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News

  1. Lab-Grown Diamond Symposium to Take Place in Dubai
  2. JCK Industry Fund Announces 2023 Grant Recipients
  3. GIA Announces Jewellery Design Award Winner
  4. Hong Kong’s Luxury Retail Sales See Highest Rise in Three Years
  5. Chow Tai Fook Announces First Chief Operating Officer
  6. HKTDC Twin Shows Signal Hong Kong Comeback
  7. De Beers Profit Rises in 2022
  8. Rio Tinto Invests $40M in Diavik’s Underground Mining
  9. Gübelin Gem Lab Taps AI For Coloured Gemstone Grading
  10. Vicenzaoro January Exceeds Expectations With Record Attendance
  11. Fancy-coloured Diamonds Outperform Main Markets in 2022, says FCRF
  12. Gucci To Receive Gem Award From JA
  13. Gold Demand In 2022 Soars to A New Decade High, Says WGC
  14. GIA Launches AGS Ideal Report
  15. RJC Appoints New Executive Director
  16. Rio Tinto Production Jumps After Diavik Buyout
  17. Charles Stanley To Retire From De Beers
  18. Tiffany Joins LVMH Watches And Jewellery Division
  19. End-Year Diamond Prices Decline, says RAPI
  20. GIA’s Paperless Journey Begins
  21. Vicenzaoro January Reimagines Fine Jewellery Designs
  22. Gen-Zers favour personalisation over popularity
  23. De Beers Rough Sales Steady At Year End Final Sight
  24. Gemfields Emeralds Take Centre Stage in New Jewellery Collaboration
  25. A 303-carat Golden Canary Shines at Sotheby’s New York Sale
  26. Christie’s New York auction totalled nearly $59M
  27. Pantone’s Color of the Year 2023: Viva Magenta
  28. Christie’s Hong Kong Jewellery Auction Fetched $46M
  29. Gemfields’ 187,775-carat Emerald Cluster Sets Record Price
  30. Yellows Showed Highest Increase in Q3 Fancy-Colour Price Index
  31. GIA Joins Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030
  32. David Yurman Features First Celebrity Ambassadors in Holiday Ad Campaign
  33. Gemfields To Auction 187,775-carat Emerald Cluste
  34. De Beers Announces Hollywood Star as First Global Ambassador
  35. Kering Q3 Jewellery Sales Remain Strong
  36. Rio Tinto Unveils First Argyle Brand Jewellery
  37. De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver to Step Down in Early 2023
  38. Price Decline Fuelling Diamond Trade Uncertainty
  39. ‘Williamson Pink Star’ Diamond Sold at New Auction Record
  40. Pandora Unveils First Ever Art Collaboration - Keith Haring X Pandora
  41. Further Growth in Hong Kong’s Luxury Retail Sales
  42. Pandora Unveils First Ever Art Collaboration - Keith Haring X Pandora
  43. Further Growth in Hong Kong’s Luxury Retail Sales
  44. Platinum Jewellery Sales Rise in Key Markets in Q2 2022, PGI says
  45. AGTA Announces New Board Members
  46. Fura Gems Discovers 101-carat Ruby
  47. Lightbox Sells Lower-Quality Lab-Grown Diamonds
  48. 160-Carat Rough Unearthed from Angola Mine
  49. GIA Found Synthetics, Simulant among Four ‘Natural’ Sapphires
  50. ‘De Beers Blue' Might Originate from Deep Earth, Says GIA
  51. New Chairman Elected at India’s GJEPC
  52. Tiffany Launches Its First All Gender Bangle Collection
  53. Pandora Launches Lab-grown Diamond Jewellery Collection in North America
  54. Gemfields Reports Record Revenues
  55. IIJS Premiere Sees Record Number Visitors
  56. Signet Acquires Blue Nile for $360M
  57. Hong Kong jewellery sales slide in H1
  58. Fancy Colour Diamond Price Index Rises
  59. The Potentially Largest Pink Diamond Found in 300 Years
  60. Kering Reports Strong First Half Jewellery Sale
  61. Vicenzaoro Back In September
  62. eBay Offers Fine Jewellery Authentication with GIA Partnership
  63. New Executive Director and Secretary General Appointed for Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030
  64. VO Vintage Returns To Vicenzaoro September
  65. Sarine Partners With NGTC on Grading Reports In China
  66. Diamond Prices Slide Amid Economic Uncertainty
  67. De Beers, Botswana Sales Agreement Extended
  68. AWDC Appoints David Gotlib As New President
  69. IGI Debuts Online Learning Courses
  70. Swarovski Appoints First Non-Family CEO
  71. Kashmir Sapphire Ring Comes Out on Top at Bonhams
  72. WJA Foundation Launches New Scholarship for Women of Colour
  73. Blue Nile Merges with Mudrick for Its Second IPO
  74. RJC Launches ‘Gender Equality Toolkit’ at JCK Las Vegas
  75. GIA Reports to Go Digital by 2025
  76. Gemfields Achieved Highest Revenue at Emerald Auction
  77. DAMAC Group Now Owns de GRISOGONO
  78. GJEPC Proposes Lab-Grown Diamond Park in India
  79. Pandora’s New Crafting Facility in Vietnam Costs $100M
  80. Q1 Gold Jewellery Demand Soft, Says WGC
  81. Jewellery Buying Groups Formed New Global Alliance
  82. Singapore to Host Jewellery & Gem World 2022
  83. ‘Wonder Woman’ Gal Gadot Premiered in Tiffany’s 2022 High Jewellery Collection
  84. Christie’s to Auction ‘The Light of Africa’ for $18M in June
  85. New Board of Directors were elected to Jewellery Exporters Association of Turkey
  86. Oroarezzo back with Première Competition
  87. ‘De Beers Blue’ auctions US$57.5M at Sotheby’s
  88. CTF launches Mother’s Day collection
  89. Jewelers of America Announces The 2022 CASE Award Winners
  90. De Beers: Diamond Businesses Staying Cautious About Business Expectations
  91. Synthetic Alexandrite Pioneer David Patterson Dies at 89
  92. 205 CARAT FANCY INTENSE YELLOW DIAMOND GENEVA MAGNIFICENT JEWELS | 11 MAY 2022
  93. Rebecca Foerster Appointed As President of Hearts On Fire
  94. US Steps Up Sanctions Against Alrosa
  95. PGI Study Findings: Consumers Have Different Interpretations of Sustainability
  96. Irving Wong Appointed as Pandora’s General Manager For China
  97. Rolex’s 6 New Watches Unveiled at Watches & Wonders Geneva
  98. Sixième Sens par Cartier High Jewellery: Heteractis Ring
  99. Will Russian Diamond Ban Help Foster Lab-Grown Diamond Business?
  100. Press Release: Ariana DeBose, Hunter Schafer and Zoey Deutch Shine in De Beers Jewellers at the Vani
  101. Press Release: Ariana DeBose, Hunter Schafer and Zoey Deutch Shine in De Beers Jewellers at the Vani
  102. JEWELLERY GENEVA Takes Place between 30 March and 3 April 2022
  103. Christie’s Presents 228 carat White Dimond
  104. Gold Bar Integrity Programme to be Implemented
  105. Press Release: BONHAMS ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF BRUUN RASMUSSEN AUCTIONEERS – DENMARK’S LEADING AUCT
  106. Early Spring Fashion for Natural Diamonds
  107. Jennifer Garner Shines in De Beers Jewellers at the Premiere in New York
  108. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, “Cartier Women’s Initiative Impact Report”
  109. American Gem Trade Association Announces Partnership with JCK Show Again
  110. Chow Tai Fook and Canada's Mountain Province Diamonds Sign Supply Agreement
  111. Registration Is Open for 2022 JCK Show
  112. Alrosa Caught Up in U.S. Sanctions
  113. Tawhid Abdullah Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
  114. The Largest Blue Diamond Appears at Sotheby’s Auction
  115. Price Rise for Nearly 90% Of Fancy Colour Last Year
  116. Dickson Yewn’s Collectibles Given for Sotheby’s Charity Auction
  117. De Beers Boosts Production
  118. Watches & Wonders Geneva To Be Held In Hybrid Format
  119. Jewellery, Gem & Technology Dubai to Debut February
  120. Hong Kong Losing its Dominance as the World's Largest Watch Market
  121. Gift Guide for CNY
  122. Press Release: Sotheby’s Announces New Appointments To Luxury Team In ASsia
  123. Georg Jensen Becomes a Certified Member of RJC
  124. 555.55-carat Black Dimond Unveiled at Sotheby’s Auction
  125. GIA Appoints Anna Martin as SVP for Institute, Industry Relations
  126. Alrosa Boosts Direct Sales of Fancy Diamonds to Investors
  127. CIBJO General Assembly postponed to March 17 and 18, 2022
  128. 7,525 Carat Emerald Discovered
  129. Karl Lagerfeld Jewellery Collections to Shine
  130. Diamonds Travel To The Space
  131. Vicenzaoro January postponed to March
  132. America’s Youngest Jeweller Starts Business via Instagram
  133. Concerns over conflict gold arise again
  134. The 1st International Gemstone & Diamond Trade Summit Wraps Up in Macao
  135. The Knot’s Study:Over 30% of Respondents Say Natural Diamond Unimportant
  136. Pantone’s 2022 Colour of the Year: Very Peri
  137. Phillips Jewellery Auctions Fetch over HK$181 Million
  138. The World’s First Pure Gold Castle of Magical Dreams by CHOW TAI FOOK
  139. Jewellery Sales Jumped 78% During the Thanksgiving Holiday
  140. Gem Auctions DMCC’s Debut Auction Successful
  141. Cartier’s Christmas Tree Lights Up the City with Love and Hope
  142. Rediscovering Lacloche in Hong Kong
  143. Blue diamonds to lead Christie’s HK autumn sale
  144. JMA show to stage next Thursday
  145. HK auction to help Cambodian kids
  146. Basel fair cancelled again
  147. HKDI show to continue in Dec
  148. Gemfields sells 7,500-carat emerald for good
  149. Sustainability is key to diamond purchases, a report says
  150. Christie’s Geneva jewellery sale fetches CHF53.7m
  151. Cibjo forms working group on fei cui standards
  152. Only Watch raises CHF30m for DMD research
Read More...


HIGHLIGHT

  1. US market unfolds changes and potential
  2. The queen of gems, the gem of queens
  3. Classics return

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  • DPA’ s former CEO Jean-Marc Lieberherr
  • The processing plant at Orapa Mine, Botswana
  • Each year more than 2,000 children participate in Alrosa’s children’s camps, and more than 10.000 adults recharge their batteries in the company’s health retreats.
  • Assorted rough diamonds from De Beers
  • Rough diamonds from Alrosa

DPA’s review & outlook on diamond promotion

Luxury goods consumption in China in 2018 accounted for 32 percent of the global share. When it comes to polished diamond consumption, however, it only represented 16 percent of global demand, the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) observed. The figure indicates the vast opportunity for the growth of the diamond industry in the country on one hand; on the other, it shows that the diamond industry should gear up for more education about and promotion of natural diamonds for younger generations. DPA’ s former CEO Jean-Marc Lieberherr talked with Hong Kong Jewellery in September 2019 on their China initiatives, the modern mining reality and the laboratory-grown diamond issues.

 

Market potential

According to DPA’s 2019 China Diamond Market Insight, over 40 percent of consumers in China bought or received jewellery set with natural diamonds in 2018, a nearly 11-perent increase from the precious year. The research says that diamond jewellery outperformed other jewellery types such as platinum and pearl that accounted for 33 percent and 32 percent respectively in 2018. It is believed that diamonds are gaining momentum in China’s jewellery market.

 

The survey brings us to the fact that 55 percent of consumers in China in 2019 expressed their intention to buy or anticipation to receive diamond jewellery in the next two years, marking a three-percent increase over 2018. A breakdown shows that both 2018 and 2019 saw a stable 34 percent of female consumers who expected to receive diamond jewellery as gifts in the next 24 months; however, the percentage of female respondents who would purchase diamond jewellery has gone up five percent from 45 percent in 2018 to 50 percent in 2019. Self-purchase male consumers also witnessed a four-percent up from 2018 to 45 percent.

 

“It is more dependent on bridal than more matured markets like the United States where occasions are a lot more diversified,” said Jean-Marc Lieberherr when analysisng the factors behind the demand for diamonds in China. “The fashion jewellery segment is a new thing in China. Small diamonds at low price points are something hardly existed five year ago. The diamond market is diversifying. Fashion jewellery is growing; self-purchase market is catching up as well,” he added.

 

Education

DPA has launched extensive market research over the past two years for a better understanding of Chinese consumers’ perception and knowledge on natural diamonds, ensuring the market especially the younger generations are well-informed on the modern reality of diamond mining as well as the main attributes of natural diamonds - preciousness, rarity and a symbol of authentic relationship.

 

According to the association, a growing number of Chinese consumers have realised that natural diamond is rare and is a symbol of authentic relationship, with the number increasing from 53 percent (2018) to 59 percent (2019) and 55 percent (2018) to 57 percent (2019) respectively, while the percentage of another feature “preciousness” slightly dropped from 60 percent (2018) to 59 percent (2019).

 

In a bid to build a deeper emotional connection and nurture the precious love of relationships of natural diamonds, DPA has launched a series of integrated campaigns to educate and engage younger consumers. For instance, a social platform established in 2018 has now over 40,000 followers who are constantly updated on the real facts of the diamond industry. The digital platform can also engage with the trade to offer training to deepen their understanding and discovery of the diamond journey from mine to market.

 

Experience

A large number of global studies have confirmed that millennials would rather spend on experiences and meanings than things. Jean-Marc Lieberherr sees great opportunity for natural diamonds in China from the phenomenon.

 

“Chinese consumers are no longer repeating conspicuous consumption pattern of their parents. The whole status symbols, the luxury, the jewellery and the ritual are becoming less important. The look for things with meanings, like travel, not materials, but something you can cherish forever.

 

“We think it’s good for diamonds because diamonds have an extraordinarily meaningful story to tell. The story of time, of billions of years of true preciousness. Diamond is the oldest thing you will ever touch. It has the strongest link to the earth. It is the strongest thing for your loved ones. We think China’s consumers are ready for that kind of much more intimate, inciteful and personal marketing as opposed to the past luxury brands and flashing stuff. This is the transition we are going through,” he said.

 

Modern mining

For years, the diamond mining industry is thought to be connected with environment destruction, human rights abuses, exploitation, etc. To tell the “reality of modern diamond mining”, DPA launched a report in May 2019 titled The Socioeconomic and Environmental Impact of Large-Scale Diamond Mining probing into the contributions of DPA’s members to the socioeconomic and environmental benefits and impacts.

 

Key findings of the report include:

 

Laboratory-grown

Eco-friendliness is an important part of the laboratory-grown diamond pitch. Lieberherr sees otherwise. “This is one of the biggest attempts to manipulate misinformed consumers and media,” he said.

 

“What they say is that they don’t dig holes, so they are eco-friendly. What that don’t say is the huge energy used to produce laboratory-grown diamonds. The earth uses huge level of temperature and pressure to create diamonds. When we re-produce the same phenomenon in a matter of days in a reactor, imagine the quantity of energy used.

 

“What we do is to extract it. We try to make it as clean as possible. We don’t hide that we have to make a hole to dig. But our footprint is very small and narrow. However, the estimated CO2e associated with laboratory-grown diamonds is nearly three times greater than mined diamonds,” he elaborated.

 

Technological advancement and the subsequent cost down are believed to give a boost to the popularity of laboratory-grown diamonds in the market. According to Lieberherr, lab-grown diamonds’ penetration in the jewellery industry will grow, but not in the diamond industry because they are of different markets.

 

“Natural diamond is for fine jewellery, lab-grown is for fashion jewellery. It will probably grow in the fashion jewellery market because as costs go down, it has a better value proposition than moissanite and cubic zirconia, and a better-looking product than simulants. It will take shares away from the simulants and artificial coloured stones. But it will be a separate segment from the natural diamond fine jewellery,” he said.

 

Communication focus

In view of the main objectives of DPA’s global communications for 2020, Lieberherr says: “We have to make consumers rediscover that a diamond is not just a sparky and expensive stone. Natural diamond has a unique symbolism and value that it is an old nature product from billions of years ago. It is a precious treasure of the earth. That is where it gets its power from. It is very important that the trade is able to convey this message to consumers.”

 

Another objective, according to Lieberherr, is to ensure that consumers and the trade understand well the reality of the impact of the diamond industry today. “A lot of people are still left on the antique idea of about the diamond sector. The reality is that the large-scale diamond mining is really what dominates the modern sector and we have a huge positive impact. We provide livelihood to 10 million people worldwide, while creating wealth for local communities. Ten billion dollars of wealth every year is creating by diamond mining. We are very responsible custodian of the environment. We follow very strict environmental standards and guidelines in the way we mine,” he said.

 

To keep the trade and consumers well-informed about the difference of natural diamond and its lab-grown counterpart is vital as well. Lieberherr said: “We should make people see what lab-grown diamond is. It is not a carefully cultured diamond in some kind of greenhouse. It is an industrial product produced in reactors over a matter of days or weeks. Consumers need to know.”

 

Most powerful media

Lieberherr believes that the trade serves as the best media in the industry to tell the natural-diamond story to consumers. “The trade is in contact with millions of consumers every single day. They are the most powerful media who can train the sales people, reward them when doing well, and provide them with the right materials. Today, I’m sure there are Chinese selling people who are concerned about being asked about lab-grown diamonds because they don’t know what to respond. We need to make sure every single salesperson in China who sells diamonds can stand out with pride and say this is a lab-grown diamond, this is why what it is worth; this is a natural diamond,” he said. 

 

DPA was formed in May 2015 as an international alliance of the world’s leading diamond miners representing 75 percent of world diamond production, aiming to educate, protect and promote the integrity and reputation of diamonds and the diamond industry. (Photo courtesy: DPA)

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