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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
00:10  Hosts catch up
03:50  Introduction to guest, Jeffrey Post
05:00  How Jeffrey’s interest in rocks and minerals began
08:45  The Smithsonian in the 1980s versus today
12:20  Jeffrey describes a museum visitor’s experience
15:10  Jeffrey’s favorite gems and minerals on exhibit
18:10  The legendary curse of the Hope Diamond
23:10  Studying the Wittelsbach-Graff and Hope diamonds side by side
28:45  Jeffrey’s successors and what’s next at the Smithsonian

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com, naturalhistory.si.edu

Show Recap

A passion for rocks and minerals
Jeffrey looks back and talks about what first got him interested in mineralogy. He grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, and as a kid, he would always come home with his pocket full of rocks he had picked up during the day. His fourth-grade teacher once brought in an amazing quartz crystal and passed it around during science class. As Jeffrey held it in his hands, the teacher explained that the crystal came out of the earth that way. That was a transformational moment for him.

He continued to study mineralogy throughout school, assuming he’d likely become a professor. He applied for a research mineralogist position at the Smithsonian, thinking it sounded intriguing. It wasn’t until later that he realized how amazing that opportunity was—to work at an institution with such an interesting collection and great legacy. Now he’s a part of that legacy.

Educating thousands, every day
In 1984, when Jeffrey first started working at the Smithsonian, it was a very popular place, which was part of his fascination with it. He recalls his first day, approaching the incredible building from the mall and thinking, “I work here!”

Before he accepted the position, Jeffrey had been torn. He had a few job offers at universities and liked the idea of teaching and mentoring. When he spoke to his contacts at the Smithsonian, they pointed out that about 10,000 people walk through their exhibits each day. What better place to teach? He was convinced.

The value of seeing the real thing
In today’s world, where you can easily Google a picture of the Hope Diamond, Rob wonders if the Smithsonian collection still holds the same appeal. Jeffrey notes that museums in general are busier than ever today. He points to an emotional need to see “the real things,” since we’re so accustomed to seeing images on our phones and devices. “One of the things our exhibit does is it puts the third dimension back into people’s life again,” Jeffrey explains.

Seeing wonders like the Hope Diamond in person gives a sense of awe and an emotional connection. Of course, one of the questions that visitors most frequently ask security is if this is the real Hope Diamond. “The answer is yes, of course. We only show the real thing,” Jeffrey says with a laugh.

A visit to the Smithsonian
Jeffrey walks the hosts through a visitor’s experience. The Smithsonian has 20 museums, a zoo, and much more. So it’s impossible to see it all in a weekend—let alone a day.

The Museum of Natural History is the largest and most-visited museum, right in the middle of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. You can enter from the south and be greeted by a large stuffed elephant (named Henry). For many, Henry is the first association they have with the museum. In fact, the phrase “I’ll meet you at the elephant” is built into the Washington lexicon.

You also can enter the museum on the north side, from Constitution Avenue, where one of the first things you’ll see is an impressive 8,000-pound slab of quartz crystals from Arkansas, which was positioned at the entrance in recent years. Jeffrey thinks the magnificent crystals—some of them nearly a foot long—give an immediate impression of the Smithsonian as a wonderland. It reminds him of one of his earliest experiences of wonder at crystals, and loves that he can share this magical feeling with visitors—a reminder that these minerals formed naturally in the earth.

But the main attraction is, of course, the Hope Diamond. It has become one of the must-see items in Washington, so crowds of people make their way up to the second floor to find it. In the 1990s, when Jeffrey helped create this exhibit, museum officials decided to put the Hope Diamond right in front. Their rationale was if the Hope were located in the back of the exhibit, it would draw people in but they wouldn’t pay attention to anything else on their way to see it. In its current configuration, people see the Hope Diamond first, then relax and take time explore the rest of the exhibit.

Some lesser-known favorites
When asked about his favorite display, Jeffrey has a hard time narrowing it down. He highlights a gemstone that was recently donated and put on display in April 2023: a green tsavorite garnet from Tanzania that is over 100 carats. It is a beautiful green stone, the likes of which most people haven’t seen before, he says.

Jeffrey also points to another fairly new addition to the collection: a bright red precious topaz, which can be found in the same gallery as the Hope Diamond. It’s called the Whitney Flame because the stone looks as if it’s on fire. Jeffrey thinks it has actually given the Hope Diamond a run for its money because of its striking appearance. It’s a fun reminder that there are many spectacular pieces in the collection besides the Hope Diamond.

The supposed Hope Diamond curse
Of course, Rob and Victoria had to find out if Jeffrey believes in the famous curse of the Hope Diamond. Jeffrey thinks there are a few reasons why the stone has this story—one is simply that people love stories.

He points out that the “curse” is a relatively recent addition to the Hope Diamond’s long history. The diamond came out of India in the 1600s, but the curse wasn’t mentioned until the early 1900s in a newspaper article in New York. At the time, the diamond was owned by a New York firm. There was a recession, and diamonds weren’t selling very well. Jeffrey theorizes that the story was a way to get people’s attention and perhaps drum up their interest in purchasing the diamond.

When Pierre Cartier was selling the stone to Evalyn Walsh McLean, he embellished the story a bit to pique her interest in it. And McLean seemed to enjoy spreading this legend as well. Despite her wealth, McLean had some unfortunate things happen in her life—the suggestible or superstitious could point to the curse of the diamond as the reason for all McLean’s misfortune.

Victoria quotes Jeffrey from an earlier conversation they had, which ties in with this idea: “It underscores one of the fascinating aspects of gemstones. They may be lost, but the nature of gems and particularly diamonds is that they can sit somewhere in a vault for long periods of time and pop out again. And they are as they were. There’s a sense of permanence. They’re out there forever. And that’s part of why we have a fascination with them—they tend to carry stories.”

When asked why people love gems, Jeffrey responds that beyond their obvious beauty, there is a sense of timelessness. “Gems are forever,” he says, “and when you put a gem in someone’s hands, almost inevitably the first thing they ask you is ‘Where did this come from? Who owned it? What’s the story?’”

Two legends side by side
Jeffrey has hands-on experience with yet another legendary blue diamond: the Wittelsbach. When Laurence Graff bought it, the Smithsonian approached him and asked to study it and put it on display it alongside the Hope Diamond. He agreed to lend it to the museum.

The research team set aside an evening after museum hours to study both diamonds. They did an all-night research program. They assembled all their instruments and team in their vault, as it had to be very secure.

Post describes carrying the Hope Diamond into the vault. He took a moment to look at the two diamonds next to each other. He was the first person to see them together. If you expose the Hope Diamond to ultraviolet light, it phosphoresces. He tried this to see if the Wittelsbach did too. It did. The team’s conclusion ultimately was that the two could not have originated from the same diamond. It was one of the great coincidences that these similar large blue diamonds both originated in India and ended up in Europe. And this was an experience Jeffrey could only have had at the Smithsonian.

“I anticipate the Smithsonian having a long, long future,” Jeffrey says. “And as long as it’s there, the gemstone will be there. I think that’s part of what makes gem so interesting, is that we’re always just part of the story. And the story has a history. And it has a future to it. And that’s sort of like working at the Smithsonian.”

Show Notes
02:40 Victoria marks a milestone with custom jewelry
06:54 The power of a personal statement piece
12:21 Report from the first State of the Art Jewelry Summit
17:51 The Jewelry District logs its 100th episode

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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com

Show Recap

Victoria marks a milestone with custom jewelry
To celebrate her 50th birthday this summer, Victoria commissioned a pair of gold pinky rings for her twin sister and herself designed by Jillian Sassone of San Diego–based Marrow Fine Jewelry—which specializes in heirloom jewelry resets—and featuring two gray spinels gifted to her by jeweler Vlad Yavorskyy. Victoria says she’s been captivated by the beauty of spinels since first reporting on them in 2011, so she was delighted when Vlad (of Yavorskyy and IVY) surprised her with the loose stones at JCK Tucson about six years ago. They were spectacular, but how to showcase them? Earrings? A multi-stone setting? Unsure, she stowed them in a drawer, where they sat until this year, when she interviewed Jillian about the art of refreshing sentimental treasures with updated, wearable designs. Suddenly, an idea clicked into place.

Born on opposite sides of midnight the last day of June, Victoria and her sister have different birthstones, so she asked Jillian to place a tiny moonstone in the shank of her ring and a tiny ruby in the shank of her sister’s. Adding emotional impact was the stones’ luminous gray color, the same shade as their late father’s eyes. “I have never been more delighted or more blown away by a piece of jewelry,” Victoria says. “They were exactly what I hoped and imagined they’d be—even better.”

The power of a personal statement piece
Victoria confesses that although she’s covered the industry for more than two decades, the birthday rings were her first personal experience with customized jewelry. “Finally, after all these years of writing about jewelry, I understand what it means to have such a meaningful piece of jewelry that you can give to somebody or have for yourself,”  she says. She plans to pass her ring down to her son as an heirloom someday. “These rings are going to be part of our family tradition. There’s so much sentimental value already invested in them.”

“I can see what joy jewelers are bringing to their clients when they’re able to turn around heirlooms or make custom pieces,” Victoria continues. “What else is meaningful enough to pass down and to keep in the family?” Few things are as durable, beautiful, and meaningful, she observes.

Rob and his wife worked with a jeweler to customize her engagement ring—a diamond she inherited, with a sapphire on either side. Though it wasn’t planned, he says the ring pays tribute to her April birthstone and his September one.

Rob remarks on the strength of the custom jewelry market and cites a recent conversation he had with Signet Jewelers, which is increasing its focus on bespoke work. They’ve found that “when you design something that’s special, it breeds a lot of customer loyalty,” he says.

Report from the first State of the Art Jewelry Summit
Rob headed to Boston in June to attend the State of the Art Jewelry Summit at Harvard University, where he found the insights shared by Harvard professors and other speakers from outside the industry interesting—especially those related to climate change. One takeaway was the impact climate control efforts can have on ills like poverty and the importance of ensuring that sustainable development doesn’t hinder people’s ability to make a living in disadvantaged areas. Rob speculates on how this point relates to lab-grown diamonds. “We might be able to grow diamonds that are carbon-neutral or use renewable energy, but if you’re taking away jobs from some of the poorest people in the world, you’re not going to necessarily help,” he says. “You could arguably make things worse, because who knows what kind of industry is going to replace what you’ve taken away.” The upshot? “You can’t solve the climate crisis without focusing on making sure everybody’s taken care of.”

Rob sees a need for clear, actionable guidance on how jewelers can do their due diligence. “If you’re a jeweler, you don’t necessarily know where your gems or gold or minerals come from, and it’s difficult to find out what the conditions are where they’re mined,” he says. “There needs to be a way to make it easier for people who care about this to get more information and to support the people who are doing good.”

The Jewelry District logs its 100th episode
Victoria and Rob recall the early days of The Jewelry District, which launched in the spring of 2019, and reminisce about some of the high points. The guest list over the past four years has ranged from CEOs and other industry leaders to less well-known but no less fascinating up-and-comers.

What makes a great guest? For Rob, it’s often someone with an intriguing backstory. Victoria agrees, particularly when the guest is a power player. Hearing that they had to work their way up the ladder makes them relatable, she says. She also enjoys sprinkling in guests who don’t focus on jewelry specifically, but who shed new light on timely topics (marketing to Gen Z, for instance) by giving listeners a fresh perspective from outside the industry.

Here’s to 100 more episodes! Listeners, Victoria and Rob welcome your input. Share your thoughts, feedback, and any topics you’d like to hear discussed on upcoming Jewelry District episodes.

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01:24 A Diamond Career Leads to an Epiphany
14:03 Getting the Word Out
20:36 Drawing Inspiration From Zulu Warriors
26:26 Diversity and the Bottom Line

A diamond career leads to an epiphany
Victoria welcomes Jeffery Bolling, owner of  Jeffery B. Jewelers, member of the Black in Jewelry Coalition, and founder of a new company called KuQala Diamonds, which works directly with Black African–owned diamond manufacturing companies and showcases diamonds cut by Black African cutters.

Jeffery shares his unusual backstory, which began with a part-time job at Zales after he left the military in the late 1980s and led to managing stores and selling diamonds everywhere from Alaska to Miami. From the start, Jeffery was keenly aware of the industry’s lack of diversity. “I would have Black people come into the store and be amazed that I was working there,” he recalls. He also remembers concession-stand workers shaking his hand in the early 1990s because they were happy to see a Black man at a jewelry trade show booth.

He opened Jeffery B. in 2010 and built a loyal following, bringing his son Christian, now 29, into the business. But it wasn’t until last year that his thinking about diamonds changed dramatically. “As long and as much as I’ve sold diamonds, I didn’t know the true story behind them,” Jeffery explains. He was at the 2022 GEM Awards when Stephen Lussier of De Beers received a lifetime achievement award. “He talked about the new vision of De Beers and all the good diamonds are doing. He said diamonds are building schools. People come to South Africa, Africa, and Botswana for education. There are so many more hospitals, all because of diamonds. Diamonds are doing amazing things for the people of Africa. That’s the first time I’d ever heard anybody say that in all these years.”

Though skeptical, Jeffery relayed the story to students he works with through a nonprofit group dedicated to inner-city kids. When they and their parents expressed cynicism, he knew it was time to delve deeper.

So Jeffery and Christian went to South Africa to see for themselves. They were astonished to discover how many Black African companies were cutting diamonds there, often partnering with major companies, he says. “I’d never seen cutters at the wheel who are African,” he says. “To see that level of pride and diligence in their work and the expertise they brought to the table was a proud moment for me.”

There are currently more than 20 independently Black-owned companies in South Africa that do diamond manufacturing, Jeffery says. One firm he met with had 15 cutters working; another was female-owned, with the same two women running it successfully for the past 20 years.

“That’s a story that resonates here in the United States,” Jeffery decided. “It needs to be told.” Who better to tell it than Jeffery Bolling?

Getting the word out
Rob cites the economic drawbacks for jewelry companies to cutting diamonds in places like Africa, which have higher labor costs than India and China. It’s a valid point, Jeffery concedes. The best way to counter it is to focus on stones of 30 points and up. “When you’re talking larger stones, the skill set and the price that the diamond brings definitely offsets the labor costs,” he explains. “For the expertise you’re getting, it’s going to be economical anywhere in Africa—whether in South Africa or Botswana or Namibia.”

The economic question isn’t the only hitch though, Jeffery says. The lack of financing currently available hamstrings Black African companies. “In India, there are a lot of companies that only finance diamonds, so a diamond manufacturer there can get the money to buy the rough diamonds,” he explains. KuQala’s goal is to find a way to get financing for Black African companies to buy rough stones so that they can cut and polish them and bring the gems to the United States rather than simply cutting and polishing gems for other companies.

Rob brings up the widespread skepticism about diamonds actually doing good, and asks about the best way to overcome it. “The messenger is as important as the message,” says Jeffery. It can be more credible coming from an African American man. “When I go to stores and tell them there is an opportunity to buy diamonds from Africa from Black-owned companies, brought to them by a Black-owned company,” it piques their interest, he says.

Drawing inspiration from Zulu warriors
What’s the significance of the name KuQala? “We’re going to have to fight really hard to tell this story. That made me think of the Zulu warriors,” Jeffery explains. “KuQala is a Zulu word for first…. We’re the first to try to make this move from mine to polished to the sale all through a narrative of the native people.”

So far, response has been overwhelmingly positive. “This is such a pure story,” Jeffery says. It hasn’t been told before, and many people didn’t know it was possible. What’s more, most people have no idea that “the best cutting is done in Africa,” says Jeffery.

“You’re going to be able to sell a diamond and say that not only did it come from the land, but it was actually purchased, cut, and loved by the people of the land. You can take this diamond and know that nobody in this food chain has been hurt. They were all helped.” Jeffery hopes those with the means will buy larger diamonds when they hear about KuQala. “When you spend that level of money, you’re doing a really good thing. You’re putting the money into the hands of the people who should have had it all along.”

Diversity and the bottom line
Victoria asks Jeffery for the key takeaways from the seminar on bringing diversity into marketing that he presented at JCK Las Vegas last month. As the U.S. itself becomes more diverse, jewelry stores looking to expand their business may find themselves talking to potential customers who don’t look like the clientele they’ve served in the past, Jeffery says. His best advice? “Be authentic.” That starts with diversifying your own team. “Hire people of different genders and ethnic backgrounds,” he suggests. “Have your home set in a diverse way before you invite people into it.”

Remember, too, that diversity isn’t just about helping previously disadvantaged groups or individuals. It’s about profitability. If you expand your messaging and your customer base, you stand to expand your sales, Jeffery points out. From a monetary perspective, diversity makes sound business sense, in his opinion.

Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
01:38 Top Takeaways From JCK Las Vegas
06:16 Diamond Report
09:55 Lightbox Introduces Bridal Jewelry
14:27 Tracr and the Traceability Issue

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com, lasvegas.jckonline.com

Show Recap

Top takeaways from JCK Las Vegas
Victoria and Rob report that the mood was upbeat at JCK Las Vegas, with attendance strong and vendors reporting brisk sales. Rob says it felt “like the old days—exhausting and exhilarating.” Victoria was struck by the vibrancy of people’s moods, evident from Day 1 of the JCK Luxury show. “People said it rivaled recent past years in terms of sales, and those were some of the best years the industry has ever seen,” she notes. While 2023 is unlikely to beat 2022, strong sales at the show bode well for the fall season and the final quarter. The downturn over the past six months might simply stem from people needing to restock, which they did in Vegas, she theorizes.

Victoria was pleased to see a robust mix of familiar faces and newcomers, including those in the Natural Diamond Council’s Emerging Designers Initiative, and a good turnout by the Black in Jewelry Coalition in the Design Collective.

Diamond report
After moderating separate panels on lab-grown and natural diamonds, Rob concludes that both categories face challenges. Natural diamonds are losing market share, while prices are sinking in the lab-grown sector. The two sectors need to find ways to work together, he stresses. There’s talk of lab-grown manufacturers moving away from engagement rings into fashion jewelry. Given the abundance of lab-grown fashion jewelry and colored diamonds Rob saw at the show, that reset may be happening already. While he didn’t spot many unusual shapes among the lab-grown diamonds exhibited, that’s top of mind for many. “To avoid the race to the bottom, people have to find a way to make themselves stand apart,” he says, noting that the same holds true for the natural diamond business.

Representatives from Namibia and Botswana attended Rob’s diamond panels at JCK. “Having people from producer countries, including Botswana’s minister of mines, changed the typical lab-grown sustainability conversation,” he says. “I’m hoping they keep coming to the show. Hopefully next year we’ll have them on stage.”

Lightbox introduces bridal jewelry
In a move that counters the trend toward lab-grown fashion jewelry, De Beers’ lab-grown brand Lightbox recently started selling engagement rings. Victoria recalls that when Lightbox was introduced in 2018 at JCK, it was strictly a fashion product. She wonders what prompted the decision to expand to bridal jewelry.

Rob spoke with Lightbox CEO Antoine Borde in Las Vegas, who told him the brand is taking its cues from consumers—and they want lab-grown engagement rings. It’s ironic that the market is moving toward what Lightbox set out to do originally, while Lightbox may be shifting gears, Rob points out.

Tracr and the traceability issue
The De Beers booth in Las Vegas was a hub for conversations about a range of timely topics. One that piqued Victoria’s interest was Tracr, the company’s blockchain traceability program. It’s a platform that starts at the source (the mines) and provides assurance at scale. It began as an internal De Beers project, but when the war in Ukraine started, the company rolled it out to the industry. Tracr is drawing interest in part due to the prospect of increased sanctions against Russian polished diamonds next year, Rob says. If anyone bringing diamonds into the U.S. needs to prove the stones aren’t Russian, the information Tracr provides could be useful as documentation.

Victoria got to see the program at work during her recent trip to Botswana, where micro-detailed high-speed photographs were being taken of rough diamonds from different angles. These can later be matched to actual stones scanned at sightholder offices, proving that the diamonds originated in a quality producing country and were handled responsibly as they came to market.

Also new from De Beers is Origin, a digital immersive experience that lets consumers and retailers scan a QR code to learn about diamond-producing countries and the positive impact a diamond purchase has on various communities.

What’s the upshot of all this? Traceability, tracking, and provenance are crucial today, Victoria says. As De Beers Brands CEO Marc Jacheet told her, De Beers is promoting the new three P’s of provenance, people, and planet, over and above the 4Cs.

Does the average consumer in America care where their diamonds come from? Rob and Victoria are skeptical, but regardless, the world is moving toward greater transparency. Rob hopes labeling the country of origin will eventually extend to lab-grown diamonds, not just natural ones. He points out that lab-grown diamond makers have capitalized on the natural diamond industry’s negative image, with manufacturers playing up claims of better “ethics” and “eco-superiority” despite warnings by the Federal Trade  Commission not to use such language. People don’t often discuss the good works diamonds do for countries like Botswana, he says, and De Beers sees origin certification as a way to deliver that message.

Victoria agrees, noting that she spoke with numerous Gaborone locals, including De Beers employees, during her visit. “People seemed very proud and genuinely warm about the company and how it treats its employees,” she says. The livelihoods of a tremendous number of people in Botswana depend on diamonds mined there, which should be part of the sustainability conversation.

Any views expressed in this podcast do not reflect the opinion of JCK, its management, or its advertisers.

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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
00:50 Victoria Visits Botswana
02:28 How Hodinkee Got Its Name
05:29 From Harvard to Hodinkee
18:54 Consumers’ Love Affair With Watches
27:31 In Praise of Retailers

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com, hodinkee.com

Show Recap

Victoria visits Botswana
Just back from a week in Botswana with De Beers, Victoria shares the highlights of an incredible journey that included a visit to the De Beers sorting facility, the jaw-dropping Jwaneng diamond mine, and Chobe National Park, where elephant herds still roam the savannah. She promises to recount more about her adventures in a future podcast.

How Hodinkee got its name
Victoria introduces Hodinkee CEO Jeffery Fowler, and Rob asks him to explain how one of the most influential voices in the watch world got its unusual name. Hodinky is the Czech word for wristwatch, Jeff explains. When company founder Ben Clymer launched his watch blog in 2008, he chose the word because it seemed unusual enough to be memorable and quirky enough to spark curiosity. Double vowels were trending in the corporate world (Google, Goop, Yahoo), so he adjusted the spelling.

Since then, Hodinkee has grown into a powerhouse with its own e-commerce platform and an award-winning magazine.

From Harvard to Hodinkee
Jeff earned an undergraduate degree at Harvard and an MBA at INSEAD in France before joining LVMH, where he began his career as an assistant retail store manager for Louis Vuitton in London. From there, he moved to TAG Heuer, then Cartier, Tesla, and Farfetch, where he spent six years overseeing businesses across North and South America before joining Hodinkee in 2022. He sums his career up as “an exciting, fun, adventure-filled journey.”

In late 2021, Jeff was taking a break from his career to spend time with his wife and three young sons when he got a call from a recruiter about Hodinkee. He admired Ben Clymer as a pioneer in bringing the watch world online—and doing it in an approachable way that emphasized storytelling, curiosity, and wit. But he remembered it simply as a blog. He was surprised to learn that the company had moved far beyond its original mission, becoming the world’s first online-only authorized retailer of watches in 2017 and more recently expanding to pre-owned watches.

Since joining as CEO, Jeff has helped Hodinkee advance its mission of celebrating the watch industry and making it as inclusive and accessible as possible, not just for those looking to purchase but also for those who simply enjoy finding out what’s going on in the world of watches over their morning coffee, he says. “We cover the product out of love and passion and enthusiasm. We write about the things we love, the things we think matter. The same holds true with what we sell.”

Consumers’ love affair with watches
Rob wonders why watches inspire such passion from enthusiasts and collectors. Jeff cites a quote from watchmaker Nicholas Manousos, executive director of the Horological Society of New York: “A mechanical wristwatch is a science project wrapped inside a history project wrapped inside an art project.” The fact that it uses intricate machinery, precious materials, and precision craftsmanship to do something commonplace (tell time) makes it “incredibly irrational—a true luxury purchase,” Jeff observes.

“And then there’s the emotional and personal side of it,” he adds. “Of all the things I could wear, few could tell you a story other than my watch. It is a little totem of my life. Maybe that’s because I got it from my father or as a graduation present or with my first paycheck. Or I bought it to celebrate a life success, a milestone in my career. In my case, all those things are true of my collection. Those things have meaning for me, and that meaning can be transmitted through time to other people—my sons, my wife, to other people in my life—and they’ll have some piece of my history with them. There’s something very universally human about this category that connects with people.”

The mechanical watch industry might well have gone the way of the dinosaurs, but neither the quartz battery nor the smartwatch dented devotees’ enthusiasm. In fact, the Swiss watch industry has enjoyed record years recently, and with the consumer base getting younger, profits are likely to increase. The booming secondhand market has buoyed the industry too. Sites like Hodinkee offer a transparent, trustworthy way to buy pre-owned watches, and Rolex’s entry into the space gives consumers yet more choices, Jeff says.

Rob asks whether Jeff foresees a shakeout among pre-owned watch sites, but Jeff predicts that innovative, enterprising people continue to introduce new ideas and fresh ways to bring value to the consumer.

In praise of retailers
Rob brings up the direct-to-consumer trend, questioning how Jeff views it playing out. While this market is accelerating, Jeff says, “one thing brands acknowledge is the power of a really incredible retailer who understands her or his local client base and is able to speak to that base in a way that a brand headquartered in Switzerland could never be…. [They’re] the best at expressing the way that a brand should show up in their community—even better than the brand itself.”

Listen Now

Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes

01:45 Tiffany’s Night to Remember
12:53 Smart Ways to Harness AI
21:3: All Eyes on JCK Las Vegas

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com

Show Recap

A night to remember marks the dawn of a new era for Tiffany & Co.
The April 27 fete for Tiffany & Co.’s reopened New York City flagship was even flashier and splashier than expected, Victoria reports. Close to 1,200 guests attended, and tourists thronged Fifth Avenue to catch a glimpse of A-listers like Blake Lively, Zoë Kravitz, and Mark Wahlberg on the red carpet.

After more than three years in the works, the spectacular new flagship looks nothing like the Tiffany’s store of old, Victoria says. The Landmark, as Tiffany now calls its store, is filled with light wood, glass, digital screens, artwork, a dramatic curvilinear staircase, and, of course, beautiful jewelry. Victoria’s first stop was the seventh floor, which houses gemstone masterpieces like Bird on a Rock brooches and the Patek Philippe salon. Nearly as awe-inspiring as the gems was the sheer amount of wealth of the guests in attendance, she says.

The Fifth Avenue icon was long venerated as a democratic slice of Americana, Rob notes—a place where anyone could feel at home admiring the pieces on display. He wonders if the Landmark will be as welcoming. That depends on what kind of person you are, Victoria surmises. Sleek and grand, this indisputable temple to luxury may well intimidate certain shoppers. Then again, it’s bound to be a tourist attraction—and there are affordable items to be had, she notes. (The entry price for a silver Return to Tiffany bracelet is $250.) For those confident or curious enough to be undaunted by the glamour, Victoria says it’s well worth going up to the seventh floor to admire the art, the homages to Tiffany windows, and the digital Audrey Experience—with a replica of Audrey Hepburn’s black Givenchy dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and original notes from the Truman Capote novella that inspired the film.

Want more detail? Read Victoria’s report on the party.

AI update: smart ways to harness artificial intelligence
Next, Rob shares highlights from the recent American Gem Society Conclave, where he found himself socializing without fear of COVID for the first time in several years.

Despite warning signs like inflation and bank failures—and waning from the boom of 2020 and 2021—jewelry businesses are holding up well based on the buzz at Conclave, Rob says. Traceability and lab-grown diamonds were much discussed, but the session that piqued his interest most was on ChatGPT. He found a story told by business consultant Ford Saeks particularly compelling because it demonstrated AI’s potential value as a customer service tool. When Saeks asked ChatGPT to craft an email to a disgruntled customer, the recipient was delighted by what seemed like a personalized note. “This is why I like working with you,” the customer responded. “It was ironic,” Rob observes, that what seemed like such a human touch was crafted by a machine.

Rob’s takeaway based on the session and his own experimentation with ChatGPT? “It’s a powerful tool, but to really master it, you have to understand the prompts, capabilities, and limitations,” he cautions. “As far as factual accuracy, it’s wrong more often than right.”

Rob and Victoria debate what artificial intelligence means for the future of their work and journalism in general. While it may usurp basic writing tasks, Victoria considers the threat minimal, because AI can’t replicate reporters. “ChatGPT isn’t about to call up 10 different sources and distill their conversations into pearls of wisdom and weave that into a story,” she says.

On the other hand, the technology may have big-picture cultural implications most of us haven’t even considered yet. She cites New York Times columnist and podcaster Ezra Klein, who recently pointed out that since AI focuses on culling existing content and data, increasing reliance on it could lead us to rehash things we already know rather than search for new knowledge. “What does that do for us as a society?” Victoria asks.

All eyes on JCK Las Vegas
The conversation shifts to Las Vegas, as excitement builds for the Luxury by JCK show (May 31–June 1) and JCK Las Vegas (June 2–5). Rob wants to catch the educational sessions on ChatGPT, TikTok, sustainability, and how to do a social media audit. Victoria is eager to get the scoop on DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), to attend Friday’s Women’s Jewelry Association breakfast on disability inclusion in the industry, and to hear about viral videos at the Innovation Hub’s new Social Stage. She also wants to listen to keynote speakers, including Olympic gold medal–winning gymnast Dominique Dawes and retail innovator Johnny Earle, aka Johnny Cupcakes.

Rob will moderate two Hot Topics panels: Friday’s Natural Diamond Updates (featuring speakers from the Natural Diamond Council, the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, and the De Beers Group) and Saturday’s Lab Grown Diamond Updates (with representatives from the International Grown Diamond Association and the International Gemological Institute and analyst Edahn Golan). Rather than pit the two camps (natural and lab-grown) against each other, “we decided to look at these two different segments as individual markets,” Rob explains.

Other not-to-miss events include Sunday’s Jewelers for Children gala, followed by the JCK Rocks concert, headlined by country singer-songwriter Andy Grammer.

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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
00:52 Tiffany & Co.’s Landmark Event
03:44 Carrying on the Hess Family Legacy
05:07 Remembering Jose Hess
08:20 Striking Out on His Own
11:08 What’s in a Name?
14:42 A Brief History of the Plumb Club
18:09 The Future Looks Bright
20:31 Three Trends to Watch
24:22 Lab-Grown Diamonds in Simple Terms
25:52 Aligning With RJC

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com

Show Recap

Tiffany & Co.’s Landmark event
Victoria relays highlights from the Tiffany & Co. extravaganza that marked the Fifth Avenue flagship store’s reopening as the Landmark in April. It wasn’t just the beautiful space and the star-studded guest list that impressed her, but also the obvious wealth of the clientele. One guest sported a limited-edition Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe Nautilus watch, which sells for $3 million on the secondary market.

Carrying on a family legacy
Victoria and Rob welcome guest Lawrence Hess, executive director of the Plumb Club, which Victoria says is one of the industry’s most esteemed organizations, boasting a membership of distinguished manufacturers. Calling in from his office in Englewood, N.J., Lawrence says he is gearing up for JCK Las Vegas, where 50 Plumb Club members will exhibit in the group’s 75,000-square-foot pavilion.

Lawrence is the son of iconic jewelry designer Jose Hess. Victoria asks Lawrence about his memories of being raised in the business, thanks not just to Jose but also to stepmom Magdalena “Maggie” Hess, a designer in her own right.

Jose instilled a deep love of the industry and its people in his children. “The two most important things to him were family and jewelry,” says Lawrence, who tagged along to work with his dad when he didn’t have school. He recalls his father’s years as president of the Plumb Club, when early plans for the pavilion covered their dining room table while Jose fine-tuned them.

Rob notes that Jose Hess was renowned for his catchphrases, most famously “strong like a bull.” Lawrence remembers: “That was his answer to everything, whether things were good or bad.” Many of Jose’s observations are collected in The Beauty in All, a book Jose and Maggie co-wrote.

Striking out on his own
Another Jose Hess motto was that nothing should be handed to you. So before joining the family business, Lawrence needed real-world experience. He earned his gemology degree from GIA and spent the mid-1980s working in the jewelry business, from store floor to factory floor.

When he finally joined his father, he felt confident he brought value to the company in the form of new ideas and perspective. Even so, there was no cushy berth waiting. “I started literally cleaning bathrooms, sorting diamonds, cleaning up the benches in the factory.” Design wasn’t Lawrence’s forte, but he often weighed in on Jose and Maggie’s creations and discovered he had a knack for picking winners.

What’s in a name?
Victoria wonders what prompted Jose’s decision to sell his designs under his own name, a bold move at the time. Lawrence says it happened at the dawn of the designer clothing movement. In typical Jose fashion, he summed up his decision quotably: “I remember my father once saying that if Gloria Vanderbilt can put her name on someone’s behind, then I can put my name on a piece of jewelry,” Lawrence recalls.

After Jose sold his business and semi-retired, Lawrence went to work for a family friend who chaired the Plumb Club. When the group created an executive director position, “I felt I could make a difference, so I threw my hat in the ring,” says Lawrence. He’s served in the post for almost 14 years, helping to grow the Plumb Club into one of the industry’s premier supply organizations.

A brief history of the Plumb Club
Flashback to the 1980s, when the industry’s leading trade show took place in New York. Tradition held that suppliers threw competing parties for retailers on Saturday night during the show. That left retailers hopping from event to event, and hosts scrambling to spend quality time with them. Inspiration struck when the competitors combined forces to throw one big party where clients could spend the whole evening. The approach was so successful that the group applied the same concept to exhibiting. When JCK Las Vegas launched, the Plumb Club built its first Las Vegas pavilion. This year marks the club’s 40th anniversary—and its 31st year at JCK.

Lawrence mentions that though its roots were as a social club, the Plumb Club has evolved to offer year-round programming that provides education through its Jewelers Resource Center, a comprehensive, searchable database of industry knowledge.

The future looks bright
Plumb Club members are “cautiously optimistic” about the future, according to Lawrence. While the pandemic business boom is slowing, signs point to continued growth in the jewelry industry.

Looking for data to back up those predictions? The Plumb Club will present its third research paper and consumer survey at JCK Las Vegas on Sunday, June 4 (11 a.m. at the Showcase Stage). Another not-to-miss event on Sunday: the JCK Rocks concert, featuring Andy Grammer, the singer-songwriter behind hits like “Honey, I’m Good.”

Three trends to watch
Lawrence reveals a trio of noteworthy trends from the Plumb Club’s new research:

– Female self-purchasers are on the rise, with 67% of women making a non-bridal purchase for themselves in 2022.

– Millennials are big spenders. Though they make up just 23% of the world population, they account for 57% of all jewelry expenditures globally. In fact, millennials on average spend 157% more on jewelry than consumers in general, Lawrence says.

– Sustainability and responsible business practices matter to buyers. Plumb Club research suggests that 71% of consumers are willing to pay more if a retailer is committed to sustainability, and 69% will pay more to a retailer that demonstrates diversity and inclusivity. “We’ve been talking about sustainability and responsible business practices for years, but that is really now coming to fruition at the cash register,” Lawrence observes.

Lab-grown diamonds in simple terms
Rob asks what the club’s research shows about lab-grown diamonds. In short, they’re here to stay, Lawrence says. “While natural is still preferred overall, the majority told us they are open to either buying or receiving a piece of jewelry with lab-grown diamonds,” Lawrence notes. “The key is in education.”

With almost half of respondents confessing that they don’t really understand the differences between natural and lab-grown diamonds, retailers need to educate themselves—and to be able to give customers a clear, unbiased explanation of the options. Looking for help? The Plumb Club offers a brochure to keep on hand and share with customers.

Aligning with RJC
Victoria asks about the Plumb Club’s requirement that members join the Responsible Jewellery Council. Lawrence says it’s a timely move, given that as consumers ask more questions about responsible business practices, retailers are asking more about how their products are sourced. That can be a tough question for suppliers. However, once members complete the rigorous RJC certification process, “every retailer can be assured that if they’re doing business with a Plumb Club member, the product they’re purchasing has been vetted to be responsibly sourced.”

(Photo courtesy of the Plumb Club)

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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
00:49 Tiffany & Co. Reimagines Its Famous Flagship
05:30 Rob Heads to AGS Conclave to Gauge the State of the Industry
07:10 Rolex Brightens a Busy Watches and Wonders Exhibition
15:18 What’s New at Signet Jewelers

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com

Show Recap

Tiffany offers a sneak peek at its reimagined flagship
Victoria seldom flies across the country to attend a party, but she’s making an exception for the highly awaited reopening of Tiffany & Co.’s flagship Fifth Avenue store on May 27. After a three-year closure and a complete makeover, what will the Landmark—as it’s now called—look like? Rob remembers visiting the iconic store as a JCK mystery shopper and finding it surprisingly warm and welcoming. It was almost homey in those days, he says. Victoria predicts the new iteration will be decidedly sleeker and more luxe since the brand’s target demographic is now considerably more affluent.

“There’s a parallel story about the importance of brick-and-mortar,” Victoria observes. When she interviewed Tiffany CEO Anthony Ledru recently, he called the Landmark “the heart and soul of Tiffany.” The company is putting a major focus on its physical locations, expanding and renovating stores in Seoul, São Paulo, and other parts of the world, she adds. When the pandemic peaked, it looked like retail’s future might be entirely virtual and digital, but “that’s not the case at all,” Victoria says. “The importance of brick-and-mortar is more apparent than ever.”

Rob to moderate Conclave panel
Victoria’s not the only one with travel plans. In early May, Rob will head to Louisville, Ky., for the American Gem Society Conclave, where he’ll moderate an expert panel on how the industry is faring in 2023 and gauge the outlook for the future. Victoria is eager to hear his takeaways. She predicts JCK’s audience will be too. “It’s been a confusing year, with the lingering specter of recession,” she points out. “People are waiting for some guidance.”

Rolex brightens a busy Watches and Wonders
The conversation shifts to Victoria’s recent trip to Switzerland for Watches and Wonders in Geneva. This year’s bustling conference was a far cry from the quiet show of 2022, when quarantine kept Chinese buyers, retailers, and press away. “It felt upbeat and buzzy” in spite of the logistical frustrations inevitable in a crowded convention center, she says.

The optimism surprised Victoria, who expected the drop in secondary watch prices after last spring’s crypto collapse to put a damper on people’s moods. Instead she found an enthusiastic crowd and a robust array of new offerings. The most talked-about were whimsical, colorful watches from Rolex, a new direction for the brand. One featured a dial with balloons in a rainbow of colors. Another was an off-catalog model with 31 emojis and seven inspirational words like “love” and “faith” instead of dates and days of the week. Victoria says this is the first time she has seen Rolex introduce a concept piece, and despite some hate from internet trolls, show attendees loved the fresh, vivid newcomers. She gives the company kudos for its innovative pieces that break through some sameness in the category.

Rob asks about Rolex’s new certified pre-owned program. Victoria says people still aren’t sure how it will work, but she thinks secondhand dealers are likely diversifying and refocusing on other brands because they may not be able to compete with Rolex’s proprietary program.

Signet focuses on affordable luxury
Turning their attention back to the U.S., Rob reports on Signet Jewelers’ investor day, which he attended last week at the New York Stock Exchange. He was impressed by Signet’s executive team—and the fact that the majority of its members are female. “Five or six years ago, it would be all men and one woman,” he notes. “It’s a very, very different company than before CEO Gina Drosos came in,” one he believes is in very capable hands.

Signet is focusing on expanding its “accessible luxury” offerings, though Victoria notes that the term is highly subjective. In Signet’s case, Rob expects it will mean higher price points. The company also plans to expand its bridal offerings and attract more female shoppers, a goal that may pose challenges for Signet’s traditionally male-focused brands like Jared, James Allen, Blue Nile, and Diamonds Direct, Rob says. These four companies were once competitors, so finding their place in the Signet family  may take some time, Rob predicts.

Signet also reported that engagements are expected to return to normal levels now that the boom is subsiding. Rob points out that Signet has become the go-to source for market statistics, and he and Victoria agree such data is extremely valuable for the industry.

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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
2:40 Perfect pair
8:34 A memorable meeting
13:40 Diamond prices stabilize
14:43 New G7 requirements on diamond imports
19:27 With Tracr, provenance takes center stage
21:33 GemFair’s win-win approach

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com

Show Recap

Perfect pair
Victoria introduces her London-based guests and asks how the world of diamonds brought them together. Mahiar was born in Iran, grew up in Salt Lake City, and went to college in California—continents away from Feriel, born to Algerian parents in Abu Dhabi and raised in the U.K. Though he started his career in tech and financial services, Mahiar was offered a job in the diamond industry in London—and jumped at it. The move exposed him to the best kind of culture shock: “I was used to contracts and letters of intent,” he recalls. In diamonds, “the word mazal was your bond.” The trust and passion people showed felt like a breath of fresh air, says Mahiar, who worked with De Beers and Venus Jewel before joining UNI.DIAMONDS, which provides real-time data-driven insights on market prices, supply, demand, and availability to diamond retailers and wholesalers.

After earning her degree in mathematics and business management, Feriel also found her way to the diamond industry—as a supply chain analyst for De Beers. Her job was to use blue sky thinking to improve diamond forecasting accuracy. She too experienced culture shock, but of a different kind: Almost 20 years ago, she was the only woman and the youngest person in the room. “I stood out like a sore thumb,” she says. Happily, the industry has made great strides to improve diversity, she says.

A memorable meeting
When Feriel and Mahiar first met during a 2008 business trip to India, they were on opposite sides of the table. It was “sales versus ethics,” as she puts it: Mahiar was managing rough diamond sales globally, Feriel was managing De Beers’ best practice principles.

“She came so well prepared…for any question that I would have, and I was completely taken away not just by her beauty and her charm but very much so by her intellect,” Mahiar recalls. He insisted the group have dinner together, then visit the top of the InterContinental hotel, famous for its breathtaking views. Feriel and Mahiar talked for hours—until she left for the airport the next morning. On the plane home, she told her co-workers she’d met the man she was going to marry.

Tragically, terrorists struck Mumbai that day, and the budding romance was put on pause. “We worked very hard to get the sales team out,” Feriel remembers. “When [Mahiar] finally got out, I was so eager to see him that I actually asked him out. And he said…no.”

For Mahiar, the attack triggered painful memories of the Iranian revolution. “I needed to work through some of the stuff I had boxed up neatly in my brain,” he explains. After clearing his head, he “profusely apologized and asked her out. Now we’re 13 years married, we have a beautiful baby girl, and we’re working hard to change the industry,” he reports.

Diamond prices stabilize
Speaking of changes, Rob asks the couple’s views on the current state of the industry. Prices spiked at the end of the first quarter but have decelerated, now hovering slightly above 2021 levels, says Mahiar. “We’re seeing much more price stability in the market, which means supply-and-demand aspects are starting to fall in line,” he says. “I’m quite pleased with where we are.”

New G7 requirements on diamond imports
In addition to existing sanctions on diamonds from Russia, the G7 countries will soon impose new regulations on all natural diamonds coming into member countries, Feriel notes. “They’re going to be at customs, so they’re going to impact everybody.” And in an industry that has always sorted diamonds based on the 4Cs, the idea of provenance is still new, particularly to the informal sector, creating a learning curve, she says.

While details aren’t yet known, the new requirements must support the G7’s objectives without negatively impacting the legitimate natural diamond trade, says Feriel. She praises U.S. ambassador James O’Brien and his team for their recent fact-finding mission to better understand the supply chain and work toward a solution that won’t leave anyone behind.

With Tracr, provenance takes center stage
Rob invites Feriel to elaborate on Tracr, De Beers’ traceability solution, launched in 2018,  which GIA recently joined. “We always knew provenance was going to be very important for natural diamonds and, frankly, for any product that’s going to be sold into the consumer market,” she says. Consumers want products that reflect their values, but how can you know what your product stands for without knowing where it originated?

Enter Tracr, which provides provenance information, ensuring that a diamond’s origin story can be accurately represented when it’s sold to a consumer. “When we came up with it, most people were saying, ‘Why do you need this? No consumer is asking,’” says Feriel. “They’re not asking now, but they’re going to be asking in the future. We truly believe that.”

GemFair’s win-win approach
Feriel is perhaps even prouder of GemFair, De Beers’ program with artisanal miners to raise the standards of mine sites and develop a fair route to market for their product.

“Being able to see diamonds on a platform like ours from Sierra Leone, and being able to talk about what positive impact diamonds have in various countries that they’re in, has been a great story to [share with] consumers,” Mahiar says. It provides an “opportunity to fully appreciate how wonderful natural diamonds are in the countries they come from.”

Miners can sell to De Beers once they meet GemFair standards—guidelines De Beers worked with miners to develop. The De Beers team uses these interactions as educational opportunities, helping miners understand the value of their product, even if they choose to sell elsewhere.

During the pandemic, the company shifted its business in Sierra Leone to support the mining community in the face of massive inflation, ensuring that people had access to food and health care. “We found a solution with them where we would rehabilitate old mines and transform them into farming grounds. We have rehabilitated 126 mines since COVID. The women of the community manage the farming, [and] the overflow product is what they use to sell into the market,” Feriel explains. “It’s created new livelihood solutions for the mining communities and helped us build trust. Now that the communities know we’re here to stay, the volume of diamonds coming our way because of that trust has increased.”

While you won’t find GemFair diamonds at JCK Las Vegas, “if you want to try on a diamond from Sierra Leone or anywhere else—Botswana, Namibia, Canada, South Africa—come to my booth and you can virtually try it on,” Mahiar says.

(Photo courtesy of Feriel Zerouki and Mahiar Borhanjoo)

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Sponsored by De Beers: institute.debeers.com

Show Notes
01:45 24 Karat weekend
05:00 U.S. sanctions on Russian diamonds
13:00 Lab-grown diamond prices
15:00 Lab-grown diamond quality variance
23:00 Silicon Valley Bank

Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Plugs: @jckmagazine; institute.debeers.com

Show Recap

24 Karat Weekend
Rob attended the 24 Karat Gem Awards, while Victoria sadly had to stay home. It was a beautiful event, which included a lovely tribute to the late Steven Kaiser. JCK writer Amy Elliott was up for a media award. Victoria and Rob give a big shout-out to Amy, and express their pride at her nomination. And they congratulate National Jeweler’s Michelle Graff, who won this year’s media award.

Rob also attended the Jewelers’ Security Alliance (JSA) lunch, where it was reported that last year was the worst for crime that JSA has seen in a very long time. On the lighter side of things, Rob enjoyed Joe Piscopo’s performance at the 24 Karat dinner (lots of Sinatra).

At the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) luncheon, Jeffrey Fisher was presented the Stanley Schechter Award in a warm, emotional ceremony. The speaker at the luncheon was Ambassador James C. O’Brien, head of the U.S. Office of Sanctions Coordination. He gave an effective, folksy speech about the U.S. efforts to put sanctions on Russia.

Stricter Russian diamond sanctions on the horizon
The G7 wants to put further restrictions on Russian diamonds to close the “substantial transformation” loophole, which allows Russian diamonds that are cut and polished elsewhere to come into the U.S.  One thing being looked at is requiring sellers to make a declaration that the diamonds they are selling are not from Russia. This would be a big change in the market.

In a brief interview with O’Brien following his speech, Rob asked what happens if people don’t have the proper information about Russian origin. O’Brien said you can get into a lot of trouble if you aren’t honest with Customs officials. There are still questions about many of the details, including what the size cutoff would be and what type of proof would be required. Rob warns that the changes are on the horizon, and it will have a big effect on the industry.

Rob gives a little context for these changes: Belgium has been under pressure to block imports of Russian diamonds. But Belgium’s argument has been that if Russian diamonds just go to Dubai and then the U.S., Belgium will lose out. But if the U.S. market is closed off, then Belgium is on an even playing field with Dubai. The sanctions proposal is due to be presented at the G7 conference in May and then put into action after. Rob hopes there will be a clear set of rules that are attainable and easy to follow.

Lab-grown diamond prices
Victoria asks Rob to chart when we started to see the prices of lab-grown diamonds fall. Rob notes that it has been a steady decline, and an expected one, though it may still be shocking to see now that it’s a reality. He remembers checking the price of a high-end lab-grown diamond and then seeing it thousands of dollars lower just three days later. The market is flooded right now. People say current prices are bottoming out and lab-grown diamonds will no longer profitable to produce if the prices get lower. However, further price decreases could still happen, if people dump their goods as they exit the business.

Quality variances among lab-grown diamonds
Victoria has been writing JCK Special Report newsletter articles on lab-grown diamonds. She watched a great presentation on quality in lab-grown diamonds, which was led by the co-founders of Ada Diamonds, a direct-to-consumer lab-grown diamond brand—and she learned a lot. The speakers explained that they started noticing a bigger distinction in the quality of lab-grown diamonds in 2019. They showed examples of lab-grown diamonds that all had—in theory—the same color and clarity grades but had very obvious differences. They explained the quality characteristics and issues in terms that were easy for laypeople to understand.

The overall message is, as this market has grown, and as people rushed to fill demand—which skyrocketed during the pandemic—growers prioritized speed to market. And when you cut corners in the growing process in order to get goods out the door, quality issues show up in the diamonds. Victoria’s article “Why Not All Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Created Equal” goes into more detail about the presentation and her takeaways.

Rob’s reaction is that this is a sign of the maturation of the lab-grown market. The discussion around lab-grown diamonds has long focused on whether they are the same as natural diamonds. While Rob agrees that they are diamonds, they are a different product, with a different market and different characteristics—which doesn’t make them less than regular diamonds, just different. The trend is to offer less information in lab-grown reports, which makes them cheaper, since if a report costs more than the diamond being sold, it’s not worth getting. Rob believes consumers deserve to have more information about what they are buying, especially when it comes to color tinges that you can see with the naked eye.

Victoria notes that Ritani sold a $99,000 26 ct. lab-grown diamond online. It’s fascinating that there’s still high demand for these diamonds. Getting to a larger size is much easier with lab-grown diamonds, and it is more accessible now than it used to be. The person Victoria interviewed at Ritani predicted it will be much more common to see big diamond jewelry flashing at the grocery store. And it won’t shock anyone anymore! It’s interesting to ponder what that will mean for the natural diamond industry.

Bank troubles and their impact on the jewelry industry
There were concerns about First Republic Bank after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. But has there been any impact on the jewelry industry? Every time a bank fails, the price of gold seems to get higher. It’s concerning for the industry, in terms of the overall economic picture. The irony is that so many diamond banks or diamond divisions of banks have already closed but didn’t get the same helping hand that the tech sector did. Victoria and Rob make a note to revisit the topic.