On May 22-24, the Gostiny Dvor atrium in Moscow gave its houseroom to the International Jewelry Exhibition “New Russian Style.”
We have tried to find out what is behind this very singular title of the event. In the eyes of many Russians, the “new Russian” is a caricature gangster from a joke. Sure enough, this character does have a style of his own and it is impressive without doubt. Will it be indeed a wild guess to assume that jewelry manufacturers intend to offer finger-thick “gilt” or platinum wheel disks for the Mercedes 600 limousines?
Michael Michaud, U.S.A. Yuri Voronin, Director of the Russian Representation Office:
The brand, which we represent, is authored by American designer Michael Michaud. His theme is nature. These adornments are exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and also in London, at the Museum of Modern Art, as well as in many other museums.
Our products are entirely different from Russian jewelry pieces. They belong neither to jewelry not to bijouterie and are positioned somewhere in the middle. We use natural semi precious stones, corals and pearls, while the adornments are made of bronze. This collection is homely with us and our buyers because it is environmentally benign. These decorations are “alive.” Wherever they live, modern townspeople need the emotions offered by plants and the living nature.
We take part in the Russian exhibition the second year running, and this year we have many buyers, mainly from provinces and particularly from Siberia.
Kristall Factory, Smolensk. Maxim Nikitin, Lead Specialist of Marketing Department:
We are offering here new jewelry goods – unmounted polished diamonds. There is a peculiar kind of tradition currently practiced in Russia to give an unmounted diamond as a gift. As a rule, this becomes a rare souvenir. Otherwise, the buyer may purchase a stone and set it to suit his or her own design, thus obtaining an exclusive jewelry piece unlike anyone around. This idea is working nowadays in this country.
“Cameo on Agate”, Germany. Lyudmila Luchaninova:
In our view, the new Russian style has a shade of the 19th century. Vintage and classic things are revived to be again in fashion in Russia these days. Our products are cameos, very much like those worn by our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. These adornments are made in Germany by German designers using Brazilian agate. In the course of one year we took part in 18 exhibitions in Russia, including Moscow and other cities, and everywhere we felt buyers’ interest towards our things. All the more so that it is possible not only to buy an item from the stock, but to order, for instance, one’s own portrait on a cameo.
Noble Jewelry, Hong Kong. Joe Hui, Manager:
This is the first time we are at a Russian jewelry exhibition and in Russia generally. So we are trying to study your market and Russian buyers. So far our impression of this exhibition is fair to middling. There are very few people and visitors. What the new Russian style is and if there is one at all, we have not figure it out so far honestly speaking.
Parure Milano, Italy. Ilya Kiselev:
In my opinion, such exhibitions are just the right thing in shaping the style of jewelry buyers. Our experience shows that Russian companies use exhibitions to show many things alike and these things lag behind Europe for about ten years in their design. So it is good that there are so many foreign companies participating in the show because this will help people, buyers and designers to have an insight into the modern jewelry trends. Russian manufacturers present many classic items and their quality is very high. Russian jewelry factories are as good as foreign factories as far as cutting or product quality are concerned. But they lack novelty, design and what is called “keeping up with the times.”
Choron’s new collection entitled “Gold Expression” was also presented within the frames of this exhibition. The collection was made by Italian designers, who once again demonstrated that the Italians have an eye not only for Ferrari and spaghetti, but also for jewelry design. Christina Sami of the World Gold Council speaking at the presentation said that “Gold demand is growing in Russia, and we hope this country will some time become one of the leading gold markets in the world.” Models were strolling along the catwalk wearing adornments made by Italian designers out of Yakut materials for an Indian company. And above their heads, there was sparkling and scintillating a huge inscription “New Russian Style.”
Anna Tishinski, Rough&Polished - Moscow
