Nersel’s Designer Trendy Gold Jewelry

“No city evokes the glow of gold more than Istanbul. The ancient city of Byzantium has a long standing liaison with this precious metal. But the real news is that Istanbul is experiencing its Golden Age now. It may also be because it already feels itself a part of Europe, but the fact is that the city has undergone a drastic evolution that has involved everything from architecture to art, from luxury shopping to design. Artists, designers and architects are being called to the city to develop its new image. Spending a weekend has become very “in”, as has buying a home here. Some are betting that, in a few years, it will flank Barcelona as one of the strongest poles of attraction in the Mediterranean. In the same way, Italian architect Aldo Cibic is willing to stake his reputation on Istanbul, having travelled the world and settled on Istanbul as his home away from home. ‘It is a city that really love, he declares, I love the summer, when life shifts towards the water, the Bosphorus where, from Asian shore, you can see the sun set. And I love the winter, damp and foggy, when you smell the intense odour of the sea, the exhaust of millions of vehicles, of the Doner Kebab, and the goods that they sell at the markets: the fisth, the cheeses, the candied and fresh fruits.’Those who have known the city for years assure us that the most enticing element is always the people, a melting pot of races, cultures and religions. The result is a dual speed city, the more primordial city of history and of a past that oozes from around every corner, and this contemporary, innovative one. On one hand there are the bazaars, the Galata Tower, the old European quarter, and the other there are the new districts that no longer have the mosques as landmarks, but shooping malls that are cropping up liek mushrooms.

Istanbul expanding as you watch, allowing itself to the be colonized by luxury department stores. Istanbul , the old capital of Turkey is aiming to become a capital of luxury shopping. It still remains to be seen if it can compete with Milan, London and Paris , but in the meantime it is sharpening its claws. Levent and Istinye are new residential areas colonized by increasingly sophisticated local and international luxury shopping.

The liveliest quarter of Istanbul is Beyoglu, which stretches from the Galata Tower to the seashore along the Istiklal Caddesi as far as Taksim, the largest square in Istanbul that, over the past century was the deluxe western style residential and embassy district. With the transfer of the capital to Ankara, the quarter suffered a gradual decline but has been slowly recovering over the recent years, since, among other things, it was filled with artists, designers, architects, and musicians who live and work there. Now there are about five thousand public establishments, from more traditional resturants to siphisticated lounges. If it is live music you are looking for, one stands out from amoung the others, Babylon, considered a world epicenter for the production of mew musical trends. Istanbul a city bent on becoming a new hub of the Mediterranean.”

Reference: Jewels Fashion and Watches Magazine, Summer 2007

Kunzite has a delicate pink color and is popular as a healing stone. It is said to provide inner peace and joice. Its colors vary from light pink to lilac and sometimes darker shades of pink. This property is particularly well developed in kunzite. If you have the opportunity to look at a kunzite from close up, watch out for it. In a well cut stone, the most beautiful colour nuance will always be visible from above, experienced cutters working the raw crystal in perfect accord with its material properties. Most kunzites, however, have a fairly light colour. Strongly coloured kunzite is rare and thus correspondingly valuable. Kunzite is a multi colored stone because depending on the way you look at it and the light it could appear to be a pale color or a bright lilac. The appeal of the stone lies in its clarity.

Kunzite is still a very young gemstone. It was not until 1902 that the New York jeweller and gemstone specialist George Frederick Kunz (1856 – 1932) became the first person to give a comprehensive description of this stone, which had just been discovered in California. And since newly discovered gemstones are usually given the name of their discoverer or patron, this new pale pink discovery was called ‘kunzite’.

Pale pink kunzite was discovered in 1902 in the Pala District of San Diego County in California. Today, the prism-shaped crystals with their typical vertical striations are mainly found in Afghanistan, Madagascar, Brazil and the USA. The crystals, or fragments of crystals, often badly eaten away, can attain sizes of up to several kilogrammes.

Its hardness is fairly good, between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs scale. To the chagrin of the cutters, however, this gem has perfect cleavage and is thus extremely difficult to cut. Having said that, once it has been given its final shape, it becomes uncomplicated. But it is very difficult to re-cut. Cut kunzite surprises even experts again and again with its brilliance. The silvery gloss on its facets forms a beautiful contrast to the fine violet-pink of the gemstone.

In the trade, kunzite is available in many beautiful cuts. It is one of the gems which are available in relatively large sizes at affordable prices. When making a purchase, however, you should remember that it is first the colour and then the clarity which determines its value. The more intense the colour, the more valuable the kunzite. The question of whether the colour should tend more or less strongly towards violet will depend on your personal preference and skin type.

This gemstone with its fine, delicate pink is not only an ideal precious stone for lovers; it is also popular as a healing stone. Kunzite is said to enhance a person’s capacity for devotion and understanding and to bestow inner peace and joie de vivre on its wearer. And since it is also said to activate the mind and liberate us from worry and anxiety, it is an excellent gemstone for those suffering from strain or exam nerves. Whether or not one actually believes in these positive effects, one thing is certain: its fine pink with a hint of violet radiates a serene composure and keeps moods of depression and anxiety at bay right from the outset.

Reference: Jewels Fashion and Watches Magazine and Gemstones.org

Online jewelry, watch sales surge in 2Q
August 06, 2007



Reston, Va.—Online jewelry and watch sales increased 32 percent in the second quarter of 2007, compared with the same period last year, according to a recent report on U.S. e-commerce spending from ComScore.

Total U.S. online consumer spending (both retail and travel) increased 19 percent to $47.5 billion for the period, compared with $40 billion in the second quarter of 2006.

“Retail e-commerce rebounded solidly in the second quarter after a modest start to the year,” ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a media release. “After posting 17 percent growth versus a year ago in the first quarter, retail e-commerce sales grew 23 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, matching the growth rates we’ve seen during the past couple of years.”

During the first half of 2007, total U.S. online consumer spending (both retail and travel) increased 17 percent to $94.7 billion, compared with the same period last year. Based on these growth rates, total U.S. online consumer spending is on track to reach $200 billion in 2007, compared with 170.8 billion in 2006.

Reference: National Jeweler

Study: Women buy themselves jewelry, but at nontraditional stores
July 01, 2007


Beth Braverman

Paso Robles, Calif.—Women continue to buy jewelry for themselves, but they often do so at places other than traditional jewelry stores, a new Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council (JCOC) study finds.
The study also says women don’t need a reason or occasion to buy for themselves.
“It’s something I have definitely seen in my store,” Ron Traxler, owner of Jordan’s Jewelry in Addison, Texas, says of the trend. “We often encounter female professionals or mature women who buy jewelry for themselves. Lately, they are even more willing to make bigger purchases.”
Chain stores remained the most popular place among women buying jewelry for themselves, followed by independent fine jewelry stores, according to the JCOC study. Sixty percent of women, however, buy jewelry at places other than traditional jewelry stores, and the percentage of women buying jewelry online, at department stores and at mass retailers has increased since the last JCOC self-purchasing study in 2005.
Although women have worked alongside men for decades, they are just starting to flex their greater purchasing power, Traxler says.
“Women didn’t feel empowered to make choices themselves until the late ’90s,” he says. “In the last few years, they have been much more vocal about what they want and what they deserve. They’ll say ‘I want this and if he won’t buy it for me, I’ll buy it for myself.’”
Women regularly spend $1,000 or more on the custom pieces that Jordan’s Jewelry specializes in, Traxler adds.
More than two-thirds of the 2,476 women surveyed reported that they had bought jewelry for themselves in the past, and 16 percent planned to do so within the next six months. Some 78 percent said they buy jewelry whenever they see something they like, and more than half said they buy it while shopping for others or to celebrate birthdays or accomplishments.
At Leighton’s Jewelers of Madera in Madera, Calif., storeowner Chris Miller says he has not seen any rise in the number of female self-purchasers, but they remain a key part of his business, especially for sales of less than $1,000.
About half the customers at Herman Hiss & Co., in Bay City, Mich., are women who are likely to buy fashion jewelry or charms but unlikely to pay for diamond rings, says storeowner Tom Tabor. Nj

Reference:National Jeweler

Geometrically patterned openwork designs have been popular for many years. Designers emphasized white gold and diamonds for many years. However we see a drastic shift in the last couple of years. New executions look very different. They are more curvy , more colorful, lighter, organic, have ethnic inspirations. We see more yellow gold than white gold in the last two years. Instead of diamonds we see different, rare but inexpensive colorful stones such as tourmalines, opal, moonstones, coral, agate, garnets, quartz. We see a lot of white stones such as opal, white coral, white moonstone and white agate embedded into rich yellow gold and hammered gold.

Reference: Modern Jeweler, August 2007

1. Romance and Feminity: Circles of life, symbols of fertility and signs of abundance are the newest themes ( ( check out our pomegranate pendants on www.nerselirene.com ) as fertility, eternity and symbol of richnes)
2. Pink and Yellow gold
3.Eco-Jewelry: Recycled gold, gems that come from legitimate sources

4. Organic looking designs such as hand hammered details ( check out our hand hammered stable rings and other hand hammered jewelry on www.nerselirene.com )
5. Jewelry with non-symmetrical proportions

6. Gemstones like moonstones, agate, smoky topaz

7. Variations of yellow gold, 24K gold ( check out 24K hand hammered kilim pendant on www.nerselirene.com)
8. Super lux, super high end jewelry

9. Personalization, convertable jewelry such as pieces which can be worn more than one way

10. Small personal pendants, iconic symbols, hearts, initials, talismans, baby sized jewels ( check out our pomegranate pendants on www.nerselirene.com and evil eye pendant)

Reference: Jewelry Information Center, Trends from Las Vegas 2007