The Brazilian gems and jewelry show, Feninjer, came to its end - the largest and most important jewelry event in Latin America happening every year.
Recognized by Brazilian and foreign buyers as a standard in quality-assured jewelry design, Feninjer has turned into a pace setter in its segment during the past 27 years.
The Brazilian Institute of Gems and Precious Metals (IBGM), being the organizer of the fair, is also assisted by the Brazilian Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (APEX-Brazil).
During the exhibition its participants had a chance to attend several lectures. Lincoln Seragini, President of Seragini Branding Design, who is also the Director of the Brazilian Creative Institute and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Marketing, as well as a member of the Brazilian Association of Design, ABEDESIGN, delivered a report on “Design in the Era of Creative Economy”. Design is considered to be the largest common denominator of the Creative Economy due to the combination of competence and talent to generate splendor.
Forecasting consumer behavior allows a company to improve its sales strategies and relationship actions. A lecture on consumption trends was delivered by Luis Rasquilha, CEO of AYR Consulting Trends & Innovation Worldwide and CMO of IBT, The Realtime Web Company. He is also a professor at universities and business schools in Europe, Africa and South America, with a degree in Entrepreneurialism and Innovation, Management, Marketing and Communications, as well as the author or co-author of 18 books on marketing, communications, trends and innovation.
Why do diamonds awaken great desires in consumers? Andrew Lucas, professor of gemology, told how the diamond’s fiery chatoyancy turns this stone into a jewelry treasure, the object of desire for consumers and how the natural appeal of diamonds can be enhanced by spreading gemological knowledge, combined with a good dose of romance and poetry.
One of the key events at the fair was the contest to win the 2012 IBGM Design Award in three nominations: Jewels with Differentiated Cuts, Jewels with Colored Gemstones and Golden Pearls and Contemporary Poetics. JEWELMER, a company from the Philippine Islands, presented highly refined goods graced with very large golden pearls. The winners were awarded prizes: the first place got BRL 7,000 (USD 3,500), the second place – BRL 4,000 (USD 2,000) and the third place – BRL 2,000 (USD 1000). This year all of the designers’ works were displayed on the television screens of the fair and each participant could cast a vote for his or hers favorite design.
Regina Machado, a creative consultant in jewelry design and fashion, ran a discussion on “2013 Jewelry Design Preview” focused on the perception of new Brazilian jewelry collections.
I would especially like to mention the jewelry bearing such little-known gems as paraiba (blue tourmaline). They seemed to be the brightest pieces graced with diamonds and producing unusual blue sparkle, which attracted customers most of all, recalling the colors and brilliance of the Brazilian carnival. Only very few jewelers, including VIANNA, GOLDESIGN, BRUMANI, assessed the true value of this unique mineral and began to work with it. Brazilian jewelers call it simply "paraiba," without adding the word "tourmaline."
In recent years the stone has become so popular that its price per carat rose sharply, and at times exceeds the price of a diamond of similar size. Depending on the purity and quality of the stone prices range from USD 1,000 to USD 20,000 per carat, as most of these minerals have a huge amount of natural inclusions. The story of its finds runs back to 1987 when its first deposit was discovered in Sao Jose Da Batalha, Paraiba, in Brazil, from where it got its name. The presence of vanadium in its chemical composition gives the mineral its unusual turquoise-blue color.
Unfortunately, the only paraiba deposit in Brazil was exhausted long ago, and now all the stones that appear on the shelves of jewelry stores in this country come from Mozambique, Madagascar and Nigeria. Sometimes these stones are given other names, and there is a constant struggle to defend these names in such organizations as the GIA and CIBJO. Recently, it became popular to assign new names to long-forgotten gems in honor of their regions or give them names that are more convenient for the industry.
In conclusion, a few words about Brazilian soap operas, which play an important role in the jewelry sector in Brazil. Four years ago, several jewelers decided to use soap operas to advertise jewelry. Brazilian soap operas are popular around the world, but the Brazilians love their soap operas most of all, and everyone has a special time to be home to watch the next series. The jewelers chose several very expensive collections of famous brands, which subsequently were given to the actresses from the TV series run on the Global TV to wear. And it worked - the TV began to receive phone calls with requests to name these brands and where to buy the jewelry. Then such jewelry pieces were given to wear not only to actresses, but also to anchor women of many popular television programs. During the four years of this kind of advertizing they managed to sell more than 2,000 luxury products. This system is a perfect illustration of the unusual world of Brazilian jewelers and their idea - you do not buy gold and precious stones, you buy emotions!
Veronica Novoselova, Rough&Polished, from San Paulo
