Founder of Crossfor Co Ltd Hidetaka Dobashi once thought about creating a unique type of jewellery which made the centre stone more shining while helping the Tokyo-based company gain a firm foothold in the global market. He believed that there were only two ways to do so – moving the light or moving the stone. This was where the concept of Dancing Stone® came from.
A worldwide-patented exclusive technology, Dancing Stone® uses Crossfor Component and stone-setting solution Twinkle Setting® to allow the centre stone to swing constantly along with the wearer’s movement. Free of laser hole and prong, Dancing Stone® gives a never-ending sparkle to the jewellery and can be applied to all forms of jewellery, the company said.
Soon after the launch of Dancing Stone® in 2011, most of Crossfor’s clients were suspicious about the popularity of this new type of jewellery. After witnessing its positive market response, their mind has changed, according to Akihiko Naito, executive director of Crossfor. He indicated that while the company recorded US$18 million sales value of Dancing Stone® in 2012 around the world, the number reached US$43 million in 2016, making a four-year consecutive growth. Right now, 100 percent of Crossfor’s sales are from Dancing Stone®.
Naito attributed the significant growth of Dancing Stone® products to their licensing programme. He stated that companies with unique design concepts would manufacture jewellery by themselves for IPR protection. However, Crossfor has a different thought. “We have limited production capacity and would like to spread out the Dancing Stone®concept to the industry and eventually to end-consumers,” he said. Through the licensing programme, Crossfor offers manufacture licensees central components of Dancing Stone® to produce jewellery pieces. In turn, licensees must obey the rules of the programme.
“Weprefer to sign contracts with large-scale manufacturers that we can trust after many meetings and visits to their factories,” Naito emphasised. Currently, Crossfor has 200 licensees and plans to maintain a similar number, as some licensees are not productive enough to continue the partnership while new eligible companies will be joining in.
Naito revealed that major markets of Dancing Stone® components are the main production bases of jewellery in the globe including China, India and Thailand. And the largest consumer markets of Dancing Stone®jewellery are found in China and the United States.
In June 2017, Crossfor announced the IPO in Tokyo Stock Exchange, marking a major milestone and a new chapter of company development. “We believe this is a starting point,” expressed Naito. “Now a public company, we have more confidence in our future growth, while taking more responsibility for those investors.”
Continuing to enhanceDancing Stone®business by selling the components and finished jewellery and delivering product concept to the jewellery industry, Akihiko Naito said the functioning concept can also apply to other industries including accessories and mobile phones. “For the jewellery industry, our target is to let more people know our concept and develop new markets,” he concludes. (Photo courtesy: Crossfor)
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