By Cynthia Unninayar

While many parts of the USA were buried in snow, jewellery brands and gem dealers came to the desert city of Tucson to showcase their products at a variety of events.

During the month of February, the southern Arizona city of Tucson became the prime destination for gemstone and jewellery buyers and designers. The shows kicked off with the prestigious byinvitation- only Centurion jewellery event, which took place in an elegant resort hotel. Then, AGTA, GJX, GLDA, and AGGJS opened their doors to thousands of gem dealers and buyers— as well as an increasing number of jewellery designers—from around the globe. While these shows were limited to the trade, the rest of the city opened hotel rooms, tents, trailers, and just about everything else to the public, where thousands of collectors, connoisseurs, and the simply curious could shop for a wide variety of gemstones, minerals, fossils, sculptures, and just about anything else related to the world of stones.

Centurion, Laid-Back Luxury

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year was Centurion, a show that we could very well categorize as “Laid-Back Luxury.” In an ambiance that was warm, intimate, and relaxed, retailers were able to examine and purchase a wide variety of products from Centurion’s upmarket brands. And, it seems that purchase they did, this year, as the recovery gets underway. “Exhibitor and retailer reports coming throughout and after Centurion 2011 reflected great satisfaction with this year’s event quality and results,” stated Centurion president Howard Hauben, adding that show attendance was strong, and up “36 percent over the 2010 show.” It was also announced that next year’s show will move to a location in the Phoenix area.

Now in its second year, Centurion’s Emerging Designer contest produced six winners who were given display space at the show. They represented diverse facets of fine jewellery design from around the world, and offered retailers a look at new approaches and new faces.

This year, Centurion also held its first Design Awards Competition, judged by retailers from all over the USA who voted for more than 80 exhibitor entries in 11 categories. “The calibre of creativity of each entry was simply amazing,” said Centurion President Howard Hauben, who added that it will become an annual event.

Lots of Colour

In spite of the weather issues in much of the USA, the AGTA fair reported a five-percent increase in buyer attendance from last year. “It was nice to see an increase in traffic, but the real success of the show was the atmosphere on the show floor, with a significant upswing in buying activity,” stated Douglas K. Hucker, AGTA CEO. Buying was reportedly strong for finished products as well as loose coloured stones as retailers realize the importance of adding colour to their product line-up as a way to improve profitability

Good interest and traffic was also seen in the Spectrum of Design Pavilion, outside of the main AGTA halls. Paula Crevoshay reported that this show’s traffic was higher than ever in the past, declaring that “The show proved to be the most successful from the last 30 years.”

More international in nature, the GJX housed a wide range of gem dealers, jewellery manufacturers, small brands, and artisans, as well as national pavilions for many nations such as Germany and Brazil, among many others.

Just about every colour, size, shape, and cut of stone could be seen at these Tucson shows. While no specific trend or colour was observed, there was a notable increase in rough and sliced coloured gems, from emeralds to sapphires to diamonds, which designers will be quick to add to their “natural” finished jewellery collections that continue to gain in popularity. Rutilated quartz in all colours was a favourite of many jewellers, as were the various hues of spinel and tourmaline. The Turkish-mined zultanite was the focus of much attention at Centurion where a number of well-known jewellery designers used this enigmatic colour-changing variety of the mineral diaspore in a range of beautiful creations.

In terms of pearls, the traditional strands of all colours were in abundance, as were lariats mixed with gems and diamonds. A few necklaces of rare conch pearls were seen at both Centurion and the gem shows. Among the more unusual pearls that attracted attention were the very lightweight “Soufflé” pearls, so-named by Jack Lynch of Sea Hunt Pearls. He explained that these large freshwater pearls are half the weight of the normal freshwater variety because they are hollow. He suggests that the pearl growers probably placed something in the pearl sac—perhaps some sort of mud—that would dissolve and break down during the growth process, thus leaving a hollow but sturdy lighter weight pearl.