44 SOLITAIRE INTERNATIONAL JULY 2018
tarting off Jewellery Week was the
luxurious Couture Show, which
opened its doors on Thursday
May 31. The next day, the large JCK
Las Vegas event welcomed visitors to the
Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The
two other most important shows were
AGTA GemFair, also at Mandalay Bay, and
the Las Vegas Antique Jewelry & Watch
Show, which took place at the Las Vegas
Convention Center.
Each show has its own personality.
Couture, with less than 300 exhibitors, is
an easy-to-navigate and comfortable event
featuring upscale brands and designers
from around the world. The much larger
and more universal, JCK was spread over
two floors and included more than 2,300
exhibitors, whose products ranged from
inexpensive pieces to luxury items. The
show also included national pavilions with
a diverse assortment of manufacturers.“State of the Jewelry
Industry”
This year, the JCK show opened with
its first ever “Industry Trends Breakfast”,
during which it presented the JCK State
of the Jewelry Industry Report. The reportS
summarised a survey conducted by
GFK MRI, which focused on the overall
retail sentiment and challenges facing
the jewellery industry today. More than
500 respondents—primarily retailers
along with some input by manufacturers,
wholesalers and designers—participated
in the survey. This report revealed that
88% of respondents are optimistic
about the industry over the next 12
months, although the main challenges
they see are: online competition (47%),
overall economic climate (13%), lack
of consumer demand (9%) and lack of
millennial demand (8%).
Social media is also deemed important,
with 90% of respondents planning to
increase efforts on social platforms, while
81% rank social media marketing as one
of their most successful business practices.
Some 46% of retailers sell online, and 55%
indicate that e-commerce has increased
business, while 59% note that e-commerce
is less than a quarter of their business.
Key trends as noted by the 500
respondents are the rising numbers of
lab-grown diamonds, with 19% of retailers
stating that these gems are already in
their product mix. Responsibly-sourced
jewellery is also important, with 73%
indicating that they carry this category,
with 49% seeing an increase in consumer
concern about responsible sourcing.
Some 65% of retailers are seeing moreHandmade filigree pendant
in gold by Portuguese brand
Eleuterio.Indian brand, Moksh - Fine
Unseen Jewels, presented
a line of jewellery made
from minuscule seed pearls
from Japan accented with
diamonds and sapphires.Expandable and twistable
jewellery was very much in
evidence in Las Vegas as seen in
this gold and diamond bracelet
by Italian designer, Mattia Cielo,
exhibiting with Rock House.
Italian brand Nanis introduced
a collection called “Reverse”
where the centres can be turned
to feature a different design as
shown in these two “Dancing in
the Rain” Reverse earrings.