OCTOBER 30, 2019

With fewer than three weeks to go to the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019, the eighth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Pearl Commission, headed by Kenneth Scarratt, it looks at the growing impact of environmental and conservationist factors on the pearl sector, noting that these pose challenges but also provide opportunities for the industry.

A case in point is the Philippines, where Mr. Scarratt notes that climate and environmental changes have had a significant effect on pearl production. These relate to greater fluctuations in water temperature, ocean acidification, and the changing of the plankton profile, which has affected the survival rate of certain batches of oysters, as well as the overall growth rate.

“These changes present both challenges and opportunities. Obviously, the main challenge is the lower volume of production that will be available for distribution to the global market. On the other hand, this also serves as an opportunity because, with the lower biomass density, comes the potential to achieve a higher quality output,” he notes.

The report also looks at natural pearls. While rare, nowadays they most commonly are a by-product of the seafood industry, and in this respect could be subject to restrictions imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna (CITES), as is the case with the Queen conch, off the coast of Mexico.

One country where fishing specifically for natural pearl-producing oysters still takes place is Bahrain, the venue of 2019 CIBJO Congress. The waters around the island nation have been producing natural pearls for some 4,000 years and continue to do so to this day, in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colours, writes Mr. Scarratt, who also notes that this is the only type of pearling that takes place in the kingdom.

The oyster variety located off the waters of Bahrain is Pinctada radiata, which is the same type of oyster being used to culture pearls at two facilities in the United Arab Emirates. A consequence of the production from the UAE is that one should no longer automatically assume that a pearl’s Pinctada radiata origin determines that it is natural, Mr. Scarratt notes.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Pearl Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

OCTOBER 24, 2019

CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has provided an overview of sustainability in the jewellery industry. He was delivering the opening address of the the 6th Seminar on Technology in the Jewellery Industry Seminar in Rio de Janeiro, organized by Systema Ajorio, with the support of Firjan and IBGM. Following the address he was interviewed on the podium by Carla Pinheiro, President of Systema Ajorio.

The theme of this year’s seminar was sustainability, which is an issue of critical importance in Brazil. Today as the world’s ninth largest economy, the country holds massive reserves of biodiversity and, home to 60 percent of the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon, it is known as the earth’s lungs. Brazil is also one of the largest suppliers of coloured gemstones globally.

“Can we consider the mining of diamonds, coloured gemstones, jade, and precious metals, like gold, silver and platinum, as sustainable? After all, once they are removed from the earth they do not return,” asked Dr. Cavalieri, who explained that an industry it has been necessary to view sustainability from a somewhat broader perspective.

“For minerals, we have defined sustainability as the generation of sustainable grass-roots economic and social opportunities in the countries and regions in which they are located. And here we refer to opportunities both in the mineral extraction and the jewellery industries, and also in other economic sectors, which are secondary beneficiaries of the investments made in and revenues generated by precious gems and minerals,” he continued.

But, said the CIBJO President, there also are parts of the jewellery business, where not only economic activity is sustainable, but so is the product – environmentally as well as socially and economically. “These most often these involve biogenic materials in a marine environment, where sustainability is made possible through aquafarming, such as with cultured pearls, or controlled harvesting, as with precious coral,” he explained.

Sustainability in a luxury product industry like jewellery will not be achieved through a single undertaking, but rather through a multitude of acts, by people and companies working together or individually, Dr. Cavalieri said.  To further this process, over the past several years there has been a strong move toward the adoption of uniform standards of practice, so as to optimise conditions in which sustainable activities can take place. These include the creation of strict codes of practice, against which some companies choose to be audited and certified.

CIBJO, he said, has been working hard to provide solutions, and particular in the more fragile sectors of the jewellery business, like coloured gemstones, where almost all firms qualify as SMEs, even the mining companies. In January of this year, the CIBJO Board of Directors approved a Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, which provides a framework and guidance for ethically sourcing gems and precious metals responsibly in the jewellery sector. It references the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for minerals from high-risk areas, insists on compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and the World Diamond Council System of Warranties, and supports the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

“The philosophy that guided us in the creation of the Responsible Sourcing Book is that all participants in the jewellery business have a duty of care, and thus should conduct supply-chain due diligence to the best of their ability, and improve over time. While we support the principle of having responsible practices being verified and certified by standards organisations and independently audited, we also recognise that, at any particular point in time, not every company has the capacity to do so,” he stated.

“We are still on the journey, and there are many milestones to pass,” CIBJO President said. “I strongly believe that, by committing to sustainability, our industry is able redefine the value proposition of our products in the public consciousness. Not only are they objets d’art and symbols of love and devotion, but they also are instruments that actively serve to create better and more sustainable societies. When consumers buy jewellery, they should feel that they are not only doing something for themselves and their loved ones, but for the world and society as well.”

OCTOBER 23, 2019

With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019, the seventh of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Gemmological Commission, headed by Hanco Zwaan, it considers measures that should be taken to ensure that a person reading a laboratory report understands what information is measurable fact and what information represents the opinion of the gemmologist.

“Dividing the report so that there is a section with test results and a section with interpretations or opinions may cause even more confusion. The more prudent policy could well be what some laboratories already do, and that is clearly stating on their report that specific results – such as those dealing with origin—are in fact opinions,” Mr. Zwaan writes.

The readiness of many gem labs to assign variety names to gemstones, despite there currently not being universally accepted gemmological standards for those names, is particularly controversial, and has been driven more by commercial interests rather than science. “The general attitude has been that, as long as new variety names were not in conflict with science, logic, or other, already given names, they could be accepted,” he notes.

“Conflict with commercial interests are fraught with problems,” Mr. Zwaan continues, citing the case of Paraiba tourmaline, which most commonly is recognised by its distinctive colour, but some insist also needs to have been sourced in the Brazilian state of Paraiba. This means that similarly coloured tourmaline from Mozambique and Nigeria should not share the same variety name.

“Does that make Paraiba tourmaline a variety or brand?” he asks.

“What we do know is that, historically, once a brand or trading name becomes widely accepted in the public sphere, it is more likely to be used as a variety name. This in itself is a compelling enough reason to define variety names precisely,” the President of Gemmological Commission states in the special report.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Gemmological Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

OCTOBER 16, 2019

With fewer than five weeks to go to the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019, the sixth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Ethics Commission, headed by Tiffany Stevens, it covers a variety of topics, including the increasing number of international conventions with which members of the jewellery industry are expected to comply, and recommended processes of disclosure.

“Responsible business standards being applied in the jewellery industry are meshing further and further with those used internationally, and with frameworks that govern other industries around the globe. It is important that jewellery industry companies fully understand their responsibilities under these complex sets of expectations, and they communicate them effectively and directly with their supply-chain partners and ultimately the consumer,” Ms. Steven writes.

“A few key systems to keep in mind include the OECD frameworks, with special attention to the organisation’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict Affected and High-Risk Areas, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the FTC Jewellery Guides in the United States, ISO standards, the World Diamond Council System of Warranties, and the perhaps-evolving definition of “conflict” under the Kimberly Process,” she continues.

Government scrutiny of the jewellery supply chain’s adherence to ethical business practices is becoming increasingly common, the CIBJO Ethics Commission President notes, citing a recent meeting of jewellery industry leaders with officials of the U.S. State Department,  where the industry was counselled to abide with standards for managing risks to women in the minerals, responsible sourcing and jewellery supply chain, as well as complying with Anti-Money Laundering and other measures to prevent malign activity.

Noting that it is the consumers’ right to know how the how their jewellery and its components affected the environment and the lives of people as it journeyed along the supply chain, she states that being forthright, fully descriptive and making all disclosures clear and easy to understand is imperative.

“When seen globally, we have at our disposal an amazingly complex system of frameworks, definitions and semantics,” Ms. Stevens writes. “But as a trade we should aim for the simplest, most direct forms possible when communicating with consumers, and these should be standard in the sales representative’s in-store pitch to a potential customer, on invoices, on social media and online – wherever products are bought and sold.”

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Ethics Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

OCTOBER 10, 2019

CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has delivered two keynote addresses at the Russian state-sponsored “The Art of Jewellery: Traditions and Trends” exhibition in Moscow, during which he paid tribute to the country’s historic contribution to the jewellery tradition, and discussed the path forward for the country’s industry in the international markets.

The exhibition opened at the Moscow State Exhibition Hall “New Manege” on October 8, 2019, with Dr. Cavalieri delivering an opening speech along with Alexey Fursin, Head of the Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development. The event is being organized by the Gokhran of Russia with the support of the Moscow Government, and with participation of the Russian Jewellery Guild. It will run through October 20, 2019.

Providing both a retrospective of Russia’s jewellery heritage and look forward to its future, the exhibition features 220 unique masterpieces from the collection of the Gokhran, including works of Fabergé, Ovchinnikov, Khlebnikov that are being seen in public for the first time. In the modern jewellery section, works by more than 200 items of Russia’s best craftsmen are presented. These include creations by the winners of the Russia 21st Century Jewellery Art Competition, which was  organised by the Gokhran with the support of the Moscow Government, and with the participation of the Russian Jewellery Guild and the Creative Artists Union of Decorative and Applied Arts.

The team at Gokhran played a key role in the preparation a Memorandum of Understanding that CIBJO signed last year with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), with the goal of harmonising the official system used in Russia for the classification of polished diamonds with the standards and nomenclature applied internationally, as it is presented in the CIBJO Diamond Blue Book. “The object of the agreement is to ensure that the system by which polished diamonds are classified and described in the Russian Federation are in accordance with the most widely accepted standards in the international trade,” Dr. Cavalieri said.

OCTOBER 9, 2019

With fewer than six weeks to go to the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019, the fifth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission, headed by Charles Abouchar, the report looks at opportunities provided by new technologies, and also at the vexing issue of gemstone variety names being used for marketing purposes, with few if any agreed to gemmological standards.

“One would surmise that, with the pace of technological advancement today, the challenges facing the coloured gemstone sector would be lessening in number,” Mr. Abouchar writes. “But, as we discover time and time again, both technology and human ingenuity have a tendency to create new challenges and transform old ones. We have our work cut out for us.”

“However, as an organisation committed to instilling ethical business practices, technology enables us to reach out to our colleagues in ways that once were not possible,”  he continues, noting that over the past year CIBJO has made two landmark guides available to the industry – the “Do’s and Don’ts,” which provides easy-to-understand guidelines for industry professionals about the rules and methods for the accurate disclosure and description of natural materials, treated materials and artificial products, as well as recommendations about information that should be requested from suppliers; and the CIBJO Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, which recommends procedures by which all participants in the jewellery supply chain may undertake supply-chain due diligence. Both can be downloaded at no cost from the CIBJO website.

Describing unsubstantiated coloured gemstone variety names as the “biggest challenge our trade is facing right now,” Mr. Abouchar notes that there are numerous instances of the same descriptive names being assigned according to different standards, each time in accordance with the individual guidelines of various gemmological laboratories.

“Starting with more classical descriptive terms, like ‘pigeon blood’ and ‘royal blue,’ some laboratories began developing their own nomenclature, creating new descriptive names for a wide range of colours. Apparently, this is a mutually beneficial business strategy for both the laboratories and the dealers,” he writes.

Surmising that technology may eventually provide a solution to the problem, it is nonetheless imperative that the industry act quickly before consumer confidence is compromised. CIBJO’s  Coloured Stone Commission will work in close collaboration with the organisation’s Gemmological Commission to establish standards and parameters for variety names, he notes.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.