Articles and News
BRAND NEWS: PANDORA’S CHAIR TAKES BLAME, TODD REED HOSTS AJDC, GARAVELLI IN RUSSIAN BAZAAR September 21, 2011 (0 comments)
Chair About Pandora Woes: “It’s My Fault”
Copenhagen, Denmark—Allan Leighton, supervisory board chairman for global bead giant Pandora, says the company’s recent performance woes stem from poor execution of necessary price hikes. In this article in the Financial Times, he saysthe price increases themselves weren’t the issue, but rather how they were managed.
The price hikes came about as commodity prices such as gold and silver rocketed, but Leighton says that while it would be easy to hide behind that as a reason, it was just poorly managed. The company, whose strategy is about affordable luxury, pushed prices past the point of affordability for its core customers and drove them away.
“We just didn’t execute the price increases well. We didn’t think them through well, we didn’t manage them through well.” As a result, the company lost two-thirds of its market value after a profit warning less than a year after it raised about $1.9 billion in an initial public offering.
While he doesn’t feel a strategic overhaul of the company is needed, he acknowledged the price hikes drove away core customers and that the plunge in sales happened on his watch and promised it will be fixed.
Read the entire FT article here.
Todd Reed to Host AJDC Retreat
Boulder, CO—Fifteen members of the American Jewelry Design Council will gather for a three-day retreat here beginning September 23. During the retreat an exhibition of Project works by AJDC members will be on display at the studio of current JDC president Todd Reed. Members of the Initiatives in Arts and Culture (IAC)—in Denver for its annual Arts and Crafts Conference September 21-25—will be invited to view the projects.
Each year the AJDC membership chooses a design theme around which members create a one-of-a-kind project.The projects are intended for exhibition only, and are never sold. They are meant to elevate jewelry expression to the level of fine art, and to stimulate both the artists and the viewers. AJDC members will present projects from the themes of the past four years, including: Tension, Explosion, Tear, and Black+White.
The American Jewelry Design Council was founded in 1988 as a non-profit organization that recognizes and promotes the art of jewelry design. Eight influential jewelry designers, including Henry Dunay and Jose Hess, founded the organization with the goals of raising awareness of jewelry as art, educating and sharing information about fine jewelry, sharing knowledge and ideas, establishing standards, and promoting a strong artistic identity to the public perception of jewelry.
Just as the AJDC is committed to elevating jewelry as art, the IAC’s mission is to educate diverse audiences in the world of fine, decorative, visual arts and architecture. Todd Reed will speak at this year’s conference; his presentation is titled 21stCentury Heirlooms: Bold Designs, Precious Material, and Ethical Sourcing.
To learn more about the American Jewelry Design Council, visit ajdc.org. To learn more about IAC visit artinitiatives.com.
Italian Jeweler in Russian Harper’s Bazaar
Valenza, Italy—Garavelli Aldo was featured in the September 2011 Russian edition of Harper’s Bazaar, below. Two rings—one amethyst and tsavorite, the other hematite and black diamond—from its “Coil on the Rocks” collection was featured. At right, a necklace from the same collection.
Frederique Constant Sponsors Car and Boat Events
Mexico City, Mexico—Swiss watchmaker Frédérique Constant was named the official timekeeper and partner of the 29th edition of the renowned La Carrera Panamericana auto race, which will be held October 21-27 in Mexico.
This year’s race will start in Huatulco, a developing resort area in Mexico, and finish five days and 1,800 miles later in Zacatecas. It will stop for the night in Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Morelia, Guanajuato, and Aguascalientes. More than 100 classic and vintage cars are confirmed to participate, including some champion drivers from Germany, France, Netherlands and the United States.
La Carrera Panamericana is one of the most emblematic classic car rallies in the world. After the Mexican section of the Panamerican Highway was completed in 1950, a five-day race across the country was organized by the Mexican government to advertise this feat and to attract international business into Mexico. The race ran almost entirely along the new highway, which crossed the country from north to south for a total distance of over 3,300 kilometres (2,100 mi).
A vintage racing car in the La Carrera Panamericana.
For Frédérique Constant, sponsoring La Carrera Panamericana forms an exciting and logical new chapter in its history of classic car related sponsorships around the world. All participating cars will bear the Frédérique Constant logo, and both the driver and the navigator of the winning car will be rewarded with an exclusive Frédérique Constant timepiece from the Vintage Rally Collection.
Separately, the watchmaker also was a sponsor of the 39thannual Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance Wooden Boat Show in Carnelian Bay, CA, showcasing the best vintage boats from North America competing in 13 specialized classes. The winning boat was a 1939 Gar Wood, a 19-foot runabout with 103 horsepower six cylinder Chrylser engine, owned by Jonathan and Jean Trevillyan of Acton, CA, who both received a limited-edition Frédérique Constant Runabout watch, below:
Bell & Ross Launches Collection at Napoleon’s Tomb
Paris, France—Bell & Ross presented its new WW1 collection September 13 at the historic Hôtel National des Invalides, whose famed Eglise du Dome houses Emperor Napoleon I’s tomb.
This new collection, which includes a pocket watch, the PW1, as well as the WW1, a wristwatch, traces the evolution of timepieces from the pocket to the wrist.
Guests had the opportunity to visit the famous ‘Musée de l’Armée’ and then gathered in a sumptuous ballroom to enjoy exquisite French cuisine and vintage Champagne.
Nearly 300 people were present, including French media personalities, military officers, political figures, and watch aficionados.