for the first time in its 25-year history, the revere academy of jewelry arts will offer a class on jewelry history. this class will be taught by christie romero, a well-known jewelry historian, gemologist, lecturer, instructor, and collector. the two-day workshop is scheduled for april 16 and 17, 2005, as part of the revere academy’s eighth annual masters symposium.

he’s no oprah, but he does have his own book club. consider the following recommended reading from john michaels, the owner of michaels jewelers in waterbury, conn., who holds special meetings for company execs where each one has reading assignments. “i assign each manager a couple chapters, and then they explain to their colleagues what they thought it was about,” he says.

hublot, the innovative swiss luxury watch brand, has new top executives for its u.s. and worldwide operations. they were announced in january by jean-claude biver, chief executive officer of hublot s.a, in nyon, switzerland. fabrizio cocchiano, who has a background in high-end watch and jewelry brands, is the new president of hublot of america, effective dec.

responding to criticism from the leading diamond associations, the gemological labs say their policies on grading synthetics and hpht-treated stones are in the industry’s interest. the two major associations, meeting recently at the world diamond congress in new york, said labs should not issue grading reports for synthetic stones.

nightingale-conant’s advantedge if you want some helpful business tips from some smart folks with sunny dispositions, consider subscribing to this little-known periodical. nightingale-conant’s advantedge magazine is published by the makers of motivational cds and books, so it’s loaded with simple, upbeat lessons.

sexy swingers the romantic (and largely traditional) gowns on the golden globes’ red carpet didn’t require celebrities and their stylists to use much brain power in choosing the accompanying jewels. the swingy drop silhouette seems to be the favorite of starlets for yet another season of awards shows.

after several months of review by its interdepartmental technical team and recent classroom testing by students, the gemological institute of america reports excellent progress with its assessment of the gia color-reference software created by gemewizard and menahem sevdermish of israel. gia began using the software to assist students in its colored-stones courses in january 2005.

rob bates’s recent piece on the cultured diamond (see ” ‘cultured diamonds’ designation ruled illegal in germany,” jck, january 2005, p. 38) points to apollo diamond as “the other company manufacturing synthetics,” ignoring our leading position in this field. to date, we are producing over 1,000 cts.

estate-jewelry collector stephen h. silver, g.g., and his wife, eileen, have contributed $100,000 to the gemological institute of america to support the institute’s museum and education programs. the majority of the gift—$75,000—will go to the museum endowment fund, marking its first significant financial contribution.

lore kiefert, richard w. hughes, and john i. koivula are joining a gem laboratory that’s confronting three major issues. the lab has high hopes that the three gemological superstars will help resolve them.

alan bronstein, fancy-color diamond expert with aurora gems inc., new york, and harry rodman, a former refiner on 47th street who became bronstein’s business partner, then mentor, then father-in-law, recently paid a visit to the smithsonian institute’s national museum of natural history. they went to the smithsonian to lend the hall of geology, gems and minerals 240 fancy-color diamonds (166.

the fbi will open an office in west africa to investigate the links between sierra leone conflict diamonds and terrorism, because of an appropriation inserted by rep. frank wolf, r-va. wolf has long been outspoken on the conflict-diamond issue and has urged the fbi to investigate the links between al qaeda and former liberian president charles taylor.

The Canary Sings. There’s reportedly a canary sitting on the hand of supermodel Heidi Klum. Klum, Victoria’s Secret sweetie and Mouawad jewelry collection collaborator, has been seen sporting a “major rock” according to tabloids. The rock appears to be a supersize canary diamond. At press time, rumors continued to swirl that the ring was actually…

the current diamond pipeline needs to be reconstructed to include more production from african diamond producers, a south african official told antwerp facets magazine. south africa’s minister of mines and energy, phumzile mlambo-ngcuka, whose call for increasing cutting in africa made a strong impression at the last antwerp diamond conference (see “the call out of africa,” jck, february 2005, p.

san francisco’s revere academy of jewelry arts is teaming up with the learning annex for the third time to present a daylong seminar for jewelry designers. the event, how to start your own jewelry line, will be held in downtown san francisco on march 20. the learning annex offers continuing-education seminars nationwide and collaborated with revere last year to present two similar events.

the kazanjian foundation, the charitable arm of noted beverly hills jeweler kazanjian bros., last year launched a program to allow individuals to donate high-value fine jewelry to the charity of their choice at fair market value. titled jewels for charity, the program was launched in the fall at tallarico designs on rodeo drive.

a young woman leaves her local jewelry store filled with joy, her husband by her side. a warm, romantic scene to be sure—but this time, it’s not quite what it seems. as the woman stops to open the box yet again, she stares, not at a gift, but at a gleaming brooch that once belonged to her great-grandmother—a brooch that languished in a dark attic until she rediscovered it.

tom hopkins, author of how to sell anything and selling for dummies, will provide attendees at the american gem society’s conclave hollywood with sales training tailored to fine jewelers. leading jewelry designers, manufacturers, retailers, and gemological educators will gather april 13 through april 16 at the renaissance hollywood hotel to take advantage of a full day of sales training w…

the gemological institute of america’s extension classes will return to the stuller inc. headquarters in lafayette, la., in march 2005. the classes are ideal for industry or seasoned professionals to brush up on the latest in gemology. the following classes are core requirements for the g.g. diploma: to enroll, or for more information, call (800) 421-7250, ext.

the gemological institute of america’s carlsbad, calif., world headquarters has a new museum exhibit featuring one-of-a-kind art and jewelry from two of the american jewelry design council’s themed collections, “puzzle,” and “water” (1999 and 2000, respectively). the nonprofit ajdc annually chooses a design theme as an inspiration for its members.

alisa unger was selected by the independent jewelers organization to represent the retail members for its national branding campaign. her rose gold and diamond ring was featured in people magazine in december. “i’m very excited i was selected by the ijo members for this honor,” unger says. “ijo retailers have been an important part of my growth.

it has long frustrated the diamond trading company (de beers’ marketing arm) that, while the road to a wedding begins with a diamond engagement ring, attempts to link diamonds to wedding anniversaries have had mixed success. the dtc considers anniversaries to be—in the words of account director richard lennox—a “juggernaut of an occasion”: but this year the advertising team for the…

a recently released study from the knot shows new engagement etiquette is emerging. its highly trafficked wedding site, www.theknot.com, surveyed 1,500 brides to discover the essentials of a perfect proposal. the results reveal that some traditions are starting to change. center-stone size. sixty-six percent rank size as either most important or equally important to quality, while 32 percent sa…

NRF: Luxury Sector Will Thrive The National Retail Federation says the luxury sector will “thrive” this year because high-income families are less affected by current economic problems like slow income growth and higher energy prices. The weak dollar is also spurring luxury purchases by tourists. But discounters will continue to be challenged as their core…

fragments’ president, janet goldman, new york, is aiming to share her skill as a trendsetting and fashion-savvy jewelry retailer with her peers. she not only opened a madison avenue boutique to market higher-end fine fashion jewelry pieces to customers on manhattan’s tony upper east side but also hopes to show fine-jewelry stores a thing or two about how to sell designer wares and “encourage fa…

“but there’s nothing really new!” walking the spring jewelry shows, jck’s editors heard this complaint from more than a few retailers. to an extent, they’re right. a lot of the jewelry shown at the spring shows was a continuation of previously seen themes. likewise, the spring fashion runways weren’t bursting with directional newness.

market in brief: feb. 10, 2005 … agta’s 2005 tucson gemfair excited high-end colored-stone jewelry dealers. demand was equally distributed and buying was concentrated at fine and extra-fine qualities. extra-fine-quality natural pink sapphires and other pinks (pink spinel, topaz, and morganite) fetched strong demand and prices.

over the christmas season our daughter, sheila, became engaged. she joined our son, kevin, who proposed to his fiancée a few weeks prior, and thus we began our first foray into the world of wedding preparations. we were immediately immersed in a variety of activities including securing a date for the church and reception and hiring a band, a photographer, a florist, and a videographer.

from italy, halfway around the world to arizona, jewelry designers and manufacturers are thinking globally on at least one trend: color. for those worried about finding something “new” to sate the ever-increasing hunger for unique product, however, there is a new take on color this year, this time in the form of opaque—ranging from the rich depth of coral or onyx to the hazy luster of pin…

as expected, troubled savannah, ga.-based retailer friedman’s, the nation’s third-largest jewelry chain, went into chapter 11 after the company missed its holiday sales targets and main lenders curtailed its funding. friedman’s said the filing should provide it with the breathing room necessary to complete financial restructuring initiatives it embarked upon more than five months ago.

david craig rotenberg, president of david craig jewelers in langhorne, pa., has been appointed to the advisory board of st. mary medical center in langhorne. rotenberg also has served in fund-raising positions with his local synagogue, diabetes foundation, national red cross, and leukemia foundation and has held a celebrity fund-raising event for special olympics of bucks county.

the american gem trade association’s gemological testing center laboratory has hired three internationally acclaimed gemologists: dr. lore kiefert, formerly of the swiss gemmological institute laboratory; richard w. hughes, noted sapphire author and enhancement expert formerly with pala international; and john i.

de beers announced a 3 percent price increase at its january sight, and sightholders said it will mostly affect bigger and better-quality stones. prices could jump as much as 5 percent on the highest-quality and most sought-after rough, they said. smaller goods appear to have received a lesser increase.

mikimoto was selected by the tournament of roses to design, execute, and supply the crown for the rose queen and tiaras for the six rose princesses for the next five years. the rose queen’s crown was designed by amy-kim araneo, director of design and product development for mikimoto (america) co. ltd.

the international gemological institute announced the official opening of its 2,500-sq.-ft. full-service identification and grading laboratory in central hong kong, located on 29 queens road central. igi staff consists of local hong kong graduate gemologists and fellows of the british gemological association, who all received additional training at igi antwerp.

most jewelers sell watches, but a new jck national survey finds only one in three actively markets or promotes them. why? reasons cited include competition from other watch retailers, the internet, and mass marketers. one missouri jeweler even called watches “a necessary evil,” stocked in case a customer wants one.

the retail jewelers organization held what vendors called a respectable but unspectacular show recently in san antonio. overall show attendance was 192 stores, about the same as in previous years. allen lipscher of global diamonds in chicago said buyers were “cautiously optimistic after a generally good christmas selling season.

jon parke, g.g., jk jewelers, st. george, utah what new jewelry did you invest in last year? two watch lines—swiss star and fossil—because i never carried watches before. how’s it selling? they’re working out as well as i thought they would. they have low margins … but they’re hot and they sell like crazy.

de beers may have settled its indictment with the justice department, but don’t expect to see nicky oppenheimer on 47th street just yet. managing director gary ralfe says a flurry of lawsuits is preventing it from setting up shop here. the settlement with the department of justice “means that, in terms of american law, there is nothing reprehensible about the way de beers organizes its business…

just because your customers are researching products on the web doesn’t mean they’ll buy there. a new study says that while more consumers are using the internet for research, they still tend to buy at local retailers. the 2005 u.s. web2store benchmark survey, released in january by shoplocal.com, estimates 83.

ebay and amazon—two of the biggest names in the online retailing world—both say they did well with jewelry sales this holiday. amazon.com, which sold jewelry for the first time last year, is “thrilled with the customer response to the jewelry and watches store this holiday across all categories, especially fashion jewelry, diamond items, and watches,” says spokeswoman molly ingle.

anthony nak fine jewelry, favorite of press, celebs, and fashion insiders, has launched a line of men’s jewelry that incorporates the company’s signature gold draping with leather and hand-cut gemstones. tough yet sexy, the collection consists of leather necklaces and bracelets, and features stones such as red jasper, turquoise, and labradorite.

harold dupuy, g.g., has been named the new executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for stuller inc., lafayette, la. dupuy succeeds ray b. stroup jr., who retired at the end of 2004. dupuy joined stuller inc. in 2002 as director of product management and served as the business vice president of finished jewelry since september 2003.

oh, how we long for the good old days. the days when sarah jessica used her style for good, rather than for gap. the era when the red carpets signaled an opportunity for sjp and fellow jewelry-loving sex and the city co-stars to strut their stuff, take some chances, and start new trends. critics heralded the desperate housewives cast as the next generation of fashion leaders when the show l…

forget strands and studs. designer karim rashid has a whole new take on pearls: a face- obscuring mask. the mask was created by rashid and golay as part of the company’s pearl evolution project, which challenges designers to think beyond traditional uses of pearls. for rashid, the result is art with a message.

as noted in last month’s jewel of the month (see “natural-color tanzanite,” jck, february 2005, p. 122), natural-color tanzanite can be identified using a standard dichroscope or a polaroid plate. tanzanite is a doubly refractive gem, a mineral that splits a light beam in two. within each beam are two vibration directions, each of which can carry a different color.

this month i want to highlight the top 10 customer-service standards. these are called standards because they’re non-negotiable. they must be adhered to without any reservation or limitation. the goal, every time we serve a customer, is to develop a friend—not just a customer for today. we are working to develop a friend and a customer for life.

in “bridal bounty” in the january issue, jck incorrectly stated king of prussia, pa.-based superfit inc.’s web site. it is www.superfitinc.com. in addition, the web site for ostbye & anderson was misstated. it is www.ostbye.com. in the “bridal beauty” advertorial on page 78, the name nahla haggar should have been listed as kristall inc.

three high-fashion italian timepieces are being introduced into the u.s. market by domushora inc., miami. two of them—officina del tempo and buti—are already offered to top u.s. jewelers and fine department stores. the third—momo design—will debut at the jck show ~ las vegas in june.

the american assay & gemological office announced two appointments: donna delucia to director of sales, and donna beaton to manager of gemological laboratory services/senior gemologist. delucia, who has 15 years of industry sales experience, is responsible for all sales efforts in support of quality assurance services, including both precious metal testing and anchorcert gem identification …

after a 30-year career in the fine jewelry industry, award-winning jewelry designer melanie boudar, general manager, steven lee designs, hawaii, and 20-year-veteran diamond/gem buyer and production manager, kabana inc., albuquerque, n.m., has opened a newly built bed-and-breakfast inn, bamboo orchid cottage, situated in a tropical rainforest just outside hawaii volcanoes national park.

if you think a belly button ring is “weird,” it’s time to brush up on pop culture. while belly-baring fashions are headed out in fashion capitals like new york, word on the street is that skin is still in. from toe rings to belly chains, from body piercings to the demure anklet, a taste for luxe on the body has created the perfect scenario for this category.

the blizzard of 2005 delivered a “big hit” to the ja new york winter show (jan. 23-25), causing a 30 percent drop in attendance, show director drew lawsky told jck. the storm blanketed new york city and much of the northeast from late jan. 22 into the morning of jan. 23. flights and trains headed to the big apple were canceled or delayed, traffic on regional roads slowed, and a state of emergen…

the midas texan fine jewelry show, which takes place this year on new dates, aug. 27-29, at the gaylord resort & convention center in grapevine, texas, continues its commitment in establishing the southwest as an integral part of the fine jewelry industry. the midas texan show offers the safest way to do business with industry professionals from texas, oklahoma, louisiana, arkansas, kansas,…

Rembrandt Introduces White Gold Charms With New Campaign Rembrandt Charms, Buffalo, N.Y., is now available in 14k white gold. According to Chris Lux, founder, Rembrandt Charms, the move was sparked by “numerous requests from customers.” Rembrandt will launch its “White Hot!” campaign to the consumer audience in late spring. For information call (800) 828-7840. Berco…

ag heuer, a leading swiss luxury sports watch, is broadening its brand positioning into the “untapped potential” of the u.s. women’s upscale watch market, says daniel lalonde, tag heuer north america president and chief executive officer. it will become “much bolder in the women’s market” than it has been, he told 120 trade and consumer journalists at a new york press conference in january.

The third generation of the Hayek family has entered the top management level of the Swatch Group, the world’s largest watchmaker. Marc Hayek joined its executive group management board, effective Jan. 1. He is the grandson of Nicholas Hayek, chairman of the board; nephew of Nick Hayek Jr., the Group’s chief executive officer; and son…

“i think the idea of purple and lavender chalcedony being lumped with blue chalcedony dates from the yo-yo who coined the term ‘holly blue,'” says gem cutter—gemologist will johnson, owner of premier gem design in ellensburg, wash. ellensburg is known for its blue—not lavender—chalcedony.

richa creations, colorado springs, colo., a high-end international jewelry manufacturer and wholesaler, has announced the rollout of an aggressive new national marketing campaign, “the richa marketing advantage.” the program was made available to stores nationwide for customization. tools include a customized web site, television commercials, radio commercials, customized brochures and direct …