Hi Folks

we’re going through a phase of new product development for our branded ranges and as part of the development project we’ve been looking into consumer trends and asking people about what they like and do you know what you’re all fickle and impossible to understand, I LOVE IT!!. but based on your extensive tastes and likes we are actually getting somewhere and it’s all very exciting and new and I can’t wait to share it all with you but you’ll have to wait a while longer yet.  and all you lovely folks in the USA you’re just as fickle and I LOVE THAT as well. Watch this blog in a few weeks time just in case I have something for you.

the boss

Hi Folks great news we’ve just received the samples of a new Product range that we’ve done in collaboration with Russell Grant. As you may or may not know Russell is a famous UK Media celebrity who is also gaining great popularity in the USA.

Some time ago Russell contacted us with a view to doing a range of jewellery for him to support a character that he was developing for the USA. Any one thing led to another and over the course of many meetings we arrived at a totally new concept based on the 4 main Archangels Gabriel, Michael , Raphael and Uriel.

The idea is that each Angel is represented in the jewellery by a different colour and each Angel can have different effects on you by wearing the jewellery so depending on how you feel or what you are trying to achieve or avoid you can pick your angel colour to help you with your quest for the day or whatever. Having said that we also set the criteria for the jewellery to be able to stand alone as a piece of jewellery in it’s own right and believe me it does what it says on the tin. the pieces are drop dead gorgeous by far the nicest things we’ve done to date.

I’ve added a few images of just some of the pieces for you to oggle at and I’m sure you’ll agree they’re really good.

Hi folks

we’ve just come back from New York. we had no snow but it was bitterly cold (see image attached). it was a very busy time from the business point of view but well worth it. I celebrated my birthday while I was out there and we went with some friends to an Italian restaurant called Dino’s on 3rd Avenue where we had Pizzas which were excellent even by our standards. we also went into China Town with some local folks and went to a place called Jo’s Shanghai. The place was a rough as a bears bum but the food was awesome and really cheap, a huge meal and beers only came to $70. As ever we spent lots of time in the evenings at  our favourite bar the BXL but as it was so cold going out was a major expedition.

As soon as I came back I was off for a brief trip to Munich It was literally an overnight-er but I was taken to a restaurant called the spaten house (I think) which was a traditional Bavarian eatery.  It was a meat feast of excellence I had a Bavarian traditional platter as a starter followed by Pork knuckle and Dumplings for the main I chickened out on the desert because I would have burst if I’d tried. Also the wine was really good not at all like the normal poo we get in the UK, it seems the Germans keep all the good stuff for themselves.  Finally on a food note what about the Kraft/Cadbury’s thing eh! yet another institution going overseas, I only hope they don’t ruin the quality of the Choccy! American chocolate is pants compared.  By the way I read Duncan’s article about the Fubar in Beijing I will definitely giver that a whirl next time I’m there, I confess to being a hot dog aholic .anyway enough for now more later

regards

the boss

Well folks what a blog from Duncan and JR! I think I’ll get me coat and leave quitly by the back door.  I just hope that we get more like it.  I haven’t blogged you for a while to be quite honest we’ve been very busy with new product development and we have lots of new, very exciting projects in the pipeline and it’s been flat out all the way for quite a few months now, so much so that I’ve not even been able to get out across the pond and visit any customers but I’m going to try and get out before Christmas.  I do have a trip to the far East in the not too distant future but I won’t be taking in Beijing so It’s no frozen margerita’s in the mexican wave for me but at least I can swallow a few steins in the King Ludwik beer kellar in Kowloon, anybody been there?  I haven’t done much nosing about on the fashion front either so I don’t have any gossip there for you.  On another note  our man in the big apple has gone and defected to the Cayman Islands and landed himself a plum job there so I’m going to see if he can be our man in the Bahama’s so to speak.  I’ll probable do a few more blogs before my far east jaunt and I’ll look for some wacky wonderfull’s for us all. In the mean time keep smiling or keep taking the tablets and look after yourselves.

the boss

Hi Folks

 just a quick line today to let you know that I will be visiting the Big Apple in a couple of weeks so I’m going to send some bloggies to you all from there . I’ll try and give you a low down on what’s cool on the streets and in the shops and stores and boutiques.  I’m looking forward to this trip,  there’s a lot of exciting things going on right across the spectrum but I can’t tell you about it because it’s all secret.  I tell you what I will do though I’ll make a list of all the places that I like to go and eat at just in case any of you go to New York yourselves. I know what it’s like the first time you go anywhere you wander around and around thinking shall I eat there or perhaps there, it’s not much fun so I’ll give you a couple of good pointers for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks and I’ll throw in a few good bars as well just because I’m that kind of guy.

keep yer chins up

the boss

It’s at times like these that it is really difficult to come up with a theme to blog on.  The jewellery market gossip machine is either broken or it has been accidentally (or not ) switched off. 

In terms of the overall market view from the retail point of view there doesn’t seem to be much happening, the rate of business’s going under seems to have quietened down which is a good sign and a relief.

I say relief because every time a company goes under not only is it a loss of jobs it’s also potentially a loss of skills to the jewellery trade. I know that this applies to all business sectors but the loss of skill is more intense in these type of situations this is because the jewellery business is very much an artisan/craft oriented market and as such is heavily dependent on highly skilled work forces to produce items and a lot of these skilled artisans are let’s say not getting any younger and are not being replaced by new blood at the same rate as they’re going, because there is a general consensus that it is not a safe market to learn a skill in, which to some extent is true.  I’m sure that this would also ring true in other artisan skill dependent markets such as pottery, fine tailoring/textiles to name but a few.

  I know we can all point the finger at the far east and try and blame them for our state of affairs but we must also take a long hard look at why so much business has gone their for it’s product manufacturing and I’m afraid it comes down to one simple factor, the cost of labour. we have simply priced ourselves out of our own market.

To put the blame anywhere or on any one is neither useful or beneficial in solving the problem at hand. In fact I feel it is way to late to solve this problem and that the best we can do is to try and deal with the situation we currently have and to try and slow the rate at which it is continuing to occur,(it isn’t going to go away folks by ignoring it) and I’ll be honest I don’t have a solution save drastically cutting our labour costs which we can’t do because our cost of living is so high in the UK.

It may be we need a radical shake up of the whole UK structure from the political level and banking level down and almost go back to square one and start again, this may be the only way we can regain any foothold in manufacturing and trading on the world stage,

Let’s face it folks we can’t go on selling insurance policies and services in the domestic market and survive as any kind of economy and the government being so tied up by EU bearucracy can’t help us and they seem to be unaware that we have almost no manufacturing of any real kind in the UK any more and even less exporting of UK made goods, even I’m guilty of that one which I do to survive in business.

The Boss

Hi Folks

I’ve not long returned from a visit to the USA and I must say that despite all this economic gloom I didn’t see much to tell me that we’re in the middle of the worst economic slump ever etc. etc. (more…)

My Blog this week is me having a gripe about financial entrapment by the current banking system and how nobody can truly get free of them and how I feel the governments around the world are colluding with them to make sure we don’t break free. (more…)

Gold jewellery can come in several different levels of quality and can vary from country to country. The purest form of Gold is known as 24 “Karat” (24kt). Incidentally the word “Karat” derives from the word “Carob” which is a type of bean and goes back to ancient times when Carob beans were used for weighing precious metals in the ancient bazaars and markets. (more…)

Did you all watch the Oscars ceremony? (more…)