By Cynthia Unninayar
During the month of February, the Arizona cities of Phoenix and Tucson were the prime destinations for jewellery and gemstone buyers and designers. The shows kicked off with the prestigious by-invitationonly Centurion event, which took place this year in Scottsdale.
For its eleventh edition, Centurion said goodbye to Tucson and hello to Scottsdale. “Our first year in Scottsdale recorded record numbers,” said Centurion President Howard Hauben. “Full-pass retailers staying at our show hotel leaped by 31 percent, and some 300 total invited retail stores attended.”
Anecdotally, the overall ambiance at Centurion was encouraging. Retailers and exhibitors expressed satisfaction with the show and the general mood was upbeat. “The show aisles were busy and our last show day was the busiest we’ve ever had,” Hauben continued.
As usual, Centurion conducted a variety of activities and programs. Among the annual events were the 2012 Centurion Design Awards, the Emerging Designers competition, and various sports activities. One of the most highly attended seminars was a presentation by Randi Zuckerburg who discussed “Secrets and Top Ten Trends in Social Media Today,” followed by a panel discussion on social marketing.
|
| Shamila Jiwa, Robert Namdar/Revabella |
The Emerging Designers competition attracted 40 hopeful designers from around the world, who went through a long selection process before the final six were chosen. Most of the winners displayed items in silver, indicative of what buyers are looking for today, while a few presented gold pieces. Winners were: Jamie Cassavoy, Shamila Jiwa, Ward Kelvin, Ruchi Kotahwala & Ami Jhaveri, Lydia Lerner, and Robert Namdar/Revabella. Some of the creations are shown here.
|
| Gumuchian, Alishan |
The 2012 Centurion Design Awards featured a variety of categories and attracted many entries from the exhibitors. The following are the categories and winners. Platinum: Gumuchian; Pearls: Yvel; Gold: H. Weiss; Bridal: Etho; Colored Stone Classic: Erica Courtney; Colored Stone Fashion: Spark Creations; Contemporary Metals: Alishan; Diamond Classic: William Levine and Sethi Couture; Diamond Fashion: Siera; Silver: Eli Jewels, Breuning, Raymond Hak Couture; Watches: Frederique Constant.
|
| Maevona, Steven Kretchmer Designs |
Following Centurion, the many Tucson Gem shows got underway, with shows, both trade and public, opening all over the city. Jewellery exhibitors at AGTA’s Spectrum of Design Pavilion, outside of the main AGTA halls, indicated that traffic was fair to good, but better than last year.
More international in nature, the GJX housed a wide range of gem dealers, jewellery manufacturers, and artisans, as well as many national pavilions.
The gemstone exhibitors at both AGTA and GJX generally reported fair to good sales, an improvement over last year, but still nothing spectacular. Most comments centred on the rising prices of coloured stones, due to the higher demand from the emerging nations, primarily the BRIC countries, especially China and India.
|
| Mark Schneider, Helen Serras-Herman |
In terms of gemstone trends, there was really no particular trend, however it was no surprise that the quartzes—in all colours and types—continued to do well, especially as they are used in the new “affordable luxury” pieces created for the market today. Tourmaline, in its many colours, was seen at many stands and was said to be selling well, especially the watermelon types. Other popular stones were spinels and garnets, in a variety of colours, including the colour-change garnets from East Africa and the vivid green tones of tsavorite. Dealers indicated that demand was also high for the more traditional precious stones of eme ralds, sapphires, and tanzanite. Ethiopian opals continue to attract atten tion after their success last year in Tucson as they are seen as a good alternative to the higher priced Australian opals.
|
| Rina Limor, Todd Reed |
Notable, also, were the continuing sales of rough and sliced gemstones, from emeralds to sapphires to diamonds, which designers will use in their “natural” jewellery collections, a trend that started several years ago. With just about every colour, size, shape, and cut of stone at the Tucson shows, and a wide variety of fine jewellery at Centurion, there was indeed something for everyone.
