m i l LI o n a i r E fa s h i o n & b e a u t y

Vicenzaoro Autumn Watch and Jewellery Fair

The apex of the

luxury pyramid

Jewellery makes a comeback at the top end of accessories, taking on bags,

watches and clothes to reclaim its rightful place in the crown. An heirloom or
a bauble? Millionaire reports from Vicenza

text Shalini Seth

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The Roberto Coin Cento Collection and opposite, the Fifth Season Gold Tie

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Persia necklace by Favero

O
The Schreiner Emerald suite

nce upon a time jewellery was luxury. It

enjoyed its defining moments when Edward
VIII’s love of drawing was executed into
earrings, bracelets and rings by Europe’s
most famous jewellers – Jeanne Toussaint of Cartier, Rene-Sim
Lacaze of Van Cleef & Arpels, Nevdon Koumrouyan of Harry
Winston. Or when the Maharani of Baroda famously remarked
that the large cabochon emeralds in a Duchess’s necklace used
to be in one of her anklets.
Just about a half-century later, jewellery is scrambling for a
place on the top of the luxury pyramid – above brands, upper-
range brands, luxury brands – millions competing with mere
thousands tagged on top of fashion brands selling bags, gowns
Gems on display
and shoes.
At Vicenzaoro Autumn Watch and Jewellery Fair, Italy’s little
capital of gold jewellery with 1,600 vendors and over 20,000
buyers in attendance, the message is clear – if griffe, the creator’s
signature engraved on a unique work, is the point of the pyramid,
jewellery and not couture ought to be the hautest.
After all, the only-one-in-existence nature of a couture gown is
dependent on the whim of a designer. With the best of jewellery,
it is the very nature of its being. “We only produce single pieces,”
says Ulrike Kielbassa, the managing director of Gerhard Schreiner,
from Munich, manufacturers of neo haute jewellery. “One of our
pieces, the emerald masterpiece, with yellow diamonds, was sold
in Qatar. Now we have an order for another, again from Qatar. It
will take us two years to make. I hope it will be only two years…

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because we have to match

the quality of stones.”
It is a message that needs
reiterating. At Vicenza, the
battle lines are drawn. At
the frontline is a dazzling
display of jewels. Jewellery
glitters everywhere. There
is gold, of course – rough,
shiny, matte, filigreed and
even some from ancient
Peru. There are diamonds –
white, pink, brown, black.
And there is some talk of a
rare red one recently seen
in the market, though not
at this venue. Stones – Maurizio Castro, director general Vicenza Fiera Visitors at the fair

emeralds, tanzanite, rubies

– all combine to billions of
euro-worth. Trade visitors who take jewellery and its message to
faraway places are thronging the pavilions. Jewellery is displayed
on blue, black or red velvet, traditionally. Or its contrast made
clear against brown wood and even rice in one case. Black leather,
classic cars in faded colours, bikes, sunflowers, dolls… all form
parts of window displays – as if there is no place that jewellery is
not suitable. Bundled together sometimes, in ropes of gold and
piles of stones, or singly displayed with plainclothesmen at every
door, not looking friendly, keeping an eye on any that hovers or
tries to take pictures. After all, copying of
designs is a threat, especially at a
Jewellery display at Vicenza
trade event.

A couture gown
sets you back only
$50,000, at which
The Fifth Season Masai Collection
price you cannot
even begin to
talk seriously
about jewels

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“In the luxury market segment, fashion is growing at 14

percent, whereas gold and jewellery is growing only four
percent. We want to change that. We want to give back to
jewellery its place in the world of luxury. Gold and jewels can
be contaminated by fashion and trends,” says Maurizio Castro,
Vicenza Fiera’s director general, who is drawing up strategies to
make sure this high-stakes battle is won.
After all, a couture gown sets you back only $50,000, at
which price you cannot even begin to talk seriously about
jewels. A perfume bottle at €3,600 can draw gasps Maharaja Rings by Favero

and a $1,000 bag is super-luxury.

At €19,000 you get to buy a limited
edition perfume out of a collection
of five. Compare these to jewellery.
At $2.5 million the spectacular Van
Cleef & Arpels Drape de Diamantes
necklace is considered not as pricey as
its cousins. There is the $12 million
bridal gown and the €195,000 perfume
bottle but with diamonds studded all
over and a jeweller as a collaborator,
The Burmese heart-shaped ruby
these do not really enter this debate.
Serious jewellery buyers look for
beauties such as the flawless 108-carat white diamond being
offered by Sotheby’s Diamonds for $16 million. Or the 70-
carat white diamond at the centre of a multicoloured diamond
necklace being offered for $12 million by Robert Mouawad’s
private collection.
In Vicenza, at another stand, sellers from India are quietly
spreading the word that they are in possession of a 17.94-carat heart-
Gold items on display at the fair
shaped Burmese ruby. While to those not inclined to Valentines, a
heart-shaped anything might be a liability, in the jewellery business
it is highly prized. “First of all, it is Burmese, which is where the
best rubies are from. Second, it is heart-shaped. That is the most
desirable shape because there are not very many stones that lend
themselves to this shape naturally,” explains Siraj Ahmed of Takat
Gems from Jaipur who claims to have sold a 58-carat Columbian
emerald. He will sell the stone at about €400 per carat for about
€8,000. By the time they are set and sold by a manufacturer to a
retailer the price would have gone up several times.
Back at Schreiner, the most expensive item in the collection is
an unheated ruby priced at $25 million for trade. Sources tell us
that by the time a piece reaches the American market, it is marked
up 100 per cent. In markets such as the Middle East, the mark-up
is as much as 200 per cent.
“The Middle East is very important for us,” Kielbassa
says. “It is the second-most important market in the world,
after Russia. Russians want jewellery that costs $80 million
to $100 million easily. In the Middle East, nice designs
with diamonds and coloured stones are popular. The
Middle Eastern taste comes close to Italian. Russians want
big stones, and everything of the best quality,” she says,
dismissing fellow Germans as shoppers of small baubles,
with presumably small budgets.

Black leather, classic cars

in faded colours, bikes,
sunflowers, dolls… all form
parts of window displays
– as if there is no place that
jewellery is not suitable

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These baubles are hoops, which are form the bread-and-

butter business at Schreiner. Hoops in all colours, matching
rings, set with all kinds of sapphires and yellow, green, orange,
brown and black diamonds range from $5,000 to $24,000.
“Gold is different. Everyone knows the price of gold. On the
other hand, if you are dealing with a high-priced stone, first
it is not easy to get a large one,” Kielbassa explains, bringing
to mind shrewd customers at Dubai’s Gold Souk getting the
jeweller to reveal the exact amount of gold used in a piece and
how much he has charged for making it.
Italian gold does not follow that rule. Here, fashion is a
friend and lessons learnt from the luxury fashion industry are
useful. Experts forecast that this is the era of the intangible
economy – the best kind for the luxury market. “This is the era
of perceived value, of intangible economy because it follows
the age of information,” says Paola de Luca, TJF’s creative
director, giving participants tips on what is expected to work
in the jewellery market in the next few years, with emerging
markets as a key focus.
As part of its strategy, Vicenza Fiera announced it will
launch two new events in 2008, adding to its traditional three
– winter, spring and fall – editions.
The first of the new shows, scheduled for March 2-4, 2008,
in Milan, will focus specifically on the high end of the market.
According to Director-General Castro, the show will open
with 80 exhibitors and expects to draw 300 by-invitation-
only retailers who will be selected from the “aristocracy of
international retail”. Exhibitors will also represent the elite of
Quality check at the Favero factory
the world’s brands. “We will look at their brand policy and will
take a number of direct producers. Fashion houses that produce
jewellery are welcome, but only if they produce gold, not steel
or bronze,” he says. one recalls being told by a self-appointed guide in Milan, quite
Castro wants to win over Italy as well. After all, while the label queen himself in his choice of cars and clothes.
fashion brands – whether Valentino or Prada or D&G – have The Italian jewellery sector is suffering significant decline, its
worshippers in Italy, it is only outside that the country is known high prices resulting from the combined influences of currency
for its jewellery. Roberto Coin, the Fifth Season or Luca Carati inflation vis-à-vis the dollar, escalating gold prices and growing
are better known in Dubai than in Milan. “Italy is not known competition from jewellery-manufacturing centres with much
for silver or gold; that is Mexico. You are entirely mistaken,” cheaper costs.
“Gold is important to European identity. We need to
popularise it in Italy,” Castro insists. Vicenza wants to take on
BaselWorld, its main European rival for fine-jewellery trade
show primacy. At Basel, Switzerland, jewellery is secondary
and watches take centre stage. “We are not looking at
watches. We want to be number one as far as jewellery is
concerned,” Castro says.
The Milan show is slotted immediately after the haute
couture shows and just before Basel. Castro declares:
“Absolutely, it is a war! A top jewellery manufacturer may
wonder where to take his new collection. And we think Milan
Jewellery from Jaipur is more seductive than Basel.”

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