Going Up?
By Gretel Hunnerup
Sit back and settle in. It's time to take an armchair tour through the world's most thrilling fine jewellery hubs. GRETEL HUNNERUP brings you destination high-end.
What is immediately obvious when one enters Bergdorf Goodman, a swanky department store on New York's infamous Fifth Avenue, is the vast tract of main floor space dedicated to fine jewellery.
This is no random allocation - according to industry sources, the jewellery department generates by far the most profits for the store with sales in the tens of millions and very few markdowns.
Why such an outstanding success? Bergdorf Goodman employs a clutch of well-known jewellery designers and briefs them to do their own thing. Peering into the cabinets, for example, one can find an ancient-looking mosaic necklace in diamonds, green stones and hammered gold by Yossi Harrari; a Joan Hornig bib necklace made out of squashed cobalt keshi pearls and onyx; and a thorn-like cocktail ring in jagged white diamonds by Steven Webster.
Typically, Bergdorf Goodman's fine jewellery buyers will single-out any designers that resonate with the store's unique style sensibility. The store then tracks each designer's development like they would a fine painter or sculptor, building a collection of precious pieces over time.
To get past the mountain of uninspiring bling out there, the store's buyers will commonly spend six-figure sums to get pieces that are rare, strong in design, and bear the imprint of an artisan.
Competitors Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus also offer limited edition and one-off jewellery with a highly unique look in an effort to capture that top dollar while, across in Madison Avenue, some of the biggest names in branded jewellery - Leviev, Kwiat, Graff and Chopard - are situated alongside current Madison Avenue heavyweights David Yurman, Bulgari and Judith Ripka.
If the US really is on the brink of a recession, then these stores are having none of it. It's all romantic chandeliers and peony roses at Leviev, for example, while Chopard has achieved an upbeat, modernist vibe with its sleek, stainless steel and blonde wood cabinets.
At all boutiques, the jewels are as big and bold as they come, with gigantic coloured-gem cabochon rings, opera necklaces dripping with sizeable diamonds, yellow gold serpentine bracelets dotted with an assortment of pastel gems, and white pearl, diamond and peridot drop earrings in yellow gold.
The trend for these luxury labels is to keep their retail operations in-house, steering clear of independent retail outlets and department stores altogether so they can give their customers the complete brand experience - from store entrance right through to packaging.
Head to Russia, a land where spending big is a national pastime for both the old money crowd and the nouveau rich.
It wasn't long after the collapse of the Soviet Union that global fashion powerhouses started flocking to the country to offer in-your-face luxury goods to the newly flashy, logo driven consumer. Today, western brands with no jewellery history are using their prevalence in the fashion marketplace to aggressively push new jewellery lines, the outcome of which is on clear display along the streets of Moscow.
Take Tverskaya, for example, the Russian capital's bustling thoroughfare of glitz and glamour where scores of luxury labels perch beneath colossal billboards advertising diamond-encrusted Rolex watches.
In all store windows, the emphasis is on glamour; there are huge hero pieces with kaleidoscopic colours at Chanel, chunky yellow gold and black enamel cuffs, cocktail rings and chain necklaces with hanging, logo-inscribed medallions at Gucci, and thick, industrial-styled rings in yellow and white gold at Louis Vuitton.
Despite this, market experts suggest Tverskaya is losing its appeal as the nation's biggest jewellery spenders search far and wide for elusive pieces.
At last year's Moscow World Art Fair, around 50,000 guests perused and purchased unique, handmakes featuring the rarest of gems from the bottom floor of the Manezh Exhibition Hall.
Coloured diamonds, unusual sapphires and rubies were all on exhibit, plus stones found in only one place in the world such as the Paraiba tourmaline from a small region in Brazil.
Russian visitors showed considerable interest in the works of countrymen Jukoffka Plaza, Smolensk Diamonds and Jewellery House Angleje - the latter exhibiting a 167-carat, rough, champagne diamond mined in the Sakha Republic region - but it was French company Leon Hatot's Jazzy necklace, with its 500 precious stones mounted in 18-carat white gold, that best illustrated the trend in the Russian jewellery market for extreme lavishness and exceptional beauty.
Head south to the steamy, northern Indian city of Jaipur, where the fine jewellery trade is going gangbusters. The city's rich and decorated tradition of gold jewellery making is on display in Jaipur's narrow bazaars. India has taken over from Italy as the largest producer of gold jewellery in the world and intricately-patterned works are up for sale on every corner as craftsmen hammer, drill and decorate the precious metal from open-air stalls.
For affluent foreigners on an Indian jewellery tour, a hugely popular spot is the Gem Palace, a family-run store selling wares for up to $US2 million. Inside the dark wooden cabinets, gold-enamelled chandelier earrings set with rose-cut diamonds sit alongside Mughal-era pendants in ruby and turquoise, and burnished-gold pinkie rings with rough-cut tourmalines.
Mixing the old with the new is the way here - antique jewels once owned by Maharajas are married to contemporary studded bracelets using archaic Indian methods - and it seems the only rule is that the jewellery must never be subtle.
The vibe around Jaipur's jewellery trade is one of promise, with companies patenting new diamond cuts, sending their finest artisans to the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council's development centre to hone talent, and tailoring designs to suit specific markets around the world. Reflecting a growing trend for top-spending internationals to source Indian jewellery once considered too ethnic, Gem Palace treasures are making their way to the displays at Barneys New York and Los Angeles, and Caribou Jewels in Aspen.
But what's even more interesting is the major push felt last year at both the Jaipur Jewellery Show and Mumbai's India International Jewellery Fair towards developing diamond and coloured-stone designs for wealthy domestic clientele.
Ever the great provider for the rest of the world, India now stands to gain much by promoting luxury wares to its own people too.
And preferences appear to be moving away from yellow gold, the primary component of traditional Indian designs at both fairs, to diamonds, pearls, and emeralds.
In contemporary designs, white gold, platinum, titanium and steel are growing in popularity also.
Australia may not have the sheer production power of India, nor Russia's propensity to self-spend to the hilt without a lick of guilt, nor the concentrated wealth that Manhattan enjoys. But it does benefit from a growing desire in wealthy and middle-class circles to choose high-end jewellery with a twist.
Much has been said about the Australian market's comparatively conservative nature; however, much of this is misplaced. In fact, given the glut of mass-produced, lower-end products now available, the tendency is to track down nicer pieces that are a little off-centre.
"Overall there's a greater propensity for people to experiment with design," says Craig Symons of Osjag, the Australian supplier of German brands Breuning and Blumer, plus Israeli label Oliva. "Our tastes are becoming far more international because people are moving here from all over the place and bringing their ideas about jewellery with them."
Symons continues to field plenty of requests for Breuning's pavé-set hoop earrings, and Blumer's brushed, hammered and sandblasted metal pieces. And he will release Oliva's Reflection range later this year, a series of big show rings in which tapered baguette diamonds are set around a low-set centre stone to give a stadium effect.
At supplier Efune & Efune, the hottest-selling items are those that incorporate many stones.
"Immense detail as opposed to the single-stone piece is definitely the world trend in the upper-market, and Australia plays a big part in that trend so we are now micro-setting jewellery with anything from 200 up to 1,200 stones," Australian director Ivor Winik says. "The fashion for summer was to use multiple-set diamonds in black and white, but as we move into winter, the focus will be on setting brown diamonds against white ones in yellow gold.
"Another thing coming through is yellow and rose gold," Winik continues, "mixed and set with white and yellow diamonds, and in some cases pink diamonds, which will give people the opportunity to look different."
In the pearl category, Jill Nash of Lust
Pearls has come up with a way to embed tiny, brilliant-cut diamonds of many colours into the surface of her South Sea pearls.
The highly original pearls have been slung onto chains, set onto yellow gold rings and worked into golden, web-like pendants.
Then there's Integral Design, the Melbourne-based manufacturing business that supplies diamond, coloured stone and pearl pieces in all golds to many of the retailers dotted around rural and regional Australia.
Integral has been making some brave moves, offering hefty pendants in coloured stones and golden Mabe pearls, as well as a huge, flashy onyx and diamond enhancer designed to clip onto pearl strands or chains.
"I believe pink tourmaline and pink sapphires will continue to sell well in Australia," says Tony Bone, Integral's marketing manager, "and I think there's very much a move towards rose gold as well, considering it's doing so well overseas."
Certainly it seems that, where the suppliers are concerned, use of colour is key and a unique look, if only slight, is paramount to the selling power of high-end jewellery in Australia at the moment.
Sure, Australia may not be known as an obvious leader in the evolution of fine jewellery, but the desire for clever craftsmanship is very much alive. And the more retailers focus on these high-end pieces, the more this sector of the market will grow. High-end retailers offering such goods will be duly rewarded. Knowing one's market is key to success.
High-end in Hollywood: What stars donned at the Oscars
Forget acting performances; the real winners at this year's 80th annual Academy Awards were the statement necklaces that adorned the necks of the film industry's most celebrated starlets.
Keri Russell came out in a collar-length necklace of vintage diamond flowers straight from H.Stern's private collection, closely followed by Nicole Kidman, who dripped to the waist in a Sautoir necklace totalling 7,645 diamonds of 1,400 carats.
Jennifer Garner settled on an art-deco necklace featuring 61 carats of diamonds from Van Cleef & Arpels, while Laura Linney pared her dark-blue Michael Kors gown with a gold pendant necklace featuring diamond and blue topaz by Cathy Waterman.
Best Actress winner Marion Cotillard was a picture of elegance in Chopard's 64-carat champagne-diamond necklace, which she built above a long, brown-diamond necklace. But the most interesting piece of the night was worn by Best Actress nominee Julie Christie - a brilliant blue and red scarab necklace set into yellow gold wire that emphasised her ruched, coral-red dress.
Mostly, necklaces were matched with accompanying earrings in chandelier or stud style, with diamond bracelets worn tight on the wrist.
Posted April 01, 2008