamed
The Jewellery Show from the rest of the
giftware and homeware offer on display
at Spring Fair International. This year, it
seemed to have continued its refinement
of The Jewellery Show.
1
32
2
The halls were not overflowing with
visitors by any means, but the atmosphere was good with positive comments
from exhibitors about the spacious feel
to the halls and the quality of buyers at
the show. But what really invigorated
the show was an influx of designers and
brands that had never shown at The Jewellery Show before.
Within the Design Quarter, The Jewellery Show’s dedicated area for design-led
jewellery, were fresh faces making their
debut appearance at the show, including Professional Jeweller Hot 100 2010
NexGems Ana de Costa, Katie Rowland,
Alexander Davis and Sho Fine Jewellery.
The Jewellery Show benefitted instantly
from the credibility boost given to it by
its successes in coaxing these traditionally London-based designers out of their
comfort zone and up to Birmingham.
While many of the designers joked
about wanting to being taken back to
civilisation, most were grabbing the opportunity to be in front of a new audience
with both hands.
3
Rowland used the show to unveil her
first fine collection called Satori, which
showcases inverted natural diamonds
that have an unusual finish almost like
cracked glass set in 18ct rose gold that is
both bold but minimal in design.
Davis also used the show to unveil new
designs for the first time. At The Jewellery Show he gave buyers a first glimpse
at a new line called Deadly Nightshade
that has large amethysts at its core and is
inspired by Victorian poisoners.
De Costa, meanwhile, used the show
to push her new Alchemy collection and
notably shunned platinum and white
gold in favour of silver for all her white
metal jewellery designs, a number of
which were set with diamonds.
These hotly tipped designers succeeded in giving The Jewellery Show some
cutting-edge cool that it has never quite
had before. While the show has always
been a playground for fashion jewellery
brands and more traditional fine jewellery, it has never quite pulled in the fine
designer jewellers until now.
SHOW REVIEW / THE JEWELLERY SHOW
STAR OF THE SHO
If there was a single person that could be named
the star of The Jewellery Show, it would have to
be Sarah Ho of Sho Fine Jewellery. The designer
was one of the fresh faces seen in the Design
Quarter, exhibiting at The Jewellery Show for
the first time, and was a hot topic throughout the
show. As well as taking space at the show for the
first time, the jewellery designer was also at The
Jewellery Show to promote her new bridal collection for Brown & Newirth. The aptly named
Sarah Ho for Brown & Newirth range is a first for
the jewellery manufacturer, which has never
But it was not just the niche that was
new and exciting; the show also pulled in
some big brands that had never ventured
to The Jewellery Show before. Most notable in this category was IBB Amsterdam
brand Ti Sento.
Ti Sento took a giant stand at the back
of The Jewellery Show that was more
BaselWorld than Birmingham. In what
would traditionally be a dead spot, traffic
in that area of the show swelled as retailers made the effort to travel to the back of
the hall to see the brand, which is making
huge efforts to position itself as a major
player in the industry.
The stand took five days to build and
did not disappoint those who made the
trip to the back of the hall. The Ti Sento
stand was constantly busy throughout
the show, which was no doubt spurred
by the heavy advertising campaign employed by the company within the NEC
and also through its headline sponsorship of The Jewellery Show itself.
Spanish jewellery brand Luxenter was
another first-time exhibitor at The Jewellery Show. The brand is hugely popular
in its home country, particularly with its
line of charms, and is attempting to make
inroads to the UK market through distributor Urban Armour. It showed a wide
range of jewellery at The Jewellery Show
with Urban Armour boss Charles Bourne
reporting that its line of synthetic stone
and silver jewellery had proven particularly popular with retailers.
Cutting-edge brand Bjørg was also
new to the show and attracted a lot
of attention from visitors and fellow
exhibitors with its darkly gothic stand
SOCIAL NETWORKING
worked with a named designer on a collection
before, and is a key step in the rebranding plan
it is currently in the process of executing. As if
the buzz from the Brown & Newirth deal wasn’t
enough, Ho then went on to pick up the inaugural Houlden Designer of Excellence award after
being singled out by the group because of her
strong design skills. Ho was named in the Professional Jeweller Hot 100 2010 as a Trendsetter
and it seems that she is certainly living up to
the accolade. We would describe her as one to
watch, but everybody already is.
Winners an
d runners
up collect
the B JA cu
award s fro
ff award s.
m
the launch of
irth part y for
n
Brow n & New
irth collect io
ew
N
d
an
Brow n
Sarah Ho for
The Jeweller y Show exhibito
r part y.
Tirisi picks up the CMJ’s award .
for the la
th part y er.
Kit Hea
mb
e a ch c o
ran ge B
and jewellery inspired by skulls, bones,
test tubes, animals, anatomically correct hearts, opals and rough stones. The
brand has been building up a presence
in the UK with 60 points of sale, including Selfridges and Fish Brothers, but will
have been new to much of The Jewellery
Show’s audience as it’s offering is more
trendy than normally found at the show.
u n ch o f
new
Jewellery manufacturers also used this
year’s show to launch new brands within
their offers. IBB London added a jewel to
its crown with the addition of Missoma,
the brand founded by Marisa Hordern
who had recently taken a break from the
industry as reported on in last month’s
Professional Jeweller. The much-loved
brand made its comeback at the show on
33
THE JEWELLERY SHOW / SHOW REVIEW
TRENDS AT THE
JEWELLERY SHOW
PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS
Uncut stones, rough metalwork and naturalistic shapes
were popular at the show, from Katie Rowland’s Satori collection that used inverted diamonds with the appearance of
cracked glass to Bjørg’s rough-cut crystal pendants, Luxenter’s range of jewellery featuring stones with inclusions and
Jeremy Hoye’s organic-shaped settings as seen in his Triffid
ring collection.
4
5
HIGH-END SILVER
Silver is rising in price and designers are rising to the challenge of presenting silver as a high-end product. Kit Heath
had a number of solid silver jewellery items on display, while
Ana de Costa introduced a range of silver jewellery to her
diamond collections in place of platinum or white gold, and
DMJ showed off Just J, a brand of expertly crafted laser-cut
silver discs, sometimes set with diamonds, teamed with
bright ribbons designed to be wrapped around the wrist.
FLEXI TIME
Fashion watches with interchangeable aspects gave an extension to the bright watch theme. Amore & Baci presented
a range of watches with interchangeable bezels, as did Pandora, and newcomer to the show Wize & Ope, distributed
by DMJ, has a range of watches that have interchangeable
panels allowing for a multitude of different looks.
REWORKED BEADS
Beads continued to prevail at the show but most brands were
trying to offer a twist. Pandora presented a new bracelet that
holds a single bead, Kit Heath launched a new range of pebble-shaped silver beads of varying sizes called Beachcomber
and many brands, including Tirisi, continued to release highend precious beads on soft, thick leather thongs.
ONWARDS ONYX
Onyx is enjoying a revival at the moment with many brands
and designers working it onto collections. Domino presented
an onyx and gold collection with vintage stylings and Pandora also unveiled a new range of silver and onyx jewellery.
.
4
Julie Large and
Amber Saunders
at the rebranded
Brown & Newirth.
5
Marisa Hordern of
Missoma at IBB.
34
the IBB stand, which now owns 50 percent stake in the business, with a selection of gold vermeil and silver jewellery
littered with a rainbow of gemstones. The
underlying style of the brand remains the
same but clear efforts have been made
to make it more accessible than it ever
was before. IBB has helped Missoma to
open up its offer by subtle changes such
as the introduction of unplated silver
options for the first time, the creation of
smaller-sized more commercial designs
and lower entry price points than were
previously available.
DMJ launched its latest signing,
French fashion watch brand Wize & Ope
at the show. The distributor created a
buzz about the brand in the halls with a
dedicated separate stand decorated with
seating areas, glittering disco balls and
a silver-coloured Chopper-style bike on
display to reinforce its relevance to the
teen market, not to mention a smattering
of its character mascots.
Abbeycrest’s Brown & Newirth not
only launched a new brand at the show
– Sarah Ho for Brown & Newirth – but it
also launched a whole new brand identity. The company has recently appointed
former Hot Diamonds creative director
Julie Large as its creative director, has
revamped its branding and is leading
with a greater focus on its jewellery being made in the UK at its workshops in
Hatfield. The brand’s stand at the show
looked fresh and modern and the drinks
event to celebrate the Sarah Ho collaboration was well attended, with much talk
of the project around the show.
The change in direction of The Jewellery Show was also highlighted by the
involvement of buying consortium The
Houlden Group. Traditionally viewed as
a luxury group, Houlden has been trying
to change its image to make it seem more
accessible and teamed up with The Jewellery Show as a way to deliver this message
to retailers.
The group sponsored an area of the
Design Quarter which was branded the
Design Quarter Gems and also ran a
competition that launched at the show
called the Houlden Designer of Excellence Award, which was won by Sarah Ho
of SHO Fine Jewellery.
Houlden boss Stuart Laing admitted
before the show that he had not attended
The Jewellery Show or Spring Fair for
many years, but said after attending
last year that he was impressed with the
turnaround of the show. While Houlden
might be trying to reposition itself, its
association with The Jewellery Show certainly lends the exhibition some prestige.
Whether or not The Jewellery Show
will ever match IJL for attracting truly
sought-after fine jewellery brands, such
as Shaun Leane, and whether or not the
designers within the Design Quarter that
were courted to attend will return remains to be seen, but the show has taken
a massive leap forward in the right direction in 2011 and with wider plans to take
the whole of Spring Fair in a more designled direction in 2012 The Jewellery Show
is becoming a stronger contender.
Fiorelli Silver’s new spring collection features beautifully crafted pieces at affordable prices.
All the jewellery is 925 silver enhanced with rhodium plating. Wholesale prices for the range start at £9.98.
J
E
W
E
L
L
E
R
Y
To become an authorised stockist, contact Sales on T: 01376 532 000 E: [email protected]
EPOS / RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
STRAIGHT TO THE
POINT
1
EPoS systems can
be used for data
capture as well as
payments in store
and online
2
Orcus executive
John Cooper
FOR MANY JEWELLERS,
AN EPOS SYSTEM IS
NOTHING MORE THAN
AN UNGAINLY PIECE OF
HARDWARE STRADDLING
THE PAYMENT COUNTER.
BUT AS ANDREW SEYMOUR
DISCOVERS, INVESTING IN
THE TECHNOLOGY CAN
HELP WITH DATA CAPTURE,
MARKETING AND PAY-AS-YOUGO OPTIONS CAN COMBAT
SEASONAL HIGHS AND LOWS.
3
EPoS systems can
boost turnover by
cutting down on
inaccuracies.
1
36
W
hether you’re an
independent retailer operating
a single outlet
or a larger chain
managing multiple stores and sale
points, the aim of the game remains
the same: to serve customers quickly,
efficiently and without error.
Over the past decade or so, electronic point of sale (EPoS) systems — essentially PC-based till systems — have
overtaken traditional cash registers as
the de facto method of processing all
transaction-related sales activities.
Aided by a reduction in hardware
costs, and even a decrease in the
overheads associated with websites
and web design, EPOS technology has
become affordable for everybody, irrespective of size or turnover.
But there’s a lot more to consider to
this essential piece of kit than mere affordability. While the cash tills of yesteryear barely did anything more than
print out ink-based receipts and act
as a storage compartment for notes
and coins, the modern EPoS systems
of today play a comprehensive role in
binding together critical elements of a
retailer’s business.
As well as facilitating all point-ofsale processes, of course, an effective
EPoS infrastructure will ensure stock
control, order activities and sales
records are instantly captured and updated once an item has been scanned.
Make no mistake about it, a robust
EPoS system that is managed properly can have a massive bearing on a
retailer’s entire operational structure
and decision-making policies — and
therefore its profit margin.
“Simply by scanning a barcode
and guaranteeing price accuracy you
would normally put 1 percent to 2
percent on GP immediately, because at
the end of the day people forget prices,
labels fall off or staff tend to guesstimate things,” notes Rob Finley, business development director at Cybertill,
a Knowsley-based provider of retail
technology solutions.
He adds: “Systems have got clever
now; they understand that if you
replenish something then you might
replenish it at a different price [than it
was before] so it will re-average your
margin. It is what we call a weighted
cost price averaging solution, allowing
you to know exactly what your average margin is so you can look at your
pricing.”
Other data cited by Cybertill
lends further support to the
impact a robust EPoS system
can have on a retailer’s business.
It reckons that clients report
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY / EPOS
an average turnover gain of 10 percent simply from turning to an EPoS
system, while stock holding can be
slashed by as much as 30 percent due
to the added clarity of what is selling
and what is stagnating.
A study from technology giant IBM,
meanwhile, found that as much as 3
percent of sales were being lost via a
non-EPoS till, usually through unintentional miss-keying and staff fraud.
As with any technology, when considering an EPoS system purchase or
upgrade you need to make sure that
the investment sets up you up for the
future, not just for the here and now.
The key thing to remember is that
everybody is different. A retailer in
a large shopping centre or city high
street will have a completely different
requirement to someone operating
out of a boutique outlet away from the
mainstream crowds.
John Cooper, sales and marketing
executive at Orcus, a provider of EPoS
solutions and specialist software to
the jewellery sector, says it’s no good
paying for extra functionality if you
aren’t going to use it.
“The best systems are ones which
are flexible and can adapt to people’s
needs,” he explains. “If somebody does
want to capture customer details for
every transaction you need a way of
making that efficient. If you are not
bothered about that kind of thing
though, you need to make the transaction straightforward.”
Orcus is well-versed in the challenges that retailers face. As somebody
who has seen his fair share of EPoS
installations, retailers would do well
to heed Cooper’s advice that time
should be taken to assess how existing
systems are being managed.
“The wasted potential of EPoS
systems is when they are not used
to capture customer details during
a transaction, because all you need
as a minimum is an e-mail address
then you can link purchases to that
e-mail address, you don’t even need
the person’s full name to target them
with marketing,” says Cooper. “If you
are in jewellery, you have got seasonal
stuff and new ranges coming out all
the time. If people favour certain designers and you get a new range in you
want to make people aware, you don’t
want to just rely on them walking past
the shop and seeing it. That is something I think a lot of retailers could do
better.”
Customer management is an issue
that Cybertill’s Finley is keen to stress
CHOOSING AN EPOS SYSTEM:
WHAT YOU NEED TO CONSIDER
Keep it simple - Make sure tills are user friendly,
easy to maintain and won’t lead to customer-facing
staff constantly seeking supervision. Your technology provider should be able to give you a clear demonstration of the product and relate it to the individual needs of
your business.
Focus on functionality - Pay careful attention to
the sales reporting and stock management aspects
of the system. These are areas of functionality that
can really pay dividends on your bottom line and save
you a lot of time by eliminating laborious manual tasks.
Look to the future - Take time to assess the scalability of the system. Will it still be the best solution
for your business in five years’ time? Does your provider guarantee free support and upgrades as the system
ages? Remember to look at the long-term picture before
making your decision.
Explore all options - If you’re working to a tight
budget, why not consider leasing an EPoS system?
Most suppliers will offer a leasing rental service and
it could give your working capital a welcome boost by
eliminating any high up-front investment. Some leasebased systems are even tax deductible these days.
Timing is everything – Depending on the size of
your business, an EPoS implementation could take
anything from a week to six months once your order
has been placed. Pick a time that doesn’t cause disruption. Doing it two weeks before Christmas is probably not
a good idea.
“By scanning a barcode you would normally put 1% to
2% on GP immediately, because people forget prices,
labels fall off or staff tend to guesstimate things.”
2
4
37
EPOS / RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
too. He calls it a “buzzword” in the
retail sector at the moment, and says
the role that an EPoS can play in harnessing client relationships should not
be underestimated.
He explains that simply by logging
a customer’s postcode at the point
of sale, retailers can track buying
behaviour, tailor marketing material
and facilitate loyalty schemes.
“When the market is in recession
you can either sit on your bum and
hope people come through the door or
you can get out there and drag people
through the door,” he says. “And if you
have got a good customer database
and you know who buys what and how
often they shop with you it is quite
easy to get them to come back in again
by enticing them with a reward, a discount or a new range. EPoS systems
are no longer just about taking a sale
and producing a receipt.”
As you’d expect, cost is always a
major consideration when deciding
what sort of EPoS system to invest in.
One supplier making progress with a
new and innovative payment model
is CTS Retail, a Swindon-based supplier of EPoS technology to the retail
market.
It is providing what it describes as a
5
“If your peak
season is between July, August and
September then you are going to have
a high volume of transactions in those
months, but between November and
January you have very little or nothing
at all, then why should you pay the
same amount or tie up capital in that
type of environment?” he says.
Storey says a typical retailer
processing 20,000 transactions a year
— about 60 to 70 a day — could expect
to pay about 13.5p per transaction
and for that they would get the
software licences and even
the use of a web store, which
would usually cost extra
if you owned a system
and added it separately.
“Obviously if you are
doing huge volumes of
transactions then you can
get the price down to literally pennies — 1p or 2p, or
even less,” he says.
Whether you choose to
buy an EPoS system outright or embrace a payment
structure offered by the likes of
CTS Retail, the fact remains that
retailers who take the time to understand how this unglamorous part of
their business can be properly utilised
are certain to see tangible benefits.
As Cybertill’s Finley puts it: “One
of the few things that people tend to
neglect is that all the money they have
invested in their business has to come
back through a till or a website. People
will have a fantastic display, but then
forget about the one thing that is gathering all this information.”
“All the money invested in their business has to
come back through a till, but people forget about
the one thing gathering all this information.”
6
5
Modern EPoS
systems do more
than just print
receipts.
6
Cybertill director
Bob Finley.
38
“software plus services” EPoS offering
from Cervello that commands no upfront licence cost, but instead charges
retailers a fee for every transaction
processed.
Th is pay-per-use arrangement is
ideal for jewellery retailers that have
seasonal peaks such as Christmas,
Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, or for
those in tourist hotspots that rely on
boom visiting times for extra footfall,
because it recognises the seasonal
nature of the business, insists the
company’s managing director Scott
Storey.
11
4th _ 7th SEPTEMBER
EARLS COURT LONDON
Be dazzled • Be inspired • Be at IJL
I
nternational Jewellery London is the UK’s most
established, premier, jewellery focused event, with the largest
selection of jewellery specific exhibitors and more leading,
high-end manufacturers than any other UK trade event.
•
•
•
More than one third of IJL's audience are independent jewellery
retailers – more than any other UK trade event.
IJL is your opportunity to meet and network with over 9,000
jewellery focused buyers, 75% of which influence or have direct
purchasing power.
Find out more top reasons to exhibit at IJL by visiting
www.jewellerylondon.com/pj
For more information on exhibiting at IJL 2011
Please call: +44 (0)20 8910 7173 / 7140
Email: [email protected]
www.jewellerylondon.com/pj
Supported by
Organised by
LONDON JEWELLERY WEEK / COMPETITION
PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER’S TREASURE COMPETITION IS BACK FOR A SECOND YEAR, SO
DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A STAND AT THE LONDON JEWELLERY WEEK SELLING
SHOW. READ ON TO FIND OUT HOW AND WHY YOU SHOULD ENTER.
L
ast year we launched
a competition to win a
stand at London Jewellery Week selling show
Treasure, and the result
was a furore that led to more than
200,000 votes being cast online.
Needless to say, after such a sparkling start, we have decided to bring
the competition back for 2011.
Professional Jeweller will once
again be teaming up with London
Jewellery Week as its official trade
media partner this year and Treasure has again kindly donated three
stands at its show to give away to our
three lucky winners.
The competition has been geared
40
to give jewellery designers on the way
up a helping hand, so the competition
is only open to those who have been
in business three years or less. All
styles of jewellery making and levels
of businesses are invited to enter.
And this year, Treasure will provide up-and-coming designers with
double exposure through the addition of its trade-only day. The majority of the show will be focused on
consumers and will be a selling show,
but the fi rst day of the show will be
open only to retail buyers looking for
new brands to stock. To encourage
retailers to visit the show through
the week there will also be a buyers
lounge provided all week.
Treasure will once again take place
at Victoria House in London from
June 9 to 12.
To enter, designers must email
three pictures of their work - one
design per image - with a description,
a short biography and photo of themselves to info@professionaljeweller.
com. The deadline for entries is Friday March 11.
Once we have received all the entries a panel of industry judges will
whittle out a shortlist which will then
be put to the readers’ vote online at
professionaljeweller.com. The three
jewellers with the highest number of
genuine votes - no cheats this year,
please! - will win a stand.
COMPETITION / LONDON JEWELLERY WEEK
LAST YEAR’S WINNERS
Aradesi Jewellery
Aradesi Jewellery is the brand of Regina Aradesian and is strongly influenced by the designer’s
Armenian roots. Aradesian uses her work to
explore the “intricacies of the cellular world
observed through a microscope”, which she
combines with traditional Armenian patterns
and engravings.
The jewellery is formed from precious metals
with transparent plique-a-jour enamels, which
when lit from behind create the impression
of tiny stained glass windows. Each piece is
then filled by hand with a combination of two
to three enamel colours and fired, resulting in
a colour alchemy that means no two pieces
are exactly the same. Aradesian perfected this
technique at Central Saint Martins and has
since joined the committee of the British Society of Enamellers.
Eastern Mystic
A stressful job in The City and the loss of her
father prompted Sonal Talgeri-Bhaskaran to
seek out a creative outlet and she decided to
teach herself how to make jewellery. In 2008,
she made the jump and left her job at Goldman
Sachs to focus on jewellery full time.
Talgeri-Bhaskaran’s Eastern
ates
Mystic brand celebrates
her Indian heritage
and the country’s
rich and exotic past
seeped in mythology, romance, custom and opulence.
Zelia Horsley
Zelia Horsley studied at Middlesex University and went
on to work in the studios of
established jewellers Kirt
Holmes and Simon Harrison where she created and
produced jewellery for highend fashion labels including
Vivienne Westwood and Agent Provocatuer. Since starting out on her own,
Horsley’s work, which is characterised
by lashings of chains and geometric
shapes, has gone down a storm with
trendy, underground London boutiques and the consumer press.
Want to offer 0% Finance
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Freephone: 0800 021 7150 or apply for an account at www.pay4later.com
41
In the past month, over 35,000
unique individuals
have visited Professionaljeweller.com
Wouldn’t your
business benefit from speaking to them?
For marketing opportunities,
please contact: TERRI WOODHAMS
T 020 3176 4225 ⁄ E [email protected]
THIS MONTH’S FINE, FASHION AND TREND INSPIRATIONS TO ASSIST YOUR BUYING DECISIONS
GREEN WITH ENVY
Each month we’re going to kickstart the Showcase
howcase products and trends section of Professional Jeweller with our choice of a single piece of inspirational jewellery that has made us stop and stare. Who better to take this maiden feature voyage with than Ana de Costa and these outstanding pair of Ghandi earrings, designed to be worn on the red carpet at The Oscars. With nearly 20ct of Gemfields ethical emeralds forming the
show-stopping central design feature, the earrings are De Costa’s most expensive design to date at £74,000.
ALSO INSIDE: BASELWORLD PREVIEW ¡ GOLD TRENDS ¡ NEW FINE JEWELS ¡ FRESH FASHION FIXES
43
THE JET SET
AS THE JEWELLERY WORLD PREPARES FOR THE INDUSTRY’S BIGGEST SHOW, PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER
TAKES A LOOK AT SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM INTERNATIONAL BRANDS AT BASELWORLD.
THE JEWELLERY SHOW FACTS
WHERE: Messe
Basel, Basel,
Switzerland
WHEN: Thursday
14th March To
Thursday 31st March 2011
Daily from 9am to
6pm with early close at 4pm on
the final day
OPENING TIMES:
L
iving in a global community, trade shows can often look the same wherever you
travel, with the same global brands setting up generic stands at each show. The
benefit of BaselWorld is that while it will attract a lot of the same names that can
be found at trade shows in the UK, it also attracts brands unknown to the UK
market that are primarily at the show to court the international retail scene. From Danish luxe
charm brand Ole Lyngaard to Shenzen favourites TTF Studio and Thailand’s Jacobs Jewelry,
the show is an opportunity to meet new international brands and discover something that
your competitors might not. Read on for some highlights from exhibitors that will be at the
upcoming BaselWorld show.
STUBBS & CO
STUBBS & CO TO UNVEIL
VIRTUAL STOCK SOLUTION
44
H
omegrown jeweller Stubbs & Co will be using
its appearance at BaselWorld to showcase new
technology that it believes will revolutionise
how retailers sell wedding rings. The package,
entitled ConfigureRing , has been in development for 12
months and gives retailers the opportunity to present
shoppers with a virtual selection of more than 20,000
wedding rings designed to supplement a more modest
in-store stock. The programme can be used on a desktop,
laptop or an iPad-style tablet. Stubbs&Co managing director
David Shem-Tov said: “Customers can see and touch a
real ring, whilst watching on screen how it would look in a
different alloy, a couple of millimetres thicker or thinner, or
with diamonds, engraving or a brushed finish. The idea is for
Stubbs&Co. retailers to be able to offer their customers a far
greater choice of rings than they would ever be able to hold
in-store.” Stubbs & Co will be hosting demonstrations on its
stand at BaselWorld. STAND 1.1, E03
DE GRISOGONO
DE GRISOGONO
CELEBRATES THE
BLACK DIAMOND
D
e Grisogono founder Fawaz Gruosi claims to be the first
designer to use black diamonds and this year at BaselWorld
he is celebrating 15 years since doing so for the first time. To
mark the occasion the brand will be showcasing a range of
jewellery featuring the now popular black diamonds, including the black
diamond and pearl ring.
STAND 1.1, E03
DOMINO
DOMINO TO EXHIBIT
FOR FIRST TIME
Birmingham manufacturer Domino will be
exhibiting at BaselWorld for the first time
this year with a view to increasing its international business. “Over the past four years
Domino has undergone something of a renaissance,” says managing director Andrew
Morton. “We have strengthened our inhouse design and new product development
capabilities and dramatically expanded our
core ranges beyond simply rings. We have
also broadened our remit and now offer our
customers a number of stylish diamond and
gem-set collections, some of which are supplied fully finished. We feel it is time to show
Europe and the world just what we can do.”
Domino’s stand at Baselworld will provide
buyers with a fresh, new, look at the key product groups in both classic and contemporary
designs. HALL 2.0, J55
45
CHAMILIA
CHAMILIA TO UNVEIL
SHOP-IN-SHOP AND
SILK NECKLACES
B
ead brand Chamilia will use BaselWorld to launch the first
stages of its new shop-in-shop concept. The brand said the
shop-in-shop concept will give retailers an opportunity to
build a closer connection with the Chamilia brand within
stores and increase sales through this improved product display solution.
The brand will unveil a product display pedestal at the show and the full
shop-in-shop concept will be available internationally later in 2011. The
brand will also use the show to introduce retail buyers to new collections
such as its line of Disney beads and royal engagement bead, right, as
well as launching a line of hand-dyed silk necklaces embellished with a
contemporary teardrop pendant. HALL 2.0, G30
VERSANI
RODNEY RAYNER
VERSANI USES TENSION
TECHNOLOGY IN NEW RANGE
US brand Versani will present a collection that utilises
advanced tension technology to create statement jewels using best-quality stones and metals. The brand
describes the jewellery as especially comfortable
to wear as it has no prongs that scratch or catch on
clothing. The tension mounting exposes gemstones to
more light, increasing brilliance and colours. Set with
stones including aquamarine, citrine, peridot and blue
topaz, the Tension collection is available in silver, 18ct
gold and platinum. HALL 2.0, H53
RODNEY RAYNER MOVES AWAY
FROM SILVER BACK TO FINE
One of Britain’s foremost jewellery exports, Rodney Rayner is working on seven new collections to launch at BaselWorld. As Professional Jeweller went to press the designer was still
finalising the collections. However, he added: “We made the decision to maintain our niche
in the high-end luxury sector and resisted the temptation to make inexpensive diff usion
collections. We are making over 50 new pieces, and every piece is hugely labour intensive,
from goldsmithing to setting. All of the pieces are gem set, and many contain over 250 hand
set stones.” Rayner said that all of the pieces will be made in 18ct gold, some with highlights
of ruthenium, silver, wood or carved stone. Rayner added: “We are making a small return to
using yellow gold again, having moved almost entirely into red gold for the last two years.
You can be sure, our new collections will be as bold and beautiful as ever.” Last year at BaselWorld, Rayner unveiled his first silver lines. HALL 2.1, F80
46
STEPHEN WEBSTER
STEPHEN WEBSTER TO
UNVEIL LINE INSPIRED BY
MURDER SHE WROTE
S
tephen Webster will present
two new jewellery collections
at BaselWorld, fine collection
Murder She Wrote and silver
collection Pop Superstud. Murder She
Wrote, pictured, takes inspiration from
quintessentially English crime dramas
such as Agatha Christie and the True
Crime series of comic books from the
1940s and 1950s and the glamorous,
often sensationalised characters that
they portray. “In the great British
tradition of murder and a cup of tea,
Murder She Wrote is the tale of the
femme fatale and the English country
house,” said Webster. “Full of deceit,
revenge and jealousy, this 2011 collection
of fine jewellery lays blood on the croquet
lawn with emeralds, rubies, sapphires
and of course those most shadowy of
characters, black diamonds.” Murder
She Wrote is accentuated by the use
of exciting new stone combinations
in which striking deep blue sapphires,
green emeralds and pink rubelites are
set against dark and delicate black
diamond pave and Webster’s celebrated
Crystal Haze technique is applied to
elegant white opal and fiery volcanic
opal to create a dramatic effect. Pop
Superstud, meanwhile, is an extension of
the designer’s popular silver Superstud
range that takes inspiration from glam
punk and biker studwork. New for
2011, Pop Superstud takes inspiration
from 1950s and 1960s comic books
and pop art movers and shakers such
as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
“Historically the Classic Superstud
and the Baroque & Roll Superstud
collections have focused on a feature
stone and a metallic stud motif,” said
Wenster. “While retaining the stud,
Pop Superstud introduces an explosion
of colour. By using small mixed cut
vibrant gems the effect is fragmented
and literally explosive.” Made in polished
oxidized silver and white rhodium plated
silver and set with an array of vibrant
gemstones including blue topaz, rainbow
quartz and grey cat’s eye, the collection
comprises knuckledusters, cocktail
rings, bold cuffs and multi-chain collars
with prices from £500. HALL 2.1, B82
GARAUDE
PASSION FOR
COLOURED STONES
DRIVES GARAUDE
Garaude is a family-run business with a passion for coloured
gemstones. The Parisian jeweller was founded 30 years ago
by gem merchant Francois Garaude, who is now joined by his
daughter Jeanne Garaude, who is a graduated of the GIA in
New York. The pair describe their style of design as “fluid, light
and feminie” and always with a strong focus on the gemstones.
HALL 3.1, K14
47
LUXENTER
LUXENTER TO UNVEIL
NEW RING BAR
CONCEPT
S
pain’s Luxenter will present a fresh range of silver jewellery
with natural and semi-precious stones. Stackable rings in
infi nite styles and sizes from its new Ring Bar collection let
the customer create their own unique design. New range The
Beauty Salon has a focus on natural aquamarines, amethysts, quartz
and onyx. HALL 2.1, B62
JACOBS JEWELRY
JACOBS JEWELRY MIXES
GOLD AND TITANIUM
Bangkok’s Jacobs Jewelry has introduced a new spin
on gold in its collections for BaselWorld this year, by
mixing 18ct gold with titanium and setting the designs
with diamonds and other precious stones. The colours
of the anodised titanium adds a whole new dimension
to collections. HALL 2.1, M10
JOSEPH GAD
JOSEPH GAD OFFERS WIDE
RANGE OF COLOMBIAN
EMERALDS
Established in 1995, Joseph Gad Incorporated is a manufacturer and
wholesale distributor of Colombian emeralds. From gem quality individual stones, fi ne layouts, and large or small parcels, the company stocks
an extensive inventory of matched sets, hand-designed layouts and
rough material. Joseph Gad is the second generation of a family business
focused on Colombian emeralds. His family’s strong, long-standing relationships with native Colombian miners and distributors have equipped
him with the means to bring the fi nest emeralds to market at competitive
prices. HALL 3.1, G30
48
TTF STUDIO
MIIORI
TTF BRINGS CLASSIC
ORIENTAL STYLING
MIIORI TO SHOWCASE MULTISTONE SETTING
Shenzhen company TTF Design
prides itself on representing
Chinese jewellery with “a spirit
of reaching to the top jewellery
world”. The Chinese manufacturer
also works in collaboration with
international jewellery designers
from Italy, France, America, Korea
and China to create fashionable,
classic and oriental style fine jewellery. In September TTF became
a permanent participant in BaselWorld Hall 2.1, joining Mikimoto
and Beauty Gem. HALL 2.1, L70
Miiori will introduce its patented colour changing multiple stone setting at BaselWorld, which it
claims is a first. The technique is allows up
to three stones to be set in each space,
allowing them to be turned round to
make different colour combinations
and therefore create fresh
designs. Jewels can
also be swapped for
other elements such
as letters, allowing
jewellers to conceal
a hidden message or
name. HALL 2.1, M10
OLE LYNGAARD
OLE LYNGAARD TO LAUNCH
DARK TWIST ON SWEET DROPS
D
anish luxury brand Ole
Lyngaard Copenhagen is
planning to make a splash at
the show with a bigger stand
than previous years. New product launches
for the brand include Sweet Drops Night, a
luxurious, dark new twist on its main Sweet
Drops line. Hugely popular in its home
market, Sweet Drops are luxury charms that
can be attached to bracelets handmade in
Denmark using calf skin. HALL 2.1, A82
49
GOLD / TRENDS
Gold
GO FOR
1
SOLID GOLD MAY BE WANING IN POPULARITY AS IT RISES IN PRICE, BUT THE COLOUR IS
BANG ON TREND. TAKE INSPIRATION FROM THE WORLD GOLD COUNCIL’S KEY TRENDS
FOR GOLD JEWELLERY IN 2011, AS INTERPRETED BY KATHRYN BISHOP.
I
1
This necklace by
Marco Bicego as
seen at Vicenza Fair
fits with a number
of the WGC trends.
2
Gold rings by
Ungar & Ungar.
50
n recent years yellow gold jewellery has enjoyed somewhat
of a resurgence. It is officially
back in fashion, taking inspiration from a wide pool, from
tongue-in-cheek 1980s trash as shown
in Carrie’s gold name necklace in Sex
& The City, right the way through
to the trend for all things vintage.
While yellow gold was considered
dated, even tacky, a decade ago it has
become desirable and luxurious once
again, and it seems this golden trend
is set to continue.
At Italy’s Vicenza Fair in January,
the World Gold Council revealed six
trends that it has forecast to be big
drivers in the market. Although the
increasing price of gold has meant
many designers are scaling back gold
jewellery offers or fi nding ways to
make chunkier items lightweight, the
trends are accessible, fashion-forward
and applicable to gold plated jewellery too.
Read on to fi nd out more about
each trend, fi nd out how to apply
them to your work and take inspiration from pre-made pieces we feel will
fit these trends perfectly.
2
Jewel
TRENDS / GOLD
Gold – the New
Gold accents have become a popular way to add a luxurious edge to jewellery
designs, with gold becoming a jewel to add another element or texture to a design. Silver chains will have solid gold links added here and there, while rings
may boast gold settings or detailing. Designer Corinne Hamak has used solid 9ct
gold links in her silver bracelet designs, while recent graduate Ros Millar complements her organic, oxidised rings with gold, jewel-like studs.
Another way that gold has become a jewel is its use in wood and ceramic
jewellery, creating designs that are both fashion forward and luxurious. The
Branch creates opulent collections of wood rings and bangles with unusual gold
plated accents, changing styles and shapes each season. Its collection has long
attracted the fashion pack, with stockists including Harvey Nichols in London
and Fenwicks in York. The Branch designer Wendy Pickard says: “The market for
gold is growing much stronger again compared to previous seasons. Gold seems
to be much more desirable these days and I believe this is due to ever-developing
fashion trends.”
Precious & Delicate
LAURA LEE
Openwork &
LEBLAS
Weaving
THE BRANCH
In a step away from chunky cuffs and rings, solid gold
jewellery has become fi ner and daintier in 2011, making
delicate chains and charms a popular trend. Where oversized jewellery has become the reserve of fashion-forward
costume jewellery, solid gold is worn with subtlety: to catch
the light, to complement rather than steal the show.
London-based designer Laura Lee has long created delicate 9ct gold jewellery, alongside a precious range of 18ct
gold bridal and dress rings. Her style is quaint and playful
and her designs maximise the use of gold in the most effective of ways. Working with the precious and delicate trend,
Lee’s elegant Twisted stack rings merge several themes at
once, being gold, delicate and stackable.
Expert craftsmanship and gold electroforming has resulted
in the most detailed of jewellery. At Vicenza there were eyecatching yet superbly detailed gold cuffs by Sade, an Italian
family-run jewellery company. The layered gold work, cut-out
designs and depth of the cuffs evokes the intricacies of Islamic
art, taking jewellery design to a new level of detail.
In London, Leblas is known for its handcrafted fi ligree
jewellery, a collection that has developed each season at its
store near Knightsbridge. Head designer and founder Arabel
Lebrusan says: “Our style is very vintage looking which sits
perfectly with today’s fashion trends. I think the appeal lies
in the fact that every piece is unique; you can’t cast fi ligree so
everything is handmade and has its own personality.”
Leblas’ fi ligree designs are handcrafted by an Oribe – or fi ligree master craftsman - in Spain using traditional techniques
to create openwork, paisley-style rings and bangles.
SADE
51
GOLD / TRENDS
Texture &
Colour
Rose gold has been an underlying trend for some time now. With its soft rosy hue
that nods to vintage jewellery – a macro trend seen across fashion and precious
jewellery – a combination of colours and texture is set to be huge this year.
A traditional interlinked Russian wedding ring - something Cartier has reproduced in its Trinity de Cartier collection - is the simplest way of wearing yellow,
rose and white gold all at once, but new techniques have allowed designers to be
more adventurous. Ungar & Ungar designs often match stones to gold colours
– pink sapphires in rose gold, yellow sapphires in yellow gold, diamonds in white.
At Clogau Gold the tradition for combining metals goes back to the brand’s
roots, and managing director Ben Roberts describes the use of yellow and
rose gold together as a faultless partnership. “The use of different coloured metals has made Clogau Gold jewellery identifiable,” he says.
Texture is another way of injecting personality into gold jewellery, with trends leaning towards matt fi nishes, sandblasted
textures or engraved surfaces. While matt fi nishes provide a
contemporary feel, less refi ned techniques such as hammered
fi nishes create a worn-in feel – a rustic, ancient look as though
the piece has been unearthed after thousands of years.
A combination of colour and texture is also a winning combination. James Newman’s gent’s wedding bands are inlayed
with different colours of gold given a subtle, matt fi nish, while
Vicenza favourite Il Giglio creates lightweight gold chains that
mix polished and rope-like textures in different colours.
DAISY KNIGHTS
TRE SPIGHE
52
IL GIGLIO
Shapes Of The Season
CLOGAU GOLD
Each season jewellery designers face a challenge of which new charms and
pendants to include in collections, but it seems traditions are holding
fast this year with a wave of classic stars, hearts, seashells and flowers.
Coral shapes were on trend at Vicenza, with gold jewellery by Tre
Spighe causing a stir with its combination of corals, starfish and shell
shapes, accentuated with bright red enamel for a look that is both luxurious and earthy. With her more fashion led take on the shapes of the season,
Daisy Knights has several designs featuring shells, with a number of friendship
bracelets in gold-plated silver with brightly coloured threads for an alternative
beach look. Knights says: “Every beach I went to I would spend hours trying to
fi nd a tiny, perfect shell and now I have based a collection around it.” Knight’s
use of the on-trend friendship bracelet design allows the wearer to layer designs
or pick different colours of thread to suit their personality. “Gold plating brings
another colour into my jewellery, as I don’t use a high-shine fi nish,” Knights says.
“The gold adds a bit more of a statement, and with the rising price of metal, using
gold plate rather than solid gold means that my designs are more accessible.”
All things space-age and stellar have been snapped up in gold jewellery
designs this year, with star shapes taking new forms and styling. Ethical gold
brand Oria has created a simple yet striking star collection featuring a quirky
eight-point star, while fashion jewellery designer Yuki Mitsuyasu has turned
the traditional star charm on its head with her playful, intricate designs. Mitsuyasu’s Shine collection features two pointed heart shapes that slot together to
create both the central design element and the clasp thanks to tiny magnets.
TRENDS / GOLD
Personal Expression
While the big trend of 2010 was the charm
and bead bracelet, this will be extended in
2011 as charms develop through personal expression. Typically worn on a chain, the ability to mix and match charm pendants will
be what consumers are looking for; adding in
initials, star signs, religious icons, favourite
colours or lucky charms. Versatility is also
key: pieces that can be worn as a necklace or
as a bracelet, lengthened or shortened, casual
or dressy.
Annoushka has a wide selection of solid
gold pendants and chains, allowing consumers to pick and choose according to what they
feel represents who they are and allow them
to show some personality through their jewellery. Diamond-set gold initial pendants can
be mixed and matched with rustically styled
zodiac coin pendants, while colourful gems
represent birthstones or even the favourite
colour of the wearer.
ANNOUSHKA
¹°_M_WZS_Q\P[WUMWN \PMÅVM[\
KZIN\[UMVQV/ZMI\*ZQ\IQV°º
2IKWJ[2M_MTTMZa,M[QOVQ[I]VQY]M[MZ^QKMWNNMZQVOPIVLUILM
WVMWNN LM[QOV[UILMZQOP\PMZMQV/ZMI\*ZQ\IQV=[QVO[WUMWN \PMÅVM[\TWKITKZIN\[UMV_MKIVKZMI\M[\]VVQVOXTI\QV]UIVL
+IZI\/WTL2M_MTTMZa\PI\Q[[MKWVL\WVWVM,MTQ^MZQM[_WZS
WV I _WZSQVO LIa \]ZVIZW]VL XMZQWL O]IZIV\MML .WZ NZMM
M[\QUI\M[IVL\PMWX\QWVWN _I\MZKWTW]ZXIQV\]X[\W[MMW]Z
VM_ZIVOMWZLQ[K][[\PM[MZ^QKM_MKIV[]XXTaXTMI[MKWV\IK\"
2IKWJ[2M_MTTMZa,M[QOVJaXPWVMWV WZaW]KIVMUIQT][I\JIZZaRIKWJ[(RIKWJ[RM_MTTMZaKW]S
>Q[Q\WVTQVMI\___RIKWJ[RM_MTTMZaKW]S
·2IKWJ[2M_MTTMZa,M[QOV=32M_MTTMZa)_IZL[.QVITQ[\·
·)UJI[[ILWZNWZ0I\\WV/IZLMV2M_MTTMZ[·
;MM][I\
,QIUWVL0W][M 0I\\WV/IZLMV-+6 -*<MT ;16+-!
53
SHOWCASE / FINE JEWELS
SATORI BY KATIE ROWLAND
Fashion jewellery designer Katie Rowland
chas launched her debut fine jewellery collecds.
tion made from 18ct rose gold and diamonds.
The Satori collection includes rings that
are set with a combination of channel-set
brilliant-cut diamonds and more unusual
e,
diamonds with a cracked-glass appearance,
rn
chosen by Rowland to challenge the modern
conventions of fine jewellery. The Satori
collection is inspired by the Japanese art off
finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature.
BLITZ BY JEREMY HOYE
RRP: from £1,800
Contact: Katie Rowland, 07980 61 50 59,
These 18ct white gold drop earrings are
katie-rowland.com
set with black and white diamonds and
are part of Brighton-based designer
Jeremy Hoye’s new Blitz collection.
Based on the 1980s New Romantic
nightclub of the same name, famed
for its colourful characters and wild
dress code, The Blitz earrings revive
the monochromatic theme popular
in 80s fashion and feature retro-style
barleycorn chains for the drop section.
RRP: £1,200
Contact: Jeremy Hoye, 0845 094 3175,
jeremy-hoye.com
MAN’S WEDDING BAND BY DOMINO
HOT STACK BY CARAT*
Domino’s new wedding ring collection is an
Simulated diamond brand CARAT* has un-
extension of its basic wedding ring range,
veiled its Hot Stack rings, featuring colourful
focusing on new textures, shapes and fin-
stones in eternity-style bands. CARAT* simu-
ishes. Designed after several months of mar-
lated stones include blue, hot pink and cham-
ket research by Domino, the new collection
pagne colours, set into solid 9ct white, yellow,
includes a number of wedding rings in white
rose and black gold. The Hot Stack rings have
metals and more dramatic men’s wedding
been designed to be worn alone or mixed and
bands with unusual surface designs and
matched in colourful combinations. Playing on
combinations of finishes, as pictured here.
the personal touch and ability to create your
A number of diamond rings have been also
own look, CARAT* describe the rings as adding
designed, including a range of fine stackable
“a dash of modern luxury to your wardrobe”.
bridal rings.
RRP: from £196
Award-winning jewellery designer Sarah
Contact: Carat, 07891014890, carat.cc
Ho has created a wedding ring collection
SARAH HO BY BROWN & NEWIRTH
Contact: Domino, 0121 236 4772, domino-
for Brown & Newirth. The eye-catching
jewellery.com
Sarah Ho by Brown & Newirth range
includes these wishbone rings, which
add a modern twist to the traditional
wedding band. Combining the different
colours of yellow, rose and white gold,
the rings are set with colourful diamonds
and sapphires. They stack together,
allowing brides to design their own look.
RRP: from £1,135
Contact: Abbeycrest, 0113 397 0864,
abbeycrest.co.uk
54 54
PROFESSIONAL
JEWELLER
/ JANUARY
/ www.professionaljeweller.com
PROFESSIONAL
JEWELLER
/ MARCH
2011 / 2011
For almost a century the Royal Family have been wearing wedding
wedding ring. The same nugget has subsequently been used for
rings made from rare Welsh gold from the Clogau Gold Mine and
later generations of the Royal Family, including Queen Elizabeth
with Prince William’s marriage to Catherine Middleton scheduled
II, Princess Margaret, Princess Diana, Prince Charles and The
for April, we wait anxiously to see if this time-honoured Royal
Duchess of Cornwall.
tradition is set to continue.
It is a touch of this very same rare Welsh gold used in Royal
The tradition was founded by The Queen Mother on her marriage
wedding rings that is contained in every item of Clogau Gold
to King George VI in 1923, when a nugget of pure Clogau Welsh
jewellery and it has made Clogau Gold some of the most sought-
gold donated by a Mr. Bartholomew was used to fashion her
after jewellery in the world.
Containing the very same rare Welsh gold as used in Royal wedding rings
www.clogau.co.uk/retail
www.clogau.com
0845 606 88 77
National Sales Manager: Kevan Jenkinson Mobile: 07795 615 108 Email: [email protected]
Head of International Sales: David Butler Mobile: +44(0)7595 733 379 Email: [email protected]
SHOWCASE / FASHION FIXES
ROBOT AND FLASH CHARMS
BY THOMAS SABO
Thomas Sabo’s new SS11 collection features
the pop-colour, neon theme set to be a huge
trend this year. These quirky charms from
the unisex Rebel at Heart collection can be
mixed and matched on Thomas Sabo’s leather
necklaces to create personalised pieces with
a fresh, fashion-led look. Crafted in silver with
coloured cubic zirconia and neon enamel deMULTISTONE WIREWORK
tails the collection is said to symbolise a joie
EARRINGS BY TEBAZILE
de vivre.
These eye-catching earrings by Cali-
RRP: £198 for Robot, £79.95 for Flash
fornian brand Tebazile are crafted in
Contact: www.thomassabo.com
14ct gold vermeil and have delicate
multi-colour gemstone detailing. Studded with red quartz, green tourmaline,
turquoise and amethyst gemstones the
DAISY BELL BY ALEX MONROE
earrings play on the trend for detailed
craftsmanship with their wrap-around
This delicate gold-plated ring is from Alex
wirework. Jewellery by Tebazile has
Monroe’s new Daisy Bell collection, which
been designed reflect ethnic textures
plays on the words of the classic song of the
and patterns, with a style stemming
same name. With an inquisitive mouse and
from traditional West African and Euro-
tea cup, this quirky ring embodies the brand’s
pean motifs.
charming style. It is available in gold plate or
RRP: £120
plain sterling silver, and accompanies other
Contact: Tebazile, 0207 372 0257, teba-
pieces in the Daisy Bell collection including
zile.com
a tea cup charm bracelet and vintage-style
tandem bike pendant.
RRP £150
Contact: Alex Monroe, 0207 703 8507,
alexmonroe.com
ROYAL ENGAGEMENT BY CHAMILIA
In celebration of April’s Royal Wedding, Chamilia has launched a special Royal Engagement
charm bead. Based on Kate Middleton’s sapphire engagement ring, the commemorative
silver bead features a total of 34 blue and clear
Swarovski crystals. The bead was officially
launched at The Jewellery Show last month.
RRP: £65
Contact: Chamilia, 0844 811 21 42, chamilia.
com
EVOLVE BY *DIED*
Founded by Dutch fashion designers
Diederik Verbakel and Marieke Holthuis,
new jewellery brand *Died* is a range of
jewellery for the fashion conscious. The
striking Evolve bullet earrings are made
in silver with an oxidised finish. Other
designs include multi-chain charm necklaces and wrap-around rings.
RRP: £320
Contact: *Died*, +31543472027, diedworld.com
56
BASELWORLD
THE WATCH AND JEWELLERY SHOW
MARCH 24 – 31, 201 1
WWW.BASELWORLD.COM
WWW.THOMASSABO.COM
CONTACT: +44 (0) 20 77 20 97 25 l [email protected]

news review

Transcription

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