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Italian Jewelry Industry Hosts ‘The Italian Jewelry Manifesto’ | June 07, 2022 (0 comments)
New York, NY--A total of 46 Italian jewelry manufacturers participated in “The Italian Jewelry Manifesto,” held May 18 – 20 at the new Piazza Italia, an event space and showroom in New York dedicated to Italian food, design and fashion industries.
According to the organizers, approximately 300 buyers attended the three-day event, including representatives from Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Zales. It even attracted buyers from London.
Networking dinner at the The Italian Jewelry Manifesto event. Photo credit: The Italian Jewelry Manifesto
The event opened with a press conference and a networking dinner followed by two days of workshops and tours of products on offer with representatives from the manufacturers to explain their offerings for U.S. jewelry industry buyers and journalists. The companies at the event represented the four major jewelry centers in Italy: Vicenza, Valenza, Arezzo and Torre del Greco, as well as companies in other parts of the country.
Antonio Laspina, consul general of Italy for the U.S., said The Italian Jewelry Manifesto is just the beginning. Trade and consumer-facing events will be held at the Piazza Italia space and othjer locations in the U.S. Laspina particularly noted South Florida, Texas and Arizona as key markets for future events.
This project is fully funded by the Italian government, which supports Made in Italy manufacturers throughout the world. This event was the result of a collaboration among the Italian Trade Agency in the U.S., FEDERORAFI (the Italian Federation of gold jewelry, silverware and jewelry producers), and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From left: Mariangela Zappia, Italian Ambassador to the U.S., and Claudia Piaserico, FEDERORAFI president. Photo credit: The Italian Jewelry Manifesto
North America has always been a long-standing and vital market for the Italian jewelry industry. However, during the Coronavirus pandemic (and likely because of it) the region has once again grown to become the largest market for Italian jewelry. Claudia Piaserico, president of FEDERORAFI, said that 2021 sales of Italian jewelry in the U.S. totaled nearly 1.3 billion euros, accounting for 16% of all Italian jewelry exports.
Paola DeLuca, The Futurist, noted this increase in U.S. consumer demand comments after the event.
“North America once again is the top export market for Italian jewelry as it was in the 90s,” said DeLuca, who curated the manufacturers and led the marketing and communications efforts for the event. “It’s a love affair that started many years ago in America and is continuing and becoming stronger in 2022 and onward.”