As a confirmed logophile or word lover, I really enjoy all those word-of-the-year lists that come out during the holiday season. The Oxford Dictionary word of the year for 2014, for example, was vape, which means, “to inhale and exhale the vapor produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device.” Read More...

Kudos to Tiffany & Co. for its latest ad campaign, which features a range of “modern” couples on the path to matrimony. Among them is a same-sex couple who in Peter Lindbergh’s photograph look as perfect as the steps of the New York brownstone on which they are sitting. Read More...

According to recent research from global marketing company Epsilon and boutique research and consulting firm the Luxury Institute, many luxury brands are missing out by not understanding who their best customers are. The analysis in the “The new face of luxury: Breaking down the myths and stereotypes of the luxury shopper” makes for a very interesting – if somewhat worrying – read. Read More...

After one of the toughest years ever for many diamond industry members in 2014, it’s hard to know what 2015 is going to bring. What is certain is that it is probably not going to be easy. Read More...

“In the Union House of Assembly on June 4th, the Acting Prime Minister (Mr. Malan), replying in the debate on the Bill empowering the establishment of a diamond cutting industry in South Africa, emphasized the point that the Bill laid down that the cutter should pay the open market price for diamonds, and that the producer should not be in a worse position by selling to the local cutter than elsewhere. Mr. Malan believed that after the industry had been started a market in rough diamonds would be evolved in South Africa. There was no reason, he declared, why there should not be a Hatton Garden in South Africa.” Read More...

It’s been a long time since Japan has been in the diamond industry’s headlines. Indeed, the last major occasion was when it was knocked off the number two spot in the global ranking of diamond consuming countries by China several years ago. Read More...

One month ago, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) announced the sudden suspension of its diamond sealing services and the issuance of duplicate reports at all locations. Its formal explanation is that “the Institute is taking this action after receiving a sealed diamond for verification that did not match the data label in the sealing packet. Read More...

How do I sell more diamonds, a diamond trader recently asked me. Why don't we see global promotion of diamond jewelry so that more diamonds are sold? Read More...

The gradually evolving hysteria surrounding gemological laboratory diamond over-grading, mis-grading, grade definitions and standards reminds me of the movie “Dirty Dancing” from the late 1980s. Read More...

OECD Guidelines: A Replacement of the Kimberley Process? was the original name given by the organizers for Panel II at the Second Zimbabwe Diamond Conference that took place in Harare in early November. Though the original name of the panel discussion was changed, at the request of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it didn’t seem to matter much to the officials from Angola, Namibia, DRC, or Zimbabwe who were in attendance. Read More...