joint asian-american company formed super bell of los angeles and top ten of new york have partnered with five hong kong suppliers to form a new company that will make and distribute an exclusive line of moderately priced jewelry in the united states. called zeep, the new company will specialize in 10k, 14k, and 18k gold and platinum diamond and gemstone jewelry retailing from $99 to $999.

jewelry trends: ‘fall’ in love! a return to color and the prettiest, most romantic jewelry imaginable were the two key jewelry newsmakers at the jck show. after seasons of endless white-on-white designs, fall’s shift to colored gold and colored gemstones looks fresh and appealing. the white wave has not abated, but it has become a jewelry wardrobe staple rather than a trend.

de beers wins rights to ‘millennium’ phrase it’s the kind of last-minute hitch that can foil even the best-laid plans. just as de beers was about to sell its millennium “branded” diamonds, luxury goods dealer alfred dunhill announced it would contest ownership of the phrase “millennium diamonds” in court.

if you run one store successfully, it should be easy to open a second one, right? wrong. “there are a lot of growing pains in learning to run a second store,” notes st. paul, minn., jeweler mark moeller, who went through the experience with his edina, minn., store. “running two stores isn’t just doubly hard.

the radial bristle disc has a flexible bristle design that can be used for cleaning, pre-polishing, semi-finishing, blending, and texturing. it’s suitable for gold, silver, copper, pewter, and brass applications, particularly for removing the oxides from jewelry without compounds and for cleaning and maintaining tiny, hard-to-reach areas.

ftc may change treatment disclosure rules the federal trade commission recently proposed an addition to the guides for the jewelry industry that would mandate disclosure of most treatments—including laser-drilling and, possibly, the new lazare kaplan international-general electric color-improving “process.

last year there was good news on the crime front, with a striking 37% drop in dollar losses from jewelry store crime. how quickly things have changed. while jewelry store crime has continued to decline this year, off-site crime has shot up dramatically. during the first five months of 1999, there were 127 losses on the road, totaling $33 million, a 50% leap over the same period in 1998.

spanish company sets sights on america christopher columbus discovered north america because it was blocking his way to the orient. but tous of barcelona, spain, isn’t looking for a faster route to china. the jewelry and accessory company has set its sights directly on america. its whimsical little bear logo is famous in spain and soon should be cropping up in better retail jewelers acros…

in this year’s vision award pearl jewelry design competition, leading designers from around the world used american pearls to create elegant, whimsical, and sometimes fantastical pieces of freeform jewelry. the winners included a dolphin, a “phrog,” and a dragonfly, but the mighty mollusk reigned supreme.

lfrederick@cahners.com you hear lots of gloom and doom about the future of the independent jewelry store, but i can point you to an expert who would say it’s way overdone. he’s paco underhill, author of a fascinating new book called why we buy (simon & schuster, 1999). underhill is a retail anthropologist, which means he studies how shoppers react to a retail environment.

the gemological institute of america’s third international symposium in june was an event every retail jeweler should have attended. lest you think this was some esoteric gathering of gemologists, scientists, and laboratory technicians, think again. while these professionals were in san diego in force, there were also retailers, gem and diamond dealers, and jewelry manufacturers from all …

new colombian emerald enhancement in the late 1920s, parisian jewelers experimenting with contemporary designs and motifs ushered in what would become known as the art deco style. the shift marked an artistic response to the exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in paris in 1925.

new colombian emerald enhancement c.i. gemtec ltda. is the colombian emerald laboratory that provides a new enhancement called permasafe. gemtec feels this enhancement offers more stability than the now-preferred palma or cedarwood oil. it’s gemtec’s way of offering the trade an arthur groom-like enhancement in colombia.

september miami show expected to sell out organizers of the jewelers international showcase (jis), to be held sept. 25-27 at the miami beach convention center, expect a sellout, with more than 1,000 exhibitor booths. the show, now in its 21st year, is the only jewelry trade show serving primarily jewelers of florida, the caribbean, and central and south america.

boston-area jewelers help combat blindness many boston-area jewelers contributed to the fight against blindness by donating items for auction at the recent 10th annual “seeing is believing” ball sponsored by the massachusetts affiliate of the foundation fighting blindness. donations from j.

sterling ceo honored at charity fund dinner terry burman, chairman and chief executive officer of sterling jewelers inc., akron, ohio, was the guest of honor at the jewelers charity fund for children dinner held during the jck show in las vegas on june 6. burman has been sterling jewelers’ chairman and ceo since 1995.

why not mac? “using your computer to increase profits” (jck, may 1999, p. 152) presents a good overview of the conventional wisdom. however, many “turn key” solutions are far from ideal. your suggestion to “avoid macintosh” reflects a bias that causes undue aggravation for many jewelers who struggle with prepackaged wintel pc-based jewelry store solutions.

the fashion season that rings in the big calendar change will have no specific “look.” fall/winter 1999-2000 will be a season of pieces. a woman can update her wardrobe with a few key elements, such as a puffy down-filled coat, a pair of leather jeans, a crinkled shift in shiny silver, or a pony-skin bag.

the sports watch is having an identity crisis—and consumers love it. it used to be that sports watches were easy to define. they were water-resistant, shock-resistant, and sometimes used as stopwatches. period. true, there were some specialized timepieces for pilots or divers, but no one wore them to work or a dinner party.

elite designs inc. has published a 16-page, four-color brochure illustrating a collection of 14k and 18k gold-filigreed creations enhanced with diamonds. also featured are enameled pins in butterfly and other nature motifs plus earrings, cufflinks, and floral ensembles in 18k gold. the keystone price range is $200 to $2,000.

some hot “real estate” in the jewelry industry is up for sale, though you may not know it, since it’s happening online. internet addresses—called “domain names” or “urls,” which serve as a company’s location on the world wide web—are being sold off rapidly.