AROUND THE JEWELRY WORLD IN 60 DAYS
Well I’m back in New York after a whirlwind two months of travel looking for what’s new in the jewelry industry. September 10th flew to Bangkok to attend the Bangkok jewelry show. I love Bangkok. It is so exotic! Arrived the 11th in the evening and by the next day I was up and running. I visited several factories. Amazing! One had over 1600 workers. At lunch time they all ate outside under a canopy. Vendors lined the street on either side to sell food. After buying their lunch they took their seats at long tables of 12 the factory provided pots of rice for each table. This particular factory also provided day care and recreational facilities for the employees. Didn’t see anything new and really exciting at the show. A lot of color, of course it is Thailand!, and some interesting use of black rhodium.
Left Bangkok and arrived in Hong Kong to attend the Hong Kong jewelry show. I must say it was not as crowded as last year. Very few Americans attending. Of course, the day we arrived the news about Lehman Brothers and the financial markets hit the press. The entire world was in turmoil. Not the best atmosphere to have a jewelry buying show. It was also the end of Ramadan so many mid-eastern buyers were not there either.
However, everyone tried to put on a positive face and think ahead to the coming buying season. We saw a lot of large stones, many rings & pendants with large south sea pearls, actually a lot of pearls in all different colors. Diamonds were still quite popular especially in large earrings. White gold or platinum was the predominate color of metal choice with yellow gold showing up in fashion pieces. I saw a lot of silver fashion jewelry and some mixes of metals especially in bands.
Hong Kong has really changed over the years. It is quite modern now with fabulous architecture. Ate in a marvelous Chinese restaurant called Hautong on the Kowloon side. Rode the Star Ferry, a must for each visit to Hong Kong. Then off to the U.S. to prepare for my DeBeers press trip to South Africa.
In between, I flew to L.A. for a weekend at Disneyland with my little granddaughter. How exciting it was to be in the park pre-Halloween. The decorations were amazing and as I watched hundreds of families enter the park I thought what a wonderful idea Walt Disney had to give all ages a place to come together, be happy and enjoy family. Very Special!!!
And then it was Friday October17 and time to leave for our most marvelous adventure.
Ira & I had never been to South Africa so we really did not know what to expect. Our plane took off from JFK and 18 hours later we arrived in Johannesburg and were whisked away to our hotel where we met all the other people on our trip. They included a fashion designer, a Hollywood stylist, the head of the diamond department for Sotheby’s, the editor of Bridal magazine, a gentleman from Botswana, the jewelry editor of British Vogue, a writer for the Financial Times and several people from the D.I.C and DeBeers in London.
Our first day we toured the Soweto area of Johannesburg and visited some dwellings of squatters. We discovered that the regentrification of Soweto is taking place in several areas. The next day we visited the DeBeers headquarters and later experienced first hand the feeding program that DeBeers funds for the children of the Soweto area. For many this is the only meal they have that day, a glass of milk and 2 slices of whole wheat bread spread with peanut butter. Ira and I had the privilege of giving out the food. I cannot tell you how happy & thankful these children were. Then on to the apartheid museum where we learned about what happened during those years in South Africa. On the morning of the third day we visited The Cotlands orphanage which is also funded in a large part by DeBeers. This orphanage is a very special place for babies with aids whose parents have died probabably of the same disease. I thought I would be so depressed going to Cotlands but instead I felt very uplifted that these children were given such excellent care, enabling them to go to school and become members of their community. We also visited the CIDA University which provides opportunities for young blacks to study and enter the job market thereby empowering these wonderful young people so they can earn a living and achieve their place in society. Meeting the young people and hearing them tell their stories, was a heartwarming experience for all of us in the group. Then on to the Graff cutting factory where we saw some amazing diamonds. No Samples. Our visit to Johannesburg ended with a beautiful dinner where we tasted many delicious African foods.
Wednesday, we flew to Botswana and went directly to the Debswana offices. This company represents the joint venture between DeBeers and the country of Botswana. We learned how important the diamond mining business is to the economy of Botswana providing many job opportunities and funding many social programs. By the way- Did you know that DeBeers took its name from the farmer who discovered diamonds on his property? His name was DeBeers!!!! We also visited the rough sorting factory and the Steinmetz cutting factory. Amazing! Mostly everything these days is done by hi-tec machines. While in the city of Gaborone, we visited with the ex-president of Botswana, The Honorable Festus G. Mogae, who just the day before had won a $1.5 million dollar peace prize for fostering good government. That evening we were treated to a private showing of the made for TV movie adaptation of the #1 FIRST LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY. Since the story takes place in Botswana, it was a natural to film it there. It will be shown on HBO in March. It was delightful.
The next day it was off to the diamond mines. We really did not know what to expect. What we found was a very large open pit, think Grand Canyon, where alluvial mining is done by machinery. I was told that for every 100 tons of dirt excavated they can recover somewhere between 10-100 carats of diamonds. Now I know why diamonds are so precious and so expensive.
Then off to a game preserve for 24 hours of safaris which I may add was incredible. We bid our fond farewells to all our new friends and boarded the plane for our 18 hour trip back to the states.
In the past 60 days, I have learned that no matter where I traveled there is great concern for the health of the diamond jewelry industry. We must be very creative as we approach the coming year. I wish a fantastic holiday season for everyone. Enjoy your families and the time that you can share together.
