fashion jewelry

An Online Site Emphasizes the Jewelry

By Erika T. Bailey 3 months ago

Last fall, Caroline Chalmer and Mie Ejdrup, both former jewelry retail analysts who met a dozen years ago as students at Copenhagen Business School, made a career move that they probably would have advised clients to avoid. In the midst of a pandemic, they began a jewelry business.

As Ms. Ejdrup put it, in a phone interview from her home in Copenhagen, the experience “has been both amazing and crazy.”

Yet Finematter, the website they introduced in November, seems to have had good timing: It offers a selection of fine and demi-fine jewelry from independently owned brands in Europe, Britain and the United States that would be difficult to find in one location, virtual or physical. Prices range from, for example, 100 euros for a sleek silver hoop earring by the Danish brand Kinraden to €16,000 for a white gold and diamond ring by Repossi, one of the best-known

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Luxury Giants Like Louis Vuitton Are Falling for Big Gems

By Erika T. Bailey 3 months ago

A handful of huge diamonds has arrived in the world of high jewelry that could alter the entire business.

In January 2020 Louis Vuitton, the world’s most valuable luxury brand, revealed it had bought the second- largest rough diamond ever mined. It bought the 1,758-carat Sewelô for an undisclosed amount in collaboration with Lucara Diamond Corporation, the Canadian company that owns the mine in Botswana where it was discovered, and HB Company, a diamond-manufacturing business in Antwerp, Belgium.

But it turns out the brand’s appetite for great big diamonds was just beginning. In November, it purchased a smaller, but still uncommonly large, rough diamond, the 549-carat Sethunya. Its mining partner Lucara has proved particularly adept at finding such stones. It is at the forefront of using X-ray transmission technology to locate the diamonds before they’re broken into small pieces during the ore processing and has a special Mega Diamond

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Thelma West Is On A Mission To Change The Jewelry World

By Erika T. Bailey 3 months ago

Perhaps the ultimate Renaissance woman of the jewelry world, Thelma West is not just a jewelry designer who specializes in incredible gemstones, she’s also a certified gemologist, diamond dealer, and founder of a gemological laboratory. Where did she find the time? Her newest venture, Thelma West Diamonds, is the pinnacle of her career and combines her extensive knowledge of the jewelry industry and gemology with her unique design aesthetic influenced by her childhood in Nigeria and her exploration of European-style jewelry. 

In Nigeria, jewelry wasn’t solely reserved for special occasions. It was an integral part of their wardrobes and personal style, as well as a source of financial security. “Being Nigerian born, jewelry plays a big role in how we express ourselves, not just in terms of fashion. We also see it as a very meaningful store of value, knowing that if there

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How Love Created A Multimillion-Dollar Jewelry Business That Continues To Set Trends In 2021

By Erika T. Bailey 3 months ago

It all started as a love match similar to Daphne and Simon of Bridgerton fame. Lana Bramlette, Founder of Lana Jewelry, took a chance when she agreed to meet her future husband on a blind date. The day, January 16, 2002, is now forever etched in her memory as sparks flew and just ten days later the pair were happily ever after living together. 

With their romance rapidly progressing, only one month from their initial meeting, Bramlette created a custom made 14kt gold nameplate “Rob” necklace, her live-in love’s name, as her first valentine’s gift. It was intended as a silent, but very loud

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