Shaun Leane prepares for Cherry Blossom consumer launch

Shaun Leane's Cherry Blossom collection will be available for sale direct to consumers through the designer's own transational e-tail site shaunleanshop.com at the end of the month.

Leane unveiled the Cherry Blossom collection in April this year at a private showing at the Metropolitan Hotel in London, rather than launching the collection in BaselWorld as he has done with new collections in previous years. There has been a trend this year for jewellery brands to shun trade shows in favour of intimate private events. Pianegonda, for example, decided not to exhibit at Vicenza earlier this year, choosing to welcome buyers to its headquarters near to the show.

Pink jewellery and watches help H Samuel raise money for cancer charity

H Samuel will raise money for cancer charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer in October by donating 10% of the sale price of 10 pink items during the month. Pink watches and jewellery in the sale include a 25th anniversery edition Guess watch, 9ct gold pink crystal stud earrings, a silver heart necklace with a pink stone and a Sekonda bracelet watch.

Lua Lua new collection swaps brights for gold and silver

Lua Lua’s new collection Solaris takes a step away from the bright, bright Perspex ditties that the brand is famous for. Instead, the more subdued, grown-up collection features gold- and silver-mirrored Perspex strung with silver or coloured thread. The reflective nature of the materials means that the collection, which features angular wing shapes as well as circles, squares and triangles on necklaces and earrings, change appearance in the light.

Lua Lua said of Solaris: “The inspiration behind this collection lies with aviation and science fiction creating elegant emblems to wear with both casual and eveningwear for every season.”

Trollbeads strengthens marketing with cohesive worldwide logo

Trollbeads, one of the biggest brand names in collectible jewellery, has created a cohesive worldwide logo for the first time. Despite the power of the Danish brand, logos had previously been designed by local distributors of the jewellery and varied country to country.

Sarah Morfoot, director of UK Trollbeads distributor Fable Trading, said: “It’s such a strong brand, it’s incredible it didn’t have a cohesive logo.”

Merchandising will still be designed by distributors to cater effectively for each market. Morfoot described the UK merchandising as “strong, striking and distinctive".

Trollbeads is also aiming to create more fashion-forward collections in the future. Morfoot said: “We want to put across a different face – hit the market where we should be hitting it.”

Star Jewellers to launch first e-tail site

Star Jewellers in London’s Hatton Garden is planning to launch its first e-tail site on September 1. The website will sell different stock to that on offer at its physical store, with a focus on coloured stones and statement jewellery.

Star Jewellers head of retail Adrian Demondes told Jewellery Zeitgeist: “We're not trying to be like everyone else and sell single solitaires at 4p. It's jewellery you wouldn't necessarily see in Hatton Garden and it's totally different to what's in our shop window."

Retail prices will range from £230 to £3,000, and shoppers can pay online using virtual payment system PayPal. Lines will include cocktail rings, design-led pendants, a limited diamond selection and jewellery from Star Jeweller's own brand Star Form.

Looking for a new customer base - why not pets?

It seems that jewelers could be missing a trick by just targeting humans. According to Petplan’s Pet Rich List 2009, there are some seriously loaded pets out there with independent spending power enough to make you wince.

In the top five are dog Gunther IV worth £224.6m, Kalu the chimpanzee worth £53m, Toby Rimes the dog (pictured here) worth £30m, Oprah Winfrey’s dogs who are set to inherit £30m and Orca whale Keiko, who racked up £22.6m for his staring role in the Free Willy trilogy.

Ever since Paris Hilton popped a sparkly tiara on pet pooch Tinkerbell, pet jewellery has been flying off the shelves of pet stores. So much so that garden and pet trade show Glee (which takes place at the Birmingham NEC from September 20 to 22) regularly dedicates a whole dog fashion show to it. I’ve attended one of these in my time, and the tension watching those dogs hover between wigging out and walking proud with their jewels makes it worth a look even if you’re not that interested in the jewellery (or the dogs).

The trend de jour, I’m told, in pet jewellery is matching sets for owners and pets. Louise Barnfather of Barnfather Designs (who will be exhibiting at IJL for the first time this year) designs precious collections of pet jewellery for brand Jari, including matching jewels for owners and pets.

The matching collections are made by hand to order and include gold and platinum collarettes, charms and cuffs featuring ethically sourced precious stones such as peridot, onyx, diamond and sapphire. Retail prices for the jewellery range from £350 for a charm to £15,000 for a collarrette.

Jari director Kim Bendzak told pet and garden news site GleeWire: "We were looking to create a premium jewellery range for pets as we recognised that there really is no service like this available in the UK at the moment. In the same way that people enjoy giving beautiful presents to their friends and family, so some pet owners want to treat their animals to a little indulgence."

Jewellers should take heed and shame shop criminals

I am in the midst of writing a retail report for Retail Jeweller magazine on crime at jewellers. Funnily enough, this was commissioned before the big heist at Graff, which has only deemed to make it even more topical.

I've heard a lot of horror stories this week, and while the general consensus is that if robbers want to break into your shop, smash cabinets and escape with all your stock, there's not a lot you can do to prevent them. The challenge is in fact catching the criminals after the fact.

I was speaking to a friend of mine at Retail Week magazine about this and she was covering a crime story about discunt retaler TJ Morris. The retailer is often targeted by shoplifters and in an attempt to get justice, TJ Morris publihes pictures of the shoplifters on its website with descriptions of the crime and which store it took place at. Above the images, it has an online form that informants can fill with information on the shoplifters and if it leads to a conviction, they can claim a reward of up to £1,000.

Pawnbroker and jewellery retailer Herbert Brown is one of the retailers that will be included in my report, and managing director Rod Mason told me that when one of its stores was robbed by armed men, they were caught after the local paper published images (see above) of the roberry on its front page.

Seems as though shaming, if not naming, criminals can lead to justice.

To read my retail report on jewellery shop crime, see the September issue of Retail Jeweller

Herbert Brown to open three stores before Christmas

Pawnbroker and jewellery retailer Herbert Brown is planning to expand its portfolio of stores in the Southwest. The chain, which currently operates 30 shops, will open three stores in the area before Christmas.

While no locations have been signed for as yet, Herbert Brown managing director Rod Mason said that the chain intends to expand to the south and west of its cutrrent locations. Its furthest south shop at present is in Chesterfield.

Mason told Jewellery Zeitgeist: "We are expanding quite fast. As we're led by second-hand jewellery, it's probably made us more reobust [in the recession], so business is steady."

Shhhh… which jeweller is faking it?

One Northern luxe jeweller sports a very nice Cartier watch, but if you take a closer look you'll discover that it's not exactly kosher. In fact, it's a knock-off he picked up in Turkey for £70. And quite proud of it he is too. What he forgot to mention, however, is that he has a real version tcked away in the safe.

Keeping it casual at Beaverbrooks

Beaverbrooks has a great reputation for treating its staff as an extended family, and for generally being a great place to work. The relaxed structure and Enriching Lives staff campaign has won them the loyalty of their staff (plus Retail Employer of the Year at this year’s UK Jewellery Awards, see picture, and The Sunday Times’ Best Company to Work For) and it really is refreshing to witness.

I was reminded of this when I emailed one of the directors at Beaverbrooks this morning. He is off sunning himself, as I found out from his out of office reply, which came complete with two kisses at the bottom. Whenever I email any of the top-level staff at Beaverbrooks, and they are out of the office, I get a similar reply. Once I was even replied to with a joke. Brilliant.

And this relaxed ethos goes far beyond a quirky out of office reply. I’ve seen emails sent between shop staff and directors and there is no pretence or stiff management talk, communication flows easily throughout the business. And one director told me he was considering taking his job title off of his business card as they place little importance on the hierarchy and lots of importance on working as a team.

A lot of staff at Beaverbrooks have been there for years and will no doubt continue in their service. This is common with smaller retailers, but to have such a low staff turnover at such as large organisation is truly impressive, and perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the one big happy family mantra that makes Beaverbrooks such an attractive retail jeweller to work for.

Watch brands still partying on in the recession

Jewellery brands are increasingly trying to lower marketing costs in the recession. Many are cutting advertising, or at least making sure it is very targeted, and taking PR in house (a very risky move if you ask me). But watch brands seem to be fareing much better, with some seeming to continue to have pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Casio is one such brand. I went to a party for the company’s G-Shock watch brand in London a couple of months ago. While the excesses at the bash were not enormous, celebs such as Dizzee Rascal, Pixie Lott, George Lamb and Mark Ronson were out in force. Whether or not they were paid to be there is unclear but getting celebs to turn up to a party does usually entail giving them some sort of payment.

And last week, Casio has replicated the event in New York. The bash was just as glam as the London event and as live music forms the core of these Summer of Fun parties (Casio’s name for the series of events it hosts over the summer months), out trotted out Kanye West. I’ve heard that Casio paid the rap star $500,000 for a 45-minute set – that’s more than a grand a minute. Incredible.

Another jewellery brand with a big budget for parties is Thomas Sabo. Once a year, the brand hosts an international press party. Much to my disgust, it was held in London this year, meaning that I got the circle line to the event rather than a plane. However, the location of Somerset House was truly incredible and the brand spared no expense in flying over international journalists, providing endless cocktails and also getting Moloko frontwoman and solo artist Roisin Murphy to perform. Also, Alex James of Blur fame was there – not a bad coup for Thomas Sabo as it was the night before Blur’s first comeback gig at Hyde Park.

Seems that in all the doom and gloom, some big brands are still willing to splash the cash on boosting their profiles.

Sienna puts Alex Monroe in the spotlight

Sienna Miller has been flaunting her Alex Monroe jewellery during a press tour for new movie G.I. Joe. The actress chose to wear Twist bangles, Clove Cluster necklaces and the brand’s hero piece – the Bumblebee necklace, which has now completely sold out in London.

Shamelessly bold A/W collection from Strawberry Wood

Strawberry Wood’s autumn/winter Shameless collection of bold jewellery is now hitting the stores. The 15-piece collection features diamonds, tanzante, kunzite, blue topaz, pink sapphire, alexandrite and tourmaline, set in platinum and gold. Retail prices start at £700 for pieces such as the Brazen ring featured.

Pure and simple – it’s a solid show

Jewellery exhibitors weren’t shouting from the rooftops about business at fashion and accessories trade show Pure earlier this week, but there were no complaints to be heard either. Trading was steady, with exhibitors divided as to whether Sunday or Monday was the best day at the show. “Sunday was a stonker of a day for us,” said crystal jewellery designer Kleshna.

This season’s Pure saw a return for some brands after a season or two’s absence from the show. Benor, which was one of the first jewellery wholesalers to exhibit at Pure, was back after missing the august show last year. Seems that brands forced out by the recession have no qualms about returning. As one exhibitor described its absence to me: “We didn’t do the show for a couple of seasons as it wasn’t the right time for us, but we’re back now and it’s always a good show for us.”

As the show is predominantly womenswear, buyers at Pure tend to be fashion shops as opposed to jewellers. However, on the stand at jewellery designer Benor they said that they had noticed quite a few IJL regulars at the show. Perhaps due to the expansion of the jewellery offer over the years, jewellery buyers are starting to take more of an interest in the show?

The biggest surprise at the show was Manchester fine diamond jewellery supplier Donns. The brand showed off its high-end pieces on the first floor, nestled among the fashion jewellery exhibitors. Truly bizarre. But buyers were surrounding the stand. Whether this was out of curiosity or genuine interest, I’m undecided.

Another stand of interest was the French Connection jewelley stand. The fashion retailer has always had a strong trend-led jewellery offer and has recently worked with jewellery wholesaler Icon Live to launch a wholesale website to sell to UK retailers online. Despite its FCUKing terrible brand issues in the past, French Connection has risen from the ashes to reclaim its position as a slick brand and could be a nice little branded jewellery seller.

Ethical jewellery was left, right and centre at Pure. Juan Munoz of ethical jewellery brand Leju talked to me about the difficulty the brand has faced as more and more fellow Pure exhibitors jumped on the vegetable ivory bandwagon, the sustainable material that the brand is famed for using. To avoid standing still, Juan and his partner have introduced silver beads and semi-precious stones to designs to ensure Leju doesn’t get lost in the melee of ethical jewellery brands.