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Industry News: G&G Fall Issue; Tiffany Closes Cafe; CIBJO Addresses Lab-Grown Diamonds And More November 20, 2019 (0 comments)
Gems & Gemology Fall Issue Showcases Gem Art of the Taj Mahal
Carlsbad, CA—The Fall 2019 issue of Gems & Gemology (G&G) features the gem art of India’s famed Taj Mahal, plus a detailed study of fancy white and fancy black diamonds, vanadium-rich emeralds from China, a first look at unique inclusions in corundum from Thailand, characteristics of hydrothermally treated beeswax amber, and more. G&G, the quarterly professional journal of GIA, is available in print by subscription and in the GIA Store, or digitally at no cost on GIA.edu.
The lead article about the Taj Mahal illustrates the intricate gem inlay that graces the architecture of the structure, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Dona Dirlam and co-authors share the gem connoisseurship of the Mughal dynasty and how it influenced global gem commerce in the seventeenth century.
GIA research scientists Sally Eaton-Magaña and Christopher M. Breeding take an in-depth look at Fancy white and Fancy black diamonds in an article from their series on colored diamond characterization. Using GIA data for approximately 500 Fancy white and 1,200 Fancy black diamonds, this is the first systematic study on these rare diamonds.
The issue then transitions to colored stones, beginning with analyses of emeralds from Malipo, China, that show a unique composition. The next article identifies mineral inclusions in corundum from Chanthaburi, Thailand, several of which are reported for the first time in Thai corundum.
The issue also includes a pair of studies on organic gem materials. Researchers explore hydrothermally treated “beeswax” amber to reveal the enhancement process and means of detection. The final feature article follows the operations of a pearl farm in Phuket, Thailand, to determine methods for maximizing production and quality of cultured half-pearls.
The issue also features two brief notes: a discovery of a complex multi-step treatment process in a green diamond, and a new rhodochrosite simulant composed of pressed gibbsite and calcite powder. The issue concludes with the regularly occurring Lab Notes, G&G Micro-World and Gem News International columns. The 2019G&G Challenge quiz winners are also announced.
Every issue of G&G since 1934, including full contents, photo galleries, and exclusive video footage, is available free by visiting GIA.edu/gems-gemology. Additional research articles are available at GIA.edu/gia-news-research. Print subscriptions and copies of back issues are available at http://store.gia.edu/.
Tiffany Has New Chief Brand Officer But No More Breakfast
New York, NY—As Tiffany & Co. embarks on a massive renovation of its Fifth Avenue flagship, there won’t be any more breakfast At Tiffany—at least for a while. The retailer, which will relocate to temporary digs a few doors away at 6 E. 57thStreet during the construction, plans to shutter its fourth-floor Blue Box café at the end of the year. Image: PageSix
But don’t drop your avocado toast just yet—it’ll be back in 2021 when the renovated flagship reopens.
Separately, Tiffany has tapped Daniella Vitale, former CEO of Barneys New York, as its new chief brand officer, Women's Wear Daily reports. No additinoal details were available at presstime. Barneys filed for bankruptcy protection in August and put itself up for sale. It was acquired by Authentic Brands, which is currently liquidating all the merchandise, closing all but the flagship location (which will remain open as a "pop-up" store for a year), and plans to license the Barneys brand to other retailers.
CIBJO Conference Focuses On Sustainability, Lab-Grown Diamonds
Manama, Bahrain—The 2019 CIBJO Congress opened Monday in Bahrain, with president Gaetano Cavalieri calling on the jewelry industry to take action on climate change. He said the issue is not specific to the sector, but is the “most important story of our time.”
“There is a tendency, when faced by a challenge of this magnitude, to feel that we as individuals are helpless. But if each of us does nothing, the march towards inevitable environmental catastrophe will continue. However, if each of us acts, and then that is multiplied over and over and over, company by company, industry by industry, it may be possible to stave off disaster. It is the least we can do.”
Lise Kingo, executive director of the UN Global Compact—present for the first time at a CIBJO Congress—addressed the gathering in a video message. In terms of global warming, she said, the world is at a pivotal moment.
“The good news is that we have the innovation, the tools and the expertise to turn the situation around, and transform the crisis into an opportunity. What we need now is leadership. That is why we at the UN Global Compact are asking business leaders to step up and commit to setting science-based targets, which are aligned with mitigating the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.”
Cavalieri urged the jewelry industry to sign into CIBJO’s Jewellery Industry Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative, designed to help companies within the sector understand their environmental impact, reduce it, and protect themselves and the sector, as well as our planet. CIBJO as an organization first measured and offset its own carbon emissions in 2013. Every CIBJO Congress since 2015 has been and will continue to be carbon-neutral.
Lab-grown diamonds will come under discussion this Congress. The Laboratory Grown Diamond-Working Group will present a proposed guidance document, designed to create responsible trading standards for the new product category to protect consumer confidence in both laboratory-grown and natural diamonds.
“The only ground rules that were provided to the working group was that it members needed be committed to defending the interests of consumers by being absolutely transparent about the identity of the products being sold, and there should be general agreement that neither the natural diamond or laboratory-grown diamond sectors should advance their respective interests by disparaging those of the other,” he said.
Jewelers of America Announces Dates for 2020 National Convention
New York, NY – Jewelers of America (JA) will host the second annual Jewelers of America National Conventionat the InterContinental New York Barclay on July 26-28, 2020. With the theme Envision, the convention will feature two days of seminars from experts outside and inside the industry focusing on the future of jewelry retail.
“We were thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received following our inaugural National Convention last year. Our team is hard at work developing a program that will help jewelry businesses successfully grow in 2020. Our membership is diverse and yet they share many of the same business challenges. Through the National Convention, we are striving to provide solutions to those challenges in a variety of ways from education and interactive labs to networking and idea exchanges,” says JA president and CEO David J. Bonaparte.
The Convention will also feature opportunities for attendees to get hands-on with jewelry, retail tech and diamond detection devices. To learn more or to sign up to be notified with updates, visit www.jewelers.org/convention.