Amid what feels a never-ending bad news cycle, some jewelry brands still take the time to put fun out in the world. JCK wants to shout out one in particular: Marrow Fine, which sent a news alert to jewelry and shoe media on April 1 about its $7,500 lab-grown diamond shoe charm.
Marrow Fine may have announced the new Jibbitz-like charms on April Fools’ Day, but the company is selling them. As Seinfeld once infamously noted, they’re real and they’re spectacular.
“We started by asking ourselves what the most unexpected accessory could be if it were made with genuinely high-quality materials. Putting a 3-carat lab-created diamond into something as casual and playful as a shoe charm felt so unconventional that it just clicked,” Marrow Fine owner and designer Jillian Sassone tells JCK.
“There’s also been this whole pop-culture moment with these kinds of casual clogs or slip-on shoes—people are really using them to show off their personality,” Sassone says. “So we liked the idea of taking that and pushing it a little further. Like, what happens if you make it fine jewelry? It’s a little ridiculous and fun in the best way, and that’s kind of the point.”
Whew, that definitely wasn’t on our 2026 bingo card. Here’s a look at what else stuck in JCK’s collective brain this week.
News Worth Reading
Something old, something new, something borrowed…we’d seen all that on Zendaya, thanks to her and stylist Law Roach’s method dressing madness for the press tour of her new movie, The Drama. Now, finally, there’s something blue! Not just Zendaya’s dress, but her Tiffany & Co. sapphire jewelry at the U.S. premiere on April 2 of The Drama, where she costars with some sparkly teenage vampire guy.
Kering highlights design talent in China with its first CRAFT cohort, and three of the fellows are from the jewelry world.
Independent watchmakers—led by figures such as François-Paul Journe—are commanding extraordinary premiums, not through scale or marketing but through creative credibility and collector consensus.
The defense industry is getting into (teeny, tiny) lab-grown diamonds.
Retail sales were up, and that’s a very good thing. (subscription needed)
But uncertainty persists as oil prices are expected to climb to $150. (subscription needed)
Quincy Jones was a musical genius, and he had style—look at this watch!
Oversize beads are what all the cool kids are wearing.
As our favorite Audrey Hepburn movie taught us, “Think pink!” if you want to be fashionable—Pasquale Bruni’s new NYC store does that and more.
Thinking Ahead
Holidays are an opportune time for burglars, so the Jewelers Security Alliance (JSA) urges retailers to be aware this Easter weekend, April 4 and 5, of the risk of power cuts, rooftop burglaries, and safe attacks—and to keep all jewelry in safes or vaults during off-hours.
“If your alarm company notifies you of an alarm condition, a communication error, or a power interruption at your store, the owner or an employee and the police must visit the store and inspect the entire premises,” JSA said in an email alert. “Jewelers should confirm with their alarm company that their alarm setup will provide protection against entry through the roof, side walls, and all possible points of entry, in addition to doors and windows.”
Obsessions
No, we are not done talking about Caroline Bessette Kennedy and her jewelry.
I’d sign up to be a fake Cartier (if that was even legal). (subscription needed)
Hearts On Fire is one to watch for understanding women and why they buy jewelry for themselves, highlighting self-expression in its new What’s Your Signature? campaign.
Podcast Queue
The most excellent A Thousand Facets talks to Nichole McIver from Acanthus Jewelry.
Hodinkee’s The Business of Watches speaks with Maxime Couturier and Lorenzo Maillard of the new Chronopolis watch fair in Geneva.
Video Yaya
Jared released its diamond documentary, A Diamond Is Born, directed by Academy Award–winning filmmaker Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins), on Hulu.
Hear from Cal Newport, an expert on productivity and Deep Work (the title of one of his books), on the podcast of “happiness expert” Arthur Brooks, viewable on YouTube.
Top: The final rough to leave Rio Tinto’s Diavik mine in Canada; see last week’s Aurea Informatio (photo courtesy of Rio Tinto)
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