Check out my post on Day 1!
My first time at COUTURE and JCK: day 2 started off with a much-anticipated panel discussion. I woke up early so that I could attend the COUTUREtalk called Lab Grown x Mined Diamonds. Somewhat mystified by the “x” in this context — did it mean “for”? “by”? “and”? — and excited to hear what the panel had to say, I was also happy to see they had breakfast.
The individuals making up the panel represented a diverse array of jewelry industry professions. Designer Stephen Webster was there, as was Laura Freedman, owner of bi-coastal jewelry boutique Broken English. On the marketing end of things, they’d invited Lightbox CMO (remember my post on them?) Sally Morrison and Rachel Aaron of Canadamark Diamonds. Cathryn Ramirez of GIA moderated.
I found the discussion enjoyable, if somewhat predictable. The panelists either enthusiastically agreed with or tiptoed carefully around the party line currently marketed by the Diamond Producers Association: natural diamonds are for meaningful occasions and lab-grown diamonds are not. In other words, natural diamonds are high-end luxury items and lab-grown diamonds are for lower-priced fashion jewelry.
Stephen Webster said he thinks both natural and lab-grown stones have design potential, adding that “something new can be amazing and dynamic.” He did not bring up his collaboration with Atelier Swarovski called Double Diamond. That collection used lab-grown diamonds and lab-grown quartz dubbed “Swarovski-created.” (At least, I don’t think he brought it up. I got a little distracted at one point when I realized that Liza Urla of Gemologue was seated one table over.) The Double Diamond collection was priced from $1,990 up to $11,000. I’d consider that aimed at the luxury consumer, wouldn’t you?
Laura Freedman seemed to be taking a wait-and-see approach with her stores. “Consumers are not asking for this product yet, but it’s coming,” she said. Sally Morrison shared that Lightbox isn’t seeing a particular millennial focus on lab-grown diamonds, which many wrongly assume, then drilled her main point home: “One thing a lab-grown diamond is not is rare, because we can make them over and over again.” Message received.
When it came time for the audience Q&A, I raised my hand to ask why it’s being treated as an established fact that lab-grown diamonds are for lesser occasions. We’re seeing a big push in the bridal market with lab-grown center diamonds, for example. If that’s not celebrating a momentous occasion with a lab-grown diamond, what is? But I didn’t get to ask my question, because a man from the lab-grown industry stood up and loudly interrupted with, “I just want to say…” and then shared an unsolicited opinion.
“Well, I would like to hear what you had to say,” said a nice woman sitting to my left when Mr. Interrupter finished and people stood up to leave. I talked to her and the man to my right about my question for a bit. They agreed that that the lab-grown vs. natural mindset is not set in stone. Then, she invited me to her company’s party that evening. She worked for –wait for it– Atelier Swarovski.
It was time for the trek to pick up my badge and explore JCK and Luxury by JCK. I was walking toward the COUTURE exit when I spotted Barbara Palumbo sitting by herself, shuffling through some papers. She’s a freelance writer I discovered after stumbling upon this blog post about her experiences with sexual harassment in the jewelry industry. She wrote it a year before the #MeToo movement became a thing. I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t meet her, so I walked over and said hello. I was nervous, because you never know who’s going to be an asshole in this world. But she was really warm and funny and game to take a picture with me.
Who took the photo of us? None other than Katerina Perez, jewelry blogger extraordinaire. She’d come over to say hi to Barbara when I was talking to her. So in the span of about 20 minutes, I saw three successful bloggers I admire, met two and got a photo with one. Not too shabby!
Once I made it to the Venetian, I headed to the Sands Expo and Convention Center, home of JCK. My first impression? Holy shit, this is MASSIVE. I got my badge and intended on taking a quick lap around the convention to get my bearings. I quickly realized there is no such thing as a quick lap at JCK. There were multiple floors, ballrooms, lounge areas and an entire gemstone pavilion. What seemed like a million vendors had everything from loose opals to charms to chains to the latest in CAD and CRM software. There was even a DJ who played from start to finish every day! It was wild.
I completed my sorry attempt at a lap and wasn’t sure what to do. It was almost time for a GIA panel called Embracing Sustainability Amid New Consumer Expectations, so I headed in that direction. The idea of sitting down for a while was really appealing.
The talk opened with a video montage. Loud, ominous music blared from speakers and images of blood diamond magazine covers and child miners danced across the screen. As the lights came back on, Susan Jacques, president and CEO of GIA, took the stage to introduce the speakers. She emphasized our industry’s need to change the public’s perceptions by focusing on the efforts being made to improve industry-wide. “We must be the change we wish to see in the world,” she said.
Overall, I was very pleased to learn of the different efforts being made from mine to market to treat our planet better. Everyone acknowledged that today’s consumers care about where their jewelry comes from, and that it’s our job to make sure we’re taking care of the earth and sourcing our materials responsibly.
While all of the panelists were excellent, two in particular stood out to me. Claire Piroddi holds the title of Sustainability Manager of Watches and Jewelry for Kering. Kering is a luxury group that owns brands like Ulysse Nardin and Pomellato, both of which we carry at Zadok Jewelers. Kering has developed a sustainability road map to 2025 that includes reducing its environmental footprint, promoting gender equality and embracing new technology and startups.
Marcus ter Haar is CEO of Okvango Diamond Company, which operates in Botswana. He talked about the positive impact that diamond mining has had on Botswana, which has a partnership with DeBeers called Debswana. The government of Botswana and DeBeers each own 50% of Debswana. Every diamond mined in Botswana that a consumer later purchases helps provide education, free healthcare and more. Most consumers don’t know about this, so it’s precisely the kind of thing we need to educate them about.
After that, I waited by the door, hoping to make it into a GIA lab I registered for a little too late. I was on the waiting list, but in the end did not get to participate. At this point, I felt a little frustrated with myself. I’d vastly underestimated the time it would take simply to get from point A to point B every day, and I wasn’t getting to see nearly as much jewelry as I thought I would. It was time to get serious.
During my attempt to get serious, I found myself completely lost in the gemstone pavilion. Which was okay, because I got to see this cool opal from Cody Opal Australia.
Too exhausted to do anything else, I went back to my room, took a nap, went out to dinner with the Zadok team and called it a day. I would return to JCK and JCK Luxury the next day and make up for lost time.
Or so I thought.
Stay tuned for the third and final post about my first time at COUTURE and JCK!