Going to Mayfair tomorrow, July 31st, to meet Miss Universe? Mention this blog post and get 10% off any purchase you make in our store on that day! This offer isn’t valid on previous purchases or internet purchases — (sorry!) — but will sure go a long way towards making your weekend at Mayfair sparkle!
Remember: Diamond Nexus Labs is on the lower level near the west entrance by Crate & Barrel and Panera Bread. Hope to see you there!
Prices of gold continued their fall over last week, and are currently at Rs. 17,750 per 10 grams, recorded as the lowest in the last three months. Though this is approximately 25 per cent higher than prices at this time last year, the respite from the new peak of Rs 19,000 per 10 grams recorded in late June have brought buyers back to the stores. The current fall in prices has also been the longest phase of sustained decrease this year so far. %% Retailers are encouraged by the increased number of buyers and although the start of the festive season is yet two weeks away in India, the largest consumer of gold in the world, buyers are cashing in on the reduced prices. %% Some signs of relative stability in the global economy has helped bring down gold prices, and expectations are that this will reflect in a stronger demand. Retailers are predicting the trend to continue atleast until Diwali and are unveiling more promotions and marketing schemes to attract buyers. With the festive season just around the corner, and gold being bought much for its auspicious symbolism apart from beauty-sake, in India, the retail prospects seem bright ahead.
Think you’d never run into Miss Universe at Mayfair Mall? Think again! This Saturday, July 31st, Stefania Fernandez herself will be meeting our customers at our retail location in the Mayfair Mall of Wauwatosa, WI! (Near Milwaukee.) Autographs and photo opportunities will be available from 1:00 to 5:30 pm, and attendees of that day’s WeTV Wedding mall tour in the Mayfair atrium can chat with her while browsing wedding jewelry at our expo booth. Don’t forget to check out the official Miss Universe crown and tiara by Diamond Nexus Labs, which will also be there!
Congratulations to Miss Teen Maryland Kamie Crawford, now Miss Teen USA 2010! On July 24th, 17 year old Kamie was crowned with the official Diamond Nexus Labs crown by Miss Teen USA 2009 Stormi Bree Henley, taking over her duties for the upcoming year. Wear that crown proudly, Kamie!
The release of H1 results by De Beers on Friday has evoked mixed reactions across the industry, since the positive figures were accompanied by news of the resignation of Gareth Penny as CEO. %% The H1 figures send out a clear message that the worst days of the recession have been left behind. Mine production is up 133 per cent and DTC sales are up 84 per cent, driven by strong consumer demand from China and India, and a modest improvement in demand from the US. The company looks at the future with “measured optimism”, both due to external factors like better demand and internal ones such as “transformation of business undertaken last year”. %% The “feel good” impact is however tempered by Penny’s resignation. As CEO for the last five years he steered the ship through these troubled times. The announcement has come too close to press time to permit any comment on its implications. Those will become clearer as more information on the resignation and Penny’s successor become available.
The fact that the KP mini-summit held alongside the 7th Annual World Diamond Congress at St Petersburg this week has arrived at a consensus agreement between all stakeholders, comes as welcome relief to the diamond industry. Under the agreement, between now and September two supervised diamond exports will be allowed from Zimbabwe. Though a temporary measure, this is at least a start, and augurs well for a more permanent resolution of the imbroglio which has rocked the diamond world for the last many months. %% Moreover, it also provides a window for further dialogue and discussion towards the ultimate aim of ensuring that the pipeline remains free of all diamonds that may be perceived as being ‘tainted’ by the final consumer. Yet again, the industry has displayed that it can face challenges and weather storms in a mature and organised manner, and find solutions through dialogue. We hope this is the first firm step for a long term solution.
Check it out; today is the first day of the new “Love Rocks” contest from Diamond Nexus Labs! We’re giving couples the chance to get their wedding planning started off right by winning their engagement ring and honeymoon for free!
To enter, go to “Love Rocks” at DNLrocks.com and submit your love story and a photo of the two of you. Then start campaigning to get your friends and family to vote for you. You could win the grand prize: the ring of your dreams from Diamond Nexus Labs, plus an all-inclusive honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico (courtesy of Salentine Travel and Funjet). Nine 1st place winners will also win the engagement ring of their choice from our website. Five 2nd place winners will receive a pair of Princess cut stud earrings, five 3rd place winners will receive an Earth Angel pendant, and five 4th place winners will receive a $50 gift card. That’s twenty-five chances to win free jewelry!
Want a chance to win too, but not getting married anytime soon? Cast your vote for your favorite couple and you can enter our drawing for a $1000 gift card! All you need is your e-mail address.
Don’t delay; the contest ends August 25th, and you need time to rack up all those votes!
The need to concentrate forces and resources to boost consumer oriented diamond promotions is one of the key mantras of the global diamond industry today. Efforts are on to build a collective front of manufacturers, retailers, mining companies and trade bodies, to combat the strong challenge faced from other luxury categories. %% These moves assume greater importance as there are signs of a turnaround in major markets with positive growth in the first half of 2010. Individual promotions like DTC’s Everlon and Forevermark or Rio Tinto’s Champagne Diamond campaigns, and the Anant diamond jewellery platform established by GJEPC alongwith manufacturers and retailers in India have been going on, but a collective effort will take this to a new level. %% An initiative like the International Diamond Board is slated to be a key topic of discussion at the 34th World Diamond Congress that begins in Moscow July 11. If this moves ahead in a positive manner that would certainly add strength to the industry efforts.
Embrace a classic of suave sophistication with one of Diamond Nexus Labs’ two new men’s rings: the André or the Downtown!
Both high-polish 14k white gold bands feature comfort-fit interiors and are available in a variety of widths from 4mm up to 7mm to accommodate any taste. They are deliciously smooth and simple, unadorned by any stones or metalwork. The André has a timeless domed shape while the Downtown is characterized by a contemporary flat design.
Check out these and other captivating men’s pieces at www.DiamondNexusLabs.com today!
The forthcoming World Diamond Congress attended by delegates of the two most important trade bodies, the WFDB and IDMA, to be held from July 11 to 13, 2010 at Moscow promises to be a landmark one. %% Discussions to break the impasse on the Marange diamonds issue undoubtedly tops the agenda in terms of immediate importance, but other crucial topics such as the lack of generic promotions, and the push to get the International Diamond Board (IDB) off the ground as well as steps to ensure that the financial burden is shared across the pipeline, are also important. %% Presence of senior representatives of US jewellery trade bodies will ensure that all stakeholders have a buy-in to any decisions. %% Both WFDB and IDMA are strong associations with a long standing history, making them ideal platforms to bring about a real and effective change in the industry. All eyes are now turned towards Russia. We hope that the promise is fulfilled and some conclusions are reached.
Don’t forget: it’s Thursday, which means there’s a new round of breathtaking pieces available on our secret E-Steals Of The Week webpage, and they all need homes!
Get the link on Facebook!
If you’re not already receiving our Diamond Nexus Labs VIP e-mails, join our fan page on Facebook to gain access to the link that will take you to this exclusive page. There are some truly amazing treasures this week, including one-of-a-kind custom earrings, rings (including one with a matching wedding band!), and a couple classic DNL favorites. Take a look; today might be your lucky day!
Craig being “cool” for the camera.Craig, our VP of Operations here at Diamond Nexus Labs, turned 40 years old this week! To punish him, a few of us gathered together to sing “Happy Birthday” and sent him a video of it while he was gone on vacation. (Hey, have YOU ever tried to get thirty out-of-tune people to sing “Happy Birthday” on camera?) Yeah…it wasn’t pretty. But it is tradition, so we did it. Sadly, since he wasn’t here to cut his own birthday cake, another Diamond Nexus Labs tradition had to go by the wayside: the tradition of Craig cutting cake pieces as big as dinnerplates. (Though, as the staff here at headquarters grows larger, we’ve had to ask him to cut smaller and smaller pieces so that there would be enough cake for everyone. Even so, most of us still tremble in fear of what Craig calls a “classic size” piece.)
A happy, healthy birthday to you, Craig! And many, many more.
The failure of the KP Intersessional Meeting to break the impasse on the question of Marange diamonds is, in the words of the KP chair, Boarz Hirsch of Israel, “unprecedented”. While further discussion is scheduled during a special session involving all stakeholders to be held within the WDC Meeting in St. Petersburgh on July 14-15, it is unlikely that the differences can be reconciled either by more debate or more time. %% It is clearly utopian to expect either a drastic change in the approach of the Zimbabwe regime leading to a very real change in the ground situation at Marange, or some dilution in the demands being raised by NGOs. The inconclusive meeting may accelerate the “evolution” of KP as suggested by some. Or lead to its replacement with some other body or system altogether, as others have proposed. Whichever way, going forward, the industry has really to come up with some uncommon solutions.
In Diamond Nexus Labs‘ never-ending quest for new designs and metals, we acquire an incredible number of promos, prototypes, and demo jewelry. Have you ever wondered what happens to those pieces after we’re finished evaluating them? Rather than melt them down for scrap, we’d much prefer to find them good homes. Now you can give them that, thanks to our new Steals Of The Week e-club!
Join us on Facebook!Every Thursday, our Diamond Nexus VIPs will receive a secret link to the sale via e-mail. Alternatively, if you haven’t already, you can become our fan on Facebook and get the link an hour earlier than the rest of our Diamond Nexus VIPs. Once you’re at the Steals Of The Week page, you can look over our rotating weekly inventory to see if anything strikes your fancy. We’ll be featuring innovative new designs as well as some classic customer favorites, just to keep you on your toes. Many of these pieces are being listed for up to 80% off their regular prices!
Be advised: E-Steal pieces are being sold for these prices specifically because we want them to leave the nest. Therefore, they are not returnable. But they are covered by our warranty, which includes free re-sizing, our lifetime stone guarantee, and more. So choose wisely when you buy. But don’t delay too long: many of these pieces are one-of-a-kind, and will go very quickly!
The appreciable rise in the value of polished diamond exports and imports witnessed across key trade centres of the world is a positive sign for an industry that was badly hammered by the global recession of 2008-09. The most recent polished export figures from India note a 73 percent increase in May on y-o-y levels; Israel’s polished diamond exports rose 64 percent in May and Belgium’s polished exports rose 39 percent, while U.S. improved imports of polished goods by 71 percent in April. %% This rising trend has been continuous over the consolidated five month period (January – May 2010). Belgium’s respective exports rose 29.3 percent; India’s exports increased 95 percent, Israel’s polished exports rose 82 percent and imports of polished stones in the U.S. increased 73 percent on y-o-y basis ( between January – April 2010). Having managed to come out of the worst downturn the industry has seen in a long time, manufacturers and traders will now be looking forward to matching, if not bettering, the pre-crisis trading levels of 2008 sooner rather than later.
From vintage to contemporary to timeless classics, our engagement collection has it all! Nothing embodies this variety quite so well as the final three spotlighted pieces of our twenty-one new engagement rings: Silva, True Love, and Winnete.
Looking for “something blue” to make your engagement pop? The Silva ring takes this modern look to the edge. Starting at $949.
The True Love is a variation on our bestselling First Love, a timeless solitaire enriched with accents in the band. Starting at $740.
Got an eye for old-fashioned opulence? Take a look at the Winnete: bold, sophisticated, romantic, and dripping with vintage-style charm! Starting at $1275.
Visit these and hundreds of other breathtaking pieces at www.DiamondNexusLabs.com.
If variety is the spice of life, look no further than these three new selections from our engagement collection! The Quinn captures the essence of a low profile solitaire, heightened with the delicate detailing of a more elaborate piece. The Renata has the sparkling split band of early 20th century designs, updated with a Princess cut center stone and a thinner band for a more contemporary look. The Rialto captures one of the hottest new trends in engagement rings with its shimmering twisted band. Click on your favorite for additional images and information, or check out even more styles on our website at www.DiamondNexusLabs.com!
Quinn: starting at $620
Renata: starting at $1029
Rialto: starting at $1280
Congratulations to one of Diamond Nexus Labs’ own: Liz in our marketing department just got engaged last weekend! Check out the glorious Tristan ring with a 2.40 carat center stone that her now-fiancé surprised her with. (After initially proposing with a Ring Pop as a joke.)
There’s nothing like a solitaire, especially when you add that little extra touch of personality to make it your own. Whether you’ve got your eye on the cute and spunky Kaylee, the sweet yet seductive Leyla, or the practical and feminine Melinda, there’s sure to be something in our engagement collection to capture your fancy!
Kaylee: starting at $649
Leyla: starting at $620
Melinda: starting at $720
For bold, opulent designs with loads of vintage appeal, it’s tough to beat the lavish beauty of Fiorenza, Florence, and Janette! This new trio of art deco and Edwardian style settings are loaded with extravagant accents for three must-see Diamond Nexus engagement rings that’ll be sure to stop traffic.
Fiorenza: starting at $1360
Florence: starting at $1195
Janette: starting at $1049
Want to see more? Check out the rest of the collection at www.DiamondNexusLabs.com!