Top jewellers showcase exquisite pieces at About J
VICENZA, Italy, September 9, 2011 – Two dozen leading fine jewellery brands showcased their latest precious creations at the About J luxury event in the Bisazza showrooms.
Buyers had flown in from around the world, including the United States and Russia, to meet with Italian brands such as Roberto Coin, Crivelli, Garavelli and Chimento.
Rodney Rayner at About J 2011
Non-Italian brands represented at About J included Hellmut, renowned for its crocodile-themed designs, and Rodney Rayner.
Rayner said he was presenting pieces from his London Rocks and Cascade collections, launched at BASELWORLD this year.
“It’s like an artist’s palette of colour,” Rayner told Jewellery Outlook, referring to London Rocks, which has 350 stones in every pendant.
“We have all the shades of tsavorite, blue topaz, peridots, diamonds and amethysts – a real rainbow of colours.”
Cascade, inspired by Rayner’s time working in Japan, features a cascade of diamonds.
Mattia Cielo presented a piece in naturally coloured grey titanium with white diamonds.
About J was due to relocate on September 10 to the Choice edition of the Vicenza Fair, which will focus on innovation.
In 2012 About J will have an international platform, the Vicenza Fair’s president Roberto Ditri said, without giving details.
FRESH TALENT
A key feature of the Choice edition of the Vicenza Fair will be the New Directions pavilion presenting works by up-and-coming Italian designers.
Alba Cappellieri, a well-known Italian jewellery expert based at the Politecnico di Milano, said that designers were working increasingly in so-called “new materials” such as titanium, brass and aluminium, in order to confront the challenge of soaring precious metal prices.
“The rising gold price creates an incentive to search for new ideas, new concepts – this is the duty of designers,” Cappellieri said.
Trends expert Paola De Luca was due to present her vision for the future of jewellery design in a seminar following the recent launch of Trend Vision, a laboratory dedicated to trends.
As the Italian gold and silver jewellery export sector grapples with precious metals costs against a tough economic backdrop, the Vicenza Fair will assist in the promotion of Italian jewellery abroad by focusing on key markets such as China and India, Ditri said.
Ditri and General Manager Corrado Facco had recently returned from a trip to the IIJS jewellery trade fair in Mumbai to develop ties with leaders of the Indian jewellery export sector.
“We are focusing on where the demand is,” Ditri said.
The Vicenza Fair will promote the creativity and design excellence of “Made in Italy” creations, he added.
Facco said, “We are repositioning the Italian jewellery industry complex in terms of the image and opportunities of business around the world.”
The Vicenza Fair also announced plans to launch the Andrea Palladio International Jewellery Awards 2012, which will recognise the best of international jewellery in its various forms from design to production, distribution, retail and advertising.
A highly qualified international jury will select the finalists.
In order to participate, companies or individuals should fill in the downloadable entry form from the website
www.aboutjewellery.it
The deadline for entries is March 16, 2012.
The winners will be presented with their awards at Vicenzaoro Charm in May 2012.
