Walking the Floor: First. The jewellery supremacy. (Part I)

This was my first year at Vicenza and coincidentally, this was Vicenza’s first year as “First. The jewellery supremacy.”

The entrance to the fair on the first day was a crowd of buyers, jewelers, and generally cold (temp. wise) people.

As I’m not able to speak on pervious years I figured I would simply provide, for those interested …

… the official statement from fair staff on the new direction of the fair:

“Nothing as before. The Vicenza Fair looks to the future after a total makeover, involving not just its organisation, but also image and contents. From excellent generalist Trade Fair to protagonist in a sector, luxury and lifestyle, with strong leadership ambitions. This is the area where gold and jewellery represent a deeply rooted core business that truly stands out. This is the challenge for the next few years. A challenge that aims to highlight the role of the Vicenza Fair as leading actor with a new structure and repositioning of its gold jewellery fairs. 2008 will see a change of name for the gold fairs, and that’s not all. Until now, the three shows basically had the same structure and the same customs, the only big difference being their position on the calendar. Now, we will see three completely different events aiming to represent the different moments of “doing fairs”, but above all three different chances to cover the varying needs expressed by the gold jewellery market. First, from 13 to 20 January. Its name says it all: the first international gold jewellery fair of the year, first in the wide range of merchandise, first for business importance. Targeting the world’s top purchasing groups, international buyers and large wholesale trade groups, First is the showcase presenting the first collections and the first proposals of the year by the 1600 exhibitors taking part. To coincide with First, there will be T-gold, an international fair and one of its kind in Italy, dedicated to machinery and tools for gold jewellery production. Charm, from 17 to 21 May. The lifestyle characteristic of the May fair will come through even stronger in 2008, thanks to fashion appeal where the distinguishing feature will be making the most of made in Italy through contamination and integration with fashion and design. Choice, from 6 to 10 September, is the right choice for operators who want to make focused purchases to meet consumer tastes. Choice, for retail and in-depth looks at sector issues, meets the trade most demanding, informed requests, with strong focus on service.

“But the Vicenza Fair goes beyond territorial limits and positions itself as leader also in the organisation of events outside the Vicenza fair district. The Vicenza Fair thus becomes an exportable brand offering a concrete representation of the evolution of a new way of doing business. About J will be the overture of this new path. A new event, carefully selected and positioned in the highest segment of the product-market relationship, to be held in Milan from 2 to 4 March. At About J the best of Italian and international gold jewellery production will meet top Italian and international buyers. The objective is to provide strong input for the whole sector, taking the champions and flag-bearers of jewellery and the goldsmith’s art to the city of Milan, one of the capitals of luxury and lifestyle. The event will take place at the Superstudio in Milan, a location that over the years has established itself as an obligatory meeting point for operators of design, fashion, photography and also for Italian lifestyle trendsetters. In the heart of the Navigli area, 60 Italian brands and 20 international brands will encounter 150 top international buyers and 250 Italian buyers, for three days of confrontation and intense work.

“Great expectations for the preview of a new event dedicated to avant-garde and design in the gold jewellery sector. The location will be a prestigious evocative city and all will be revealed in forthcoming communications from the Vicenza Fair.

“Meanwhile, the Vicenza Fair has decided to round out its gold jewellery shows by opening up to the fast-growing adjacent world of lifestyle and luxury. An agreement in this direction has been reached with Veronafiere for the prestigious international “Luxury & Yachts” event to be held on the Vicenza trade fair premises on 7-8-15-16 March 2008, coordinated by the company Optimist.“

I had a wonderul time at Vicenza and would love to share a few pictures that I took of things that I feel could be helping to shape the trends in 2008.

Enjoy!