Jewelry Business Guru by Cindy Edelstein

Creating a World Jewelry Center

Last night I attended a lovely soiree at the Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan to learn more about the  World Jewelry Center -- an amazingly ambitious new project in Las Vegas.

The World Jewelry Center is a 50+ story tower planned in a new area of Vegas called Union Park. Most of the building will be business-to-business office condo's offering jewelry companies from around the world state-of-the-art office space. Internationl firms as well as domestic businesses are expected to fill the building with companies of all sectors from gems to manufacturers to designers and more. They've gotten more than 100 signed letters of intent to buy office space.

A retail center is planned too -- giving some of the manufacturers in the tower the chance to have retail of their own. An inevitable concept, most in the industry say, and a cause for alarm to traditional retailers.

I was most interested in the planned Jewelry Museum and event space. I'm picturing designer lectures, conferences, museum exhibitions...... all designer all the time! [TIP: Stay tuned to industry news even if it doesn't seem to fit you at the time.  Our favorite fortune cookie states: man who wakes up famous -- has not been sleeping]

But this could be an awesome opportunity for designers who might want to join this "brave new world" -- a new international business center that could rival every other. If this piques your interest don't be shy in contacting Bill Boyajian, managing director, at [email protected].

New Wave Craft Movement - something to talk about?

According to a post on the ACC Policy Discussion Forum  the American Craft Council has added a new section in their show for New Wave Crafters. One "old wave" master, James Aarons, questioned this and wanted an explaination of "New Wave."

I found the reply interesting and in line with some research I did two years ago when putting together a talk on "Trends in Craft" and I thought about all the 20-somethings who make "stuff" and sell it. Yet don't relate to the traditional "craft" world. I found a host of cool websites that were fresh, young and "crafty" in a a new way. Guess the movement is growing.

Mary Fichter  of the ACC replied: The Council has identified several exceptional self-proclaimed "new wave" crafters via a number of local craft shows such as Renegade Craft Fairs, Maker's Faire, Craftstravanga, etc. We also received several nominations from organizations such as Church of Craft. These artists are producing high-quality work but have not yet applied to large national shows like Baltimore. With this opportunity, the Council will introduce this new audience of makers to the national stage of craft including all of the fine makers who already exhibit at the show. We hope to expose them to more advanced work and thus perhaps inspire them to take the next step in their careers. Since this is a new endeavor for the Council, the decision was made to test the water first by accepting applications via nominations.

Wendy Rosen of the Rosen Group - producer of the Buyer's Market of American Craft offered her definition and thoughts: The New Wave Craft movement, I assume is a reference to the Third Wave Craft movement. Demographic: Twentysomething art school grads, radical feminists who use nostalgic images, found objects, to express a cynical distaste for boomer society. Founded as an online social group, this community has grown to more than 100 radical craft fairs mostly in urban environments and has more than 300,000 members online posting their "works". This group does follow "some" of the guidelines of Arts&Craft genre, such as reverence for nature, but there is little technical skill shown in the works... it's more about the community identity and feminist ideals... than technical execution. We have accepted about a dozen artists into our shows that are affiliated with this group...
it's an experiment for us... and they of course must show technical skill and
provide a well-crafted product to be part of our universe.

For a great history of the American Craft Council (ACC) and the shows they've nurtured and produced read this personal recount by David Bacharach.

To read some contemporary thoughts on the new craft movement read this blog RedefiningCraft.com and visit  Renegade Craft.

There are many more sites to hop to from these -- there's a new movement and it's yours!

[TIP: Think about this development vis a vis your own business -- does it apply to you? Is it a trend you can exploit? Is it something your customers are sensing and can you be a beacon of light for them to shine to their customers? Remember, it's still a sales category regardless of the artspeak.]

Ethical Jewelry Summit

It has been just about a year (maybe 2) that we've heard mention of ethical jewelry MAKING practices and fair trade issues. We've always worried about ethical deals (think retailers switching stones, manufacturers underkarating, etc.) but ethical creation? A new concept that has just started to take hold as witnessed by the first-ever Ethical Jewelry Summit last month in Washington, DC.

This event brought together a broad spectrum of industry leaders and Represented at the conference was World Bank, Ethical Metalmiths, JA, Cartier, ARM, Tiffany, DeBeers, CJRP, GIA, Rapaport, as well as major suppliers, such as The Bell Group and Hoover and Strong. Some of the retailers and manufacturers included: Leber Jewelers, Brilliant Earth, Toby Pomeroy, Lori Bonn, Cred Jewelers, Vukani-Ubuntu, and Columbia Gem House. Fair Labeling Organization, FLO international, represented by Transfair USA, was also in attendance. 

I personally know three leaders in this movement --- Martin Rappaport, Marc Choyt and Lori Bonn -- and their progress has been remarkable.

I advise anyone interested in this topic to visit:

Marc's blog http://www.fairjewelry.org  

Martin's site at www.diamonds.net/FairTrade/ 

Lori Bonn's site ClearConscienceJewelry.org

Ethical mining practices, fair trade with the people who work the gems and metals from the ground and environmentally responsible manufacturing are all growing practices and marketing trends. [TIP: From an ethical standpoint I urge you to learn more -- from a marketing standpoint I cannot help but recommend you consider some levels of support, as well. It's a very good PR thing to do!]

Henry Dunay Jewelry Book Signing -- Celebrating 50 years of Design

Famed Designer Henry Dunay had a wonderful party this evening to celebrate the debut of his first coffee table book "Henry Dunay A Precious Life."

The book is beautiful, filled with dozens and dozens of photos of Henry's masterpieces from the past 50 years. Marion Fasel and Penny Proddow wrote the text and the photos were taken over the years by Dallas jewelry photographer  extraordinaire John Parrish.

It's an inspiring read for any designer.