With the 2015 CIBJO Congress set to open in Salvador, Brazil, at the beginning of next week, agendas and all related documentation for the various sessions and meetings that will take place during the event are now available online. Contained in a Digital Binder, they can be downloaded from the dedicated congress website. To down the Digital Binder, please CLICK HERE.

The schedule of the CIBJO Congress includes a series of meeting of different working groups, called sectors and commissions, each of which focuses on a different sector or field of interest in the jewellery industry. The Digital Binder includes the agendas and documentation related to each of their sessions, as well as those sessions that encompass the entire CIBJO membership.

The congress will take place at the Sheraton da Bahia Hotel in Salvador from May 4 to May 6, with pre-congress meetings starting on May 2.

Serving as the official venue for the meeting of the CIBJO Assembly of Delegates, the CIBJO Congress gathers the members of national jewellery and gemstone associations from more than 40 countries and representatives of many of the industry’s most important commercial bodies. During the event, the organisation’s Diamond, Coloured Stones, Pearl, Precious Metals and Gemmological Blue Books, which are industry’s most widely accepted directories of uniform grading standards and nomenclature, are discussed and updated. This congress will see the introduction of a Coral Blue Book.

This is the first time that a CIBJO Congress is taking place in Latin America. It is being hosted by Instituto Brasileiro de Gemas e Metais Preciosos (IBGM), working in close cooperation with the local jewellery association in Bahia, Progemas (Associação Bahiana dos Produtores e Comerciantes de Gemas e Metais Preciosos).

Photo Caption: Salvador, Brazil, the site of the 2015 CIBJO Congress.

With fewer than two weeks to go to the opening of the 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, on May 4, 2015, the seventh of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Coral Commission, headed by Vicenzo Liverino, the report announces that a new Coral Blue Book will be presented for consideration at the event.

The Coral Blue Book will become the sixth and latest volume in the CIBJO Blue Book series, which provides definitive sets of grading standards and nomenclature for an industry in which there is an almost complete absence of harmonized system endorsed by International Standards Organisation (ISO). CIBJO’s other Blue Books cover diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, precious metals and gemmological laboratories.

“The purpose of the CIBJO Coral Commission is to both preserve and develop trading in coral, and jewellery comprising coral, through the development and codifying of regulations and standards that promote consumer confidence and fair trade,” wrote Mr. Liverino.

“The Coral Blue Book will be an integral part of this process. It has been designed to provide knowledge about the product, as well as to assist all those involved in the trade, by recording the accepted and common trade practices, and creating a set of standard nomenclature for the industry throughout the world,” he continued.

To download a full copy of the report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Photo Caption: A coral necklace by Bulgari. Part of the Faerber Collection.

With fewer than three weeks to go to the opening of the 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, on May 4, 2015, the sixth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Pearl Commission, headed by Kenneth Scarratt, the report outlines the agenda of the commission at the gathering, including updating the Pearl Blue Book and considering the creation of a harmonized pearl grading system.

Mr. Scarratt quotes the introduction to the Pearl Blue Book, which notes: “The standard/rules is nonjudgmental and the definitions and clause contained therein are formatted and worded only to ensure that each pearl bought or sold is done so with clarity and honesty. The stability of the market place depends upon the use of the proper nomenclature and the declaration of all known facts that ensure a fully informed purchase or sale.”

The lack of a single, uniform pearl grading system is a challenge to the pearl market. It was explained by the CIBJO Pearl Commission Vice President, Jeanne Lecourt. “Rapid globalization of the pearl culturing industry during 1970s saw various pearls beginning to be cultured in many countries using various species of the pearl-oyster,” she stated. “Treatment techniques were also transferred from Japan to overseas countries. This has been favourable for the consumers, as they now enjoy a wide selection of various types of cultured pearls. However, if they are not supplied with adequate information on the kind of the pearls, and their quality and treatments, they will inevitably be confused which may result in a distrust of cultured pearls.”

To download a full copy of the report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

National jewellery associations from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden have come to together as united bloc within CIBJO, with the goal of raising the profile of the jewellery industry and trade in the Scandinavian region and collectively increasing their level of involvement in the World Jewellery Confederation.

Called the Nordic Jewellery Federation, the new body gathers under its umbrella the National Board of the Jewellery and Watch Trade from Denmark, the Norwegian Goldsmith and Jewellers Association, the Finnish Goldsmith Association, and the Swedish Jewellery and Watch Industry Association. While the Danish and Norwegian organisations were already active in CIBJO, the new body brings the Finnish and Swedish Associations into the confederation.

The decision to establish the Nordic Jewellery Federation was made at at a meeting of the various associations in Stockholm, Sweden, which was attended by CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri, who had strongly lobbied for the establishment of such an organisation.

“Establishing the Nordic Jewellery Federation will strengthen the bonds between neighbouring countries. It will also give the Nordic countries a stronger position in the international jewellery market,” said Ingebjørg Alfsen, CEO of the Norwegian Goldsmith and Jewellers Association.

“This is most positive step, both the for the jewellery business in the various Nordic countries and for our international community,” said Dr. Cavalieri. “We not only are talking about a highly economically developed area with a population of more than 25 million, but also of a region that is increasingly influential in terms jewellery design and manufacturing, with a long tradition as a consumer of our products. The Nordic countries are also role models for compliance with contemporary standards of Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability.”

Photo Caption: Representatives of the founding member organisations of the Nordic Jewellery Federation at the inaugural meeting in Stockholm (from left):  Trine Thorning, Denmark; Björn Carlsson, Sweden; Henrik Kihlman, Finland; Annie Bengtson, Sweden; Linda Klein, Sweden; Jens R. Møller, Denmark, Ingebjørg Alfsén, Norway; CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri  and Lena Carlsson, Sweden.

Online registration is now open for two sets of social tours being offered to delegates and accompanying persons, respectively just prior to and during the CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, which will take place May 4 to May 6.

Pre-congress guided tours are offered to all congress participants on Saturday, May 2, 2015, and Sunday, May 3, 2015. The first, which will take place on May 2, will be a half-day tour of Salvador itself, focusing on the Cidade Baixa (low city), the famous Church of Bonfim, and Mercado Modelo, a thriving market for local handicrafts.

The second pre-congress tour, on May 3, will last a full day, will take participants to the northern coast of Bahia, which is an area known as the Costa dos Coqueiros (Coconut Coast). There they will visit the village of Praia do Forte, known as the Brazilian Polynesia, visit a turtle farm and get a chance to sample some of the country’s most beautiful beaches.

The tours during the CIBJO Congress itself are offered to accompanying persons.  The first, on May 4, is a full day tour around the city of Salvador. Starting at the Farol da Barra, which is now Museu Náutico da Bahia (Nautical Museum), it travels through the neighbourhoods made famous by the city’s celebrated carnival, and visit the Pelourinho, which has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Moving from Salvador upper city to lower city, it will conclude in the area of the Forte de São Marcelo (São Marcelo Fort), which was built by the Portuguese to repel a Dutch invasion in in 1650.

Accompanying persons will be treated to a shopping day on May 5.

A fee per person will be charged for the pre-congress tours. The accompanying person’s programme is provided without charge by the congress host, IBGM.

For more information and online registration, CLICK HERE.

A Mine Tour Programme is also being offered after the congress, from May 7 to May 10. Information about that tour, as well as a registration form, can be obtained on the CIBJO Congress 2015 website.

Photo Caption: A taste of the CIBJO Congress 2015 Social tour programme (from left): Looking out over the Cidade Baixa (low city) of Salvador; a beach at Praia do Forte on the Costa dos Coqueiros (Coconut Coast); and the Pelourinho in Salvador, which has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, on May 4, 2015, the fifth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Gemmological Commission, headed by Hanco Zwaan, the report looks at issues related to nomenclature and identification, and in particular how these have contributed to alleged inconsistencies in the results reported by different laboratories.

Although it is recognized that laboratories may differ in their approaches and opinions on the wording used on reports, it should be recognized that work has already been done in harmonizing methods and nomenclature, in the CIBJO Blue Books and in the sheets produced by the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee (LMHC), Mr. Zwaan writes.

The Special Report also relates to the pressures placed on laboratories to grade gemstones using commercial terms, like “pigeon blood red” for rubies and “royal blue” for sapphires. “The objective is to find common ground and ways to move forward to formulate standards in this area that can be widely accepted and used,” Mr. Zwaan notes.

To download a full copy of the report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Photo Caption: ‘Improved’ lead glass-filled rubies, marketed under the name ‘Organic Ruby’, which will be discussed at CIBJO Congress in Brazil during the session of the Gemmological Commission. (Photo: Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory)