The woman who consigned this sapphire and diamond bracelet, which she inherited from her mother, remembers playing with it as a child. “She called it her mother’s blue bracelet,” says Daphne Lingon, a senior vice president in the jewelry department at Christie’s, which auctioned the Paul Flato–designed piece in its Magnificent Jewels sale on Dec.…

What’s in a New Name? When graduate gemologist and sales associate Christy Martin of Clater ­Jewelers in Louisville, Ky., ordered the Jane Basch line of monogram jewelry for her store last spring, she had no idea she’d be kicking off a new trend among brides. As she ordered a necklace for herself—plus one for mom…

Do the Math You don’t often find a mathematician–turned–jewelry designer, but when you consider that the signature style of Apeksha Mehta’s line is geometry, her recently debuted collection makes perfect sense. The onetime math and physics major abandoned a career in finance two years ago—Mehta realized that she lacked not only a passion for the…

Cheery Blossoms Just in time for spring, the Henderson Collection in Charlotte, N.C., is planting a fresh crop of floral-inspired 18k gold designs in its Italian Gardens collection. Manufactured in Italy, a proprietary cross-beam structure gives the lightweight jewels—full of negative space and airy, cagelike structures to keep the weight down, but strong enough to…

De Beers Comes to America In January, three top De Beers execs hailed the end of its 70-year exile from the United States. “De Beers has been banned from doing business in the United States for the last 70 years. Tonight, we are back,” CEO Philippe Mellier told a packed meeting at the Diamond Manufacturers…

Before a single stone was set in this necklace, Anna Hu poured “10 years of imagining” into its design. Inspired by Claude ­Monet’s Water Lilies paintings, Hu first began conceptualizing the piece when she spent the summer at Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France, as a 20-year-old budding artist. “The images of the pond, the water,…

Cool jewels? Check. Original designs? Check. The Amberif trade fair comes to Poland’s pretty port city of Gdansk, March 20–23. (Above)1. Necklace with baroque amber beads and silver; $1,000; ART7, Gdansk, Poland; 48-58-300-0555; art7.com.pl   2. Earrings in silver with amber; €92 ($122); Ostrowski-Design, Gdansk, Poland; 48-692-460-025; ostrowski-design.pl   3. Silver ring with amber; €100;…

The March fair is Hong Kong’s other big jewelry extravaganza Visitors to the March 5–9 Hong Kong International Jewellery Show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center have several advantages over those attending other local shows: the weather (lovely in March); a more manageable floor plan (you don’t have to trek to a pavilion…

They may not ­sparkle, but these sleek silver, steel, and gemstone pieces sure do shine: How men’s designs are ­dazzling retailers and ­(self-purchasing) shoppers alike. Ten years ago, British designer Stephen Webster launched a men’s ­jewelry collection. It bombed. “The press loved it, but with the exception of Neiman Marcus, who had a small but…

JCK studied directional designs for 2013—on the red carpet, on the catwalks, and in new jewelry collections—to draw up a list of 10 trends that retailers need to know Trend forecasting can be a tricky business. Still, those with a knack for seeing the future a few months or years ahead are sought after for…

Stephen ­Webster, Anna Ruth ­Henriques, Daniel Gibbings, and Mimi So pen missives to their youthful selves ­musing on how they started, where they are today, and all the things they learned along the way Dear Stephen Junior, I realize you’re only 8, but it’s time we sat down for a chat about the birds and…

Here at JCK, we love awards: Golden Globes, SAGs, WGAs, DGAs, BAFTAs, Grammys, Oscars. We love all the sniffly acceptance speeches, the oh-no-she-didn’t fashion, the awkward Ryan Seacrest red-carpet interviews, and—of course—the ­jaw-dropping jewelry. So it’s only fitting that the 2013 JCK Jewelers’ Choice Awards big reveal happens in our March issue. What better time…

Love her letters? You’re not the only one. Live-tweeting TV shows: It’s the new chat board. Every Monday at 8 p.m. (EST), stylephiles take to Twitter to obsess over the outfits on The Carrie Diaries, The CW’s ’80s-set prequel to Sex and the City. On the premiere, young Carrie (AnnaSophia Robb) wore a sweet little…

InStyle Pushing• ID bracelets in sterling silver and gold (“the blue jeans of accessories…an ­American classic”)• Leaf-shape gold-and-diamond earrings, horseshoe-embellished cuff (“sharp angles and seductive curves to invigorate your wardrobe”) Advertisers Cartier, Seiko, Honora, Metalsmiths Sterling, Simon G., Tacori Harper’s Bazaar Pushing• Gold bracelets and rings with cocobolo wood and black jade (to accent “50…

Emily Segalini, owner of Patria Gems, traveled as far as Afghanistan, where she served the U.S. government on a lengthy tour, to discover a passion for American gemstones. Today, her online shop is the go-to source for finished jewelry and loose gems ­featuring all-American specialty cut stones such as Montana sapphires, Oregon sunstone, Arizona ­peridot,…

3319 Cady’s Alley N.W., Washington, D.C. Tucked halfway down Cady’s Alley, a charming shopping row in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, is a jewelry boutique that holds its own, designwise, with the street’s many high-end home decor shops. Jewelers’Werk, a 268-square-foot haven for maverick jewelry design from around the globe, feels more like a gallery than…

Dino and Angelo Takos just want to make you cry—with happiness No splashy billboard or glossy magazine ad leads you to Angelo Takos’ shop in Laguna Niguel, Calif. The father-and-son–run Jewelry by Angelo relies solely on word-of-mouth to drive business. And it’s that intimate, family feel that keeps customers coming back, says Dino Takos, Angelo’s…

a quick-response, or qr, code is a mystery to many. but “the little box with the squiggly lines,” as one user describes it, is how jewelers on the cutting edge are connecting with customers.

He lets his employees eat cake—just as long as they don’t call him boss In 2009, when Darwin Copeman interviewed for the job of CEO at Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co., the directors told him he would have to spend 65 percent of his time on the road talking to people in the industry. That prospect…

Protect and grow your greatest asset: your individuality News flash: Retail is changing. It has probably made more transitions and faced more threats in the past three years than in the past thousand years. Technology and the Internet are offering more choice to consumers at more affordable prices. Manufacturers are asking why they should deal…

1. What one advertisement elicited the most response and why? My 21-year-old son Jacob came up with an “OMG” billboard campaign using common text messaging speak. It’s a simple message that is getting noticed. Many people tell me that the billboard really caught their attention. The “O” is a white gold ring from one of…

Todd Roberts, founder of creative branded content company Truant Media, shares tips on how brands can ­create compelling online content: 1. Including good, solid information is key. Give users something they can take away. You want people to share that information, so make it exciting. 2. Extend goodwill to your audience. For example, give advice…

Imagine a website with bite-size stories on the latest style trends from the street, a top model’s favorite things, and a roundup of emerging jewelry designers. Sounds like the latest editorial from a glossy consumer magazine, right? Right—but not quite. It’s all content from LatestRevival.com, a new ­e-commerce site that sells jewelry by contemporary designers…

Reports from big retailers for 2012’s holiday season were generally positive: 1. Birks & Mayors’ same-store sales during the holiday season increased 5 percent, led by a 6 percent comp gain in the United States. Canadian comps rose 4 percent. 2. Zale Corp. announced that comp sales increased 2.3 percent for its holiday period, which it…

Last year, after 30 years of exhibiting at the American Gem Trade Association GemFair in Tucson, Ariz., Omi Gems celebrated its best-ever show performance. So imagine the surprise and delight that greeted the Los ­Angeles–based jewelry manufacturer on day two of this year’s Feb. 5–10 gathering when a single transaction easily beat the 2012 total.…

It’s been quite a month since 24 Karat weekend, with a trip to India, a few days with jewelry friends in Park City, Utah, and a whirl through Arizona, from the Centurion show in Scottsdale to the American Gem Trade Association GemFair in Tucson. It had been five years since I visited Mumbai (blame the…

Have you ever heard of the famous jam study? Conducted in 1995 by Sheena Iyengar, a professor of business at Columbia University, the study took place at a California gourmet market, where Iyengar and her colleagues set up a table offering samples of Wilkin & Sons jams. They alternated between displaying six types and 24…