If you’re a direct-to-consumer brand selling supercool certified eco-friendly gold chains via virtual reality, congratulations: you’ve already won 2020  Who’s Got the Chain? Layered necklaces and designs featuring chains (often tagged #neckmess on Instagram) are among the more-is-more jewelry trends we’re predicting will take flight in the coming year. The spring 2020 fashion runways were…

JCK would be nowhere without the industry insiders who have helped the magazine along the way—by making the news, reading it in our pages, or both. So we asked 150 of them to join the dialogue about how the jewelry business has changed over the decades and the role we have played in that evolution.…

Make this your most successful year-end yet. Consider these tips from industry experts to jingle all the way to the bank. 1. Monitor Quantities Make sure you have enough inventory to get through the entire holiday season. “You’d be amazed how many studio designers run out of product the week before Christmas and lose 30%…

OPENINGS The lower level of a department store traditionally houses its least glamorous offerings. (At Bloomingdale’s on 59th Street in Manhattan, it’s how you get to the subway.) But at Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York City flagship, that’s where you’ll find Saks’ most precious gems: Appropriately named The Vault, the 12,000-square-foot space houses some two…

The year 2020. It sounds like pure science fiction, right? Wasn’t it just last week that we were battening down the hatches for Y2K? I may sound like an old fogy in disbelief over how quickly time passes, but that’s the point. Come January, I’ll be celebrating my 20th year writing about the jewelry industry,…

What JCK magazine’s Emili Vesilind is loving this month “Designs inspired by iconic vintage jewels were everywhere at the JIS and Centurion shows in Miami in October—I was loving all the classic-feeling glamour.” —Emili Vesilind, JCK senior editor (Above) 14k yellow gold Farrah locket with 0.06 ct. turquoise on 18-inch chain; My Story by Jackie Cohen;…

Greetings from my flight home from Los Angeles after my yearly October tour of Southern California! As in years past, I came west to attend the annual GIA Jewelry Career Fair in Carlsbad. After a couple of years’ hiatus, I was asked again to moderate the “Creative Careers” panel. The event—which featured Baba ­Blumkin, CEO…

The L.A. and NY Metro chapters of the Women’s Jewelry Association marked the annual JNO on Sept. 12 with smiles and sparkle galore (Above) Jewelers of America communications and PR pros Lauren Thompson and Amanda Gizzi at Shamballa Jewels, the site of N.Y.’s fete   WJA’s new executive director, Jennifer Markas, with designer Mary Enright…

On Sept. 1, the Trump administration slapped a 15% tariff on Chinese jewelry exports into the United States, part of its ongoing trade war with China. Included on the list: diamonds; cultured and natural pearls; precious stones, including rubies, emeralds, and sapphires; synthetic precious stones, including diamonds; silver jewelry; gold necklaces and neck chains; religious…

Michelle Shetler and her all-female sales team practically wrote the book on clienteling It’s not snappy signage or a stylish storefront that lures San Antonio jewelry lovers into Shetler Fine Jewelers—the shop is invisible from the street, tucked into office space inside a five-story professional building. What reels them in are the smart, stylish, and…

Bold, modern pearls and rich yellow gold make beautiful music together (Above) Orb earrings with pearls in 18k yellow gold; $4,100; Lauren x Khoo; info@laurenxkhoo.com; laurenxkhoo.com Grace Perle hairpin in 10k yellow gold; $1,300; Sophie Bille Brahe; info@sophiebillebrahe.com; sophiebillebrahe.com Surrounding ring with mother-of-pearl and diamonds in 18k yellow gold; $12,470; Fernando Jorge; 929-314-4570; fernandojorge.co.uk Nuage…

While only in her mid-20s, Jean Prounis has created a covetable gold jewelry brand using centuries-old classical techniques In a crowded jewelry market, it isn’t easy for a new brand to attract the attention of fashion insiders. So when a 24-year-old fledgling designer gets an admiring launch article from Women’s Wear Daily, followed by features…

The California designer taps into “the colors and textures of ’80s surf culture” for her new pieces If things had gone differently, Emily P. Wheeler could have been a model on the cover of JCK. When she was 16, Peter Lindbergh photographed her for Vogue Italia. But she took another direction, and now models—and celebs…

Sotheby’s Diamonds, the legendary auction house’s retail ­jewelry division, recently tapped London-based Lily Gabriella Fine Jewellery to create a capsule collection using extraordinary diamonds sourced and cut by renowned diamantaire Diacore. Designer Lily Gabriella’s playful Holi earrings were ­inspired by the Hindu Holi festival of color and include twin fancy colored yellow diamonds. Gabriella says…

TREND GAME What About Fob? In the Victorian era, men wore fobs—decorative metal pieces that sometimes doubled as seals and were often tipped with gems such as carnelian and onyx—as ornamental counterweights for their pocket watches. In recent ­seasons, a handful of contemporary fine jewelry designers have reinterpreted fobs and chains as pendant necklaces that…

CAN’T-MISS COLLECTION Jade of Honor Nadine Aysoy won the U.K. New Designer of the Year award in 2018, but isn’t yet well-known in the United States—a situation that surely won’t last. In a sea of casual-feeling fine jewelry, the London-based Aysoy’s collections are refreshingly sophisticated, even royal-feeling in their ordered elegance. For her Celeste series,…

We’d like to tell you about the trends at ­VicenzaOro, which ran Sept. 7–11 in Vicenza, Italy, but we’re afraid of incurring the wrath of Lauren Kulchinsky Levison, the co-owner and curator of high-end Hamptons, N.Y., jewelry retailer Mayfair Rocks. “I f–king hate the word trend,” said Levison, appearing on a panel titled, ahem, “Trendvision…

Your youngest social-minded customers are on TikTok. Here’s what you need to know. If you’ve recently found yourself asking, “What’s TikTok?” you’re not alone. The Chinese-owned social media app’s profile has been steadily rising since it debuted in the United States last year. Here’s the short answer: TikTok is a smartphone app for making and…

WHO, WHAT, WEARABLE Fitbit Versa Lite Lightweight, comfortable, and easy to use. That’s an alluring ­trifecta of traits when it comes to smartwatches made to be worn while working out. And it aptly describes the Versa Lite—the ­latest connected watch from Fitbit. The feather-light device, which features an anodized ­aluminum case topped with Corning’s Gorilla…