Posts

Showing posts from February, 2018

Birmingham Jewellery School Gains Industry Recognition With National Awards Victory

Image
Staff and students at Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery have gained industry praise by scooping a raft of awards national awards. The annual Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Awards, which promote the pursuit of excellence in craftsmanship and design in silversmithing, goldsmithing, jewellery and the allied crafts across the UK, presented the school with 11 awards. Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery received the College Trophy for the second year running, which is awarded to the institution with the most awarded entrants. Jeremy Hobbins, deputy head of the School of Jewellery, said: “It is hugely rewarding to have the excellence and distinctiveness of the education we offer recognised by the industry elite, and for the second year running. There was some really excellent competition and it is a matter of extreme pride that our students clearly hold their own amongst the professionals of the industry.” Winners at the ceremony, which took pl

Laings group on course for £35 million turnover in current financial year

Image
The freshly re-united Laings group will achieve sales of £35 million in its current financial year that ends this month. Managing director Joe Walsh reveals to WatchPro, Professional Jeweller’s sister title, that the former Laing and Parkhouse businesses, owned by Michael Laing until summer of last year, will deliver sales of around £20 million. What was formerly Laings of Glasgow, owned by Stuart Laing, will finish the year with turnover of around £15 million. In a fascinating story about the past, present and future of the 178 year old family business, Mr Walsh describes how the company is now in a position to operate as a national UK business through its seven stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Southampton and Cardiff. “We cover Scotland, Wales with Cardiff and Southampton. That gives us an opportunity to put Laings on a national platform, particularly with the online side of the business, which is just growing and growing. We do see the future as a lot more web-based,” he des

INTERVIEW: Les Georgettes vice president on the brand’s instant UK success

Image
Les Georgettes has every reason to be popping open the champagne and celebrating a year well done because 2017 was a great success for the brand. Launching in the UK just over 12 months ago, Les Georgettes had a goal to open 100 accounts in its first year. After just two months, this target was attained. Hitting the ground running, by the end of 2017 Les Georgettes was present in over 200 stores nationwide, including Silver Tree Jewellery, Strange the Jewellers, Fabulous, TH Baker and John Pass Jewellers. Furthermore, globally it had sold 500,000 bracelets, 100,000 rings and one million leather bands all before the lucrative Christmas trading period. When it came to Professional Jeweller’s Collections of the Year initiative, Les Georgettes received strong backing from its stockists, with retailers writing in to tell us how the brand has been dominating sales. At industry trade events, Les Georgettes scooped accolades for visual brilliance, with it stands representing the colourfu

Jewellery Designers Receive Royal Seal of Approval at London Fashion Week

Image
Jewellery designers exhibiting at this year’s London Fashion Week received the royal seal of approval from the Queen who popped in on a surprise visit yesterday (February 20). When the room emptied because an unexpected guest had arrived, the jewellery designers couldn’t believe their eyes when the Queen walked through the doors with British Fashion Council chief executive, Caroline Rush. This was the Her Majesty’svery first visit to London Fashion Week, and she took her time meeting the designers and viewing their jewellery creations. Many took to Instagram to share a snap of the moment, with some retelling stories from the experience. Award-winning jewellery designer and Professional Jeweller Hot 100 star, Dalia Daou of Daou Jewellery got to tell the Queen of her family’s previous royal link. She wrote under a picture of her meeting the Queen: “Showing Her Majesty The Queen my jewellery today at LFW! What a way to end the show! Here she is looking closely at my Sunset Su

Anil Bharwani’s Whimsical Handcrafted Designs | The Jewelry Magazine

Image
One of the most beautiful collections we saw at the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) 2018, held in Mumbai earlier this week, was by Anil Bharwani , a partner of Seth Sunderas & Sons . Among the most prolific designers we’ve come across of late and beloved by Indian customers, Bharwani churns out an average of 400 to 800 handcrafted pieces per collection. Influenced by anything from art nouveau to art deco, Bharwani works with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, tanzanite, pearls, coral (a stone that’s moving quite well in India), blue topaz, citrine, and amethysts in his jewelry creations. Some standouts at the show included a double-finger butterfly ring that spans the entire hand and, yes, the wings of the butterfly move; a ruby lotus flower cocktail ring whose petals open and close with a turn of the shank; and earrings made of precious stones that are affixed with small batteries that literally light up when worn. “Well, it’s all that I know how to do,” says Bharwani, mod

Jeweller reports 420% increase in trilogy engagement ring sales for Valentine’s Day

Image
Online jewellery retailer The Diamond Store has reported a 420% increase in sales of Meghan Markle-inspired three stone engagement rings for Valentine’s Day. Looking ahead, The Diamond Store’s chief executive officer, Gary Ingram, believes the trilogy style engagement ring could overtake solitaires and halo rings by the end of the year. “Within 24 hours of Harry and Meghan’s announcement we started experiencing an avalanche of searches for trilogy rings,” shares Ingram. “Thanks to the fact that we handcraft our own jewellery and the way we manage our stock, we’ve been able to satisfy our customers’ demand for these styles, both for Christmas and now of course for Valentine’s Day.” ‘What’s fascinating as well is that white gold has been by far the most popular setting for engagement rings for decades. Yet since people saw Meghan’s ring set in her favourite metal, yellow gold, our demand for this traditional gold tone is four times more than during the same period last year.’

UK Visitor Numbers Climb at Bijorhca Paris | The Jewelry Magazine

Image
Jewellery trade show Bijorhca Paris welcomed stable numbers of high calibre visitors to its 2018 edition, held January 19-22. In total, the Paris-based show was visited by over 12,000 people, 29% of which travelled from outside of France to meet the show’s 309 exhibitors.52% of visitors were international, with trade professionals being represented from 95 countries. Overall seven more nationalities attended in 2018, than in 2017. Of the regular 10 countries with the highest representation, four marked a significant increase: Portugal (+24%), the US (+22%), the Netherlands (+16%) and the UK (+12%). There was also a significant increase in the number of purchasing managers attending, thanks primarily to the development of the show’s VIP programme. Continuing last September’s trend, the number of online retailers attending also grew by an 45% compared to the January 2017 figure, accompanied by a larger number of wholesalers and importers (+15%). The bulk of the attendees wer

Ania Haie Creates a Buzz on the Jewellery & Watch Boulevard

Image
New fast-fashion jewellery brand Ania Haie has had a warm welcome to the UK market at this year’s Jewellery & Watch show. Located in a predominant spot on the boulevard, the team has been none stop as retailers from around the country have been looking to snap up the new fashion jewellery brand. By the end of a successful day one, Ania Haie had already opened new accounts in the UK, with more signing up on the second day of the show, and others expected to confirm today. Retailers are praising the brand for its fast-fashion approach, whereby new collections will drop every single months – allowing stores to keep windows fresh and customers engaged. Ania Haie also has a strong marketing strategy, and will be supporting stores with striking PoS, regularly updated images, and an abundance of materials for social media. Founders, Andy and Dave Maine, who are also the duo behind fashion jewellery brand Chrysalis, are extremely pleased with Ania Haie’s progress and the suppo

The Most Elegant Precious Gemstone in Silver Rings | Jewelry News

Image
Signet and Tiffany & Co. recently made adjustments to their rough diamond sourcing and polishing programs. Tiffany & Co. has decided that it no longer wants to cut and polish diamonds in Antwerp, Belgium, and plans to close the diamond polishing division of Laurelton Diamond Antwerp. Laurelton will continue to headquarter its diamond preparation activities in Antwerp, including rough sourcing, sorting, and marking and sawing, the company said. However, if local authorities approve its plan, cutting and polishing will migrate to Laurelton’s other factories—located in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mauritius, and Botswana—as well as to specialized vendors. A Tiffany & Co. spokesperson said the company’s larger rough sourcing policy has not changed. Signet, meanwhile, had been selling its excess polished out of a New York City office it opened in 2015. Recently, that office was closed, according to spokesman David Bouffard. “We will continue to operate our diamond busines

How to Sell Online | Online Selling Tips for E-Commerce Website

Image
Indeed, selling online is a good option. If you check out the wide reach of the internet, you would surely find a lot of ways to sell online and make good profits. It is important that you also learn a few things about how to sell your products online, as there are also some major differences in trying to sell to online customers. Indeed, selling online is a good option. If you search out the wide reach of the internet, you will surely find a many of ways to sell online and get good profits. It is important that you also learn a few things about how to sell your products online, as there are also some major differences in trying to sell to online customers. Here are some pointers to help you learn how to sell your products online. Sell your products in online auctions:- Many popular sites to sell online like eBay, Amazon, Etsy and many more. IIndeed, eBay has been a great way to sell and get profits, if you still have exclusive goods. Indeed, eBay has been a great way to s

Success in retail boils down to the ‘holy trinity’, claims Jacobs the Jewellers | The Jewelry Magazine

Image
Add caption 70-year-old Jacobs the Jewellers has lifted the lid and revealed what business techniques have helped the Reading-based retailer whether the last seven decades of retail. Third generation owner, Adam Jacobs, says that while there are many things retailers can be doing to ensure their businesses are successful, the ‘holy trinity’ is a core foundation. Jacobs told Professional Jeweller: “There’s the holy trinity of staff, customer and business. If you can crack those three things then I think you’re doing pretty well. “It’s never perfect because landscape shifts, people change, customer change, their needs and wants and desires evolve over time and over their life cycle. There are always new things coming along, like an economic landscape, no two situations are really the same but so as long as you’re keeping an eye on all of those three things to a great extent it’ll probably be okay.” As well as engaging with these three qualities, Jacobs also believes it is b