Fine Jewelry: a New Scenario
Jewelry is deeply rooted in our culture and will continue to be, provided that styles evolve, adapting to the new demands of consumers. Beatriz Biagi, the speaker of the JTF seminar entitled ‘Jewels from 2020 – Designing Innovation
Why do jewelry trends evolve slower than in other sectors?
«All over the world, the jewelry industry is more tied to tradition. It doesn’t see the need to change production or sales methods. Because of cultural and security reasons, fine jewelry is still a niche market that struggles to reach a growing number of potential customers. The attitude of loyal consumers towards precious jewels has not changed much: for them, buying jewelry is essentially linked to special occasions or seen as an investment. Most probably, this will not change much in the future, provided that precious materials maintain great value, and that this segment of customers remains quite large».
What can we expect to see change?
«In the last fifteen years, factors like technology and topics like sustainability have surely changed our lives, bringing important innovations even to our sector. We saw the inception of areas of new opportunities, created by newcomers and start-ups. As expected in 2006, sustainability is an increasingly important value. Although ethical decency increases operating costs, there is reason to believe that, in the future, we will be willing to pay more for transparency and sustainability; or rather, we will be more willing to spend on products and services of brands that have adopted and can guarantee best practices. Putting sustainability first and foremost when purchasing is still quite irrelevant in the jewelry industry, but it will gain importance in the coming years».
What is the ideal approach to have?
«Any jewelry company looking to succeed must approach innovation over the next few decades with a project that covers design, product development and marketing. It’s time to face that what’s going to make us competitive is not using the ideas of intern/ students or launching a campaign with influencers on Instagram. It takes understanding the best relationship between what we can offer and what the customer wants. How? As jewelry producers and vendors, we must ask ourselves what positive experiences we evoke and can trigger and within whom. We should understand how jewels can instill confidence and contribute to the happiness of the wearer».
