Vicenzaoro, whose next edition will take place on September 9-13, 2022, is a hub for the entire global jewellery industry, far beyond a transactional opportunity, Exhibition Director Marco Carniello tells Jewellery Outlook Editor David Brough.
See the following link to find out about an Insta Live @jewelleryoutlook on Tuesday August 2, which will introduce the September edition of Vicenzaoro: https://jewelleryoutlook.com/insta-live-introducing-september-edition-of-vicenzaoro/
Marco Carniello
Vicenzaoro uses the branding “All at once”. What does this term mean?
At Italian Exhibition Group we believe that B2B trade fairs are evolving towards new business models and concepts. We see Vicenzaoro as a “platform” for opportunities, a “hub” for all the industry – not just a “buy & sell” occasion.
Vicenzaoro is attracting brands, producers, dealers, importers, designers but also media, professors, researchers, teachers, students and institutional organizations. Everyone finds his or her own reason to be in Vicenza and sees the opportunity of being part of this community, in those five days.
This is “All at Once.”
How do you see the current positioning of Vicenzaoro in the global jewellery trade events market?
We managed to keep our halls open in all those “Covid” years, organizing events in 2020 and 2021. We kept our Community engaged and, on top of this, we acquired more and more new visitors as we were one of the very few shows running in those times.
As a result, we are getting stronger and stronger – in terms of awareness and positioning among the top B2B shows worldwide.
In what key directions is Vicenzaoro developing as a show? What are its main priorities?
We are still focusing very much on the offer (exhibitors), making sure that we have the best selection and mix of products and services of the jewellery supply chain – from tech to brands, from producers to gems and services.
Secondly, we are pushing very much our “cultural agenda”, bringing to Vicenza content, opinion leaders and projects that support the development of the industry. In particular we focus on trends and education.
Last but not least, we are improving the “visitor experience” – adding more services and facilities to our visitors coming from all the world.
We are organizing more and more events in the city centre after show hours, we are increasing shuttles to connect the airport, downtown and hotels with the fairground.
For example, we now have many 5-star hotels at very reasonable rates (100-170€/night) located within easy reach of the fair and connected with our shuttles – free of charge for our visitors.
Please visit our website for more detailed information.
Vicenzaoro is already popular with U.S. and European trade buyers. Do you expect a growing influx of buyers from Asia in the coming years?
Difficult to say. Definitely we expect to have top buyers coming from Asia to Vicenza again, but we’re not sure when. They love our offering at the show – we just hope that it will be easier to travel very soon.
Exhibitor numbers will be close to pre-Covid levels this September. How do you anticipate the breakdown of geographical origins and of types of exhibitors to evolve at Vicenzaoro in coming years?
Historically in Vicenza visitors are coming from more the 120 countries. It’s almost all of the world.
We expect this trend will continue – Europe will be the most represented visiting region. The Middle East, US, Latin America, India and all Asia, I believe, will keep growing as well.
What are your hopes for development of the Vintage showcase for watches at Vicenzaoro?
VO Vintage is adding international exhibitors – like Bob Maron – and including more and more content and educational streams for vintage watch and jewellery enthusiasts.
This is a B2C Project, a very new format, that we keep separated from VIcenzaoro, but it’s creating relevant synergies that our exhibitors and visitors will continue to enjoy in the medium term.
