India is home to some of the world's most famous historical diamonds. The Koh-i-Noor Diamond, which was once considered the largest diamond the world, was the possession of many Sikh, Perisan and Mughal rulers, who waged war against each other in the diamond's name. Koh-i-Noor eventually became part of the British crown jewels. More notable Indian diamonds include the Orlov, the Regent Diamond, and the Hope Diamond – which was stolen from an eye of a sculpted idol of the Hindu goddess Sita, wife of Rama, and is believed to be cursed.

Much like the rest of the diamond and jewelry industry, the Damiani jewelry designer company has had to come to terms with the results of the recession, decline in consumer confidence and consumer spending on luxury items such as diamonds and jewelry.

Damiani store, Hong Kong 

Damiani is an Italian firm that was founded in Valenza in northern Italy back in 1924 by the son of a jeweler, Damiano Grassi Damiani. In an atmosphere of art and fine crafts, Damiano's new marketing policies put the Damiani jewelry business on the map. Since then, Damiani designs have won numerous Diamond International Awards and attracted the attention of celebrities and fashion designers world wide, establishing themselves as a leader in the field. 

Damiani's prestige increased, curiously enough, after allegedly breaking an agreement with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, who chose the company to design their wedding bands and engagement rings. The celebrity couple claimed that Damiani sold look-alikes of their jewelry using their fame in contravention to their agreement with the couple. They proceeded to file a $50 million law suit against the company. Damiani jewelry designers were able to turn the tables when they hired Brad to design a line of jewelry for them, to be modeled by Jennifer in 2000.  

Brad Pitt's design

November of 2008 was a particularly difficult month for the industry as a whole, with diamond mines around the world considerably reducing, and even suspending, diamond mining activities. Despite launching a campaign with celebrity Sharon Stone just months before, Damiani stocks plummeted a whopping 70 percent. 

However Damiani made it through, and has successfully signed partnership agreements with leading designers in Italy and abroad to create lines of jewelry designs that are likely to be nominated for several design awards.

Paris Hilton also partners with Damiani

So what can we learn form this short outline of the history of glamour and success? Perhaps that love of creation combined with business craftiness is an unbeatable combination? Or perhaps we can learn that when the going gets tough the tough get going – that life is always dynamic and that we need to exercise a degree of flexibility and determination to be able to respond at any turn.

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A special post written by: Steven Silverstein, IDI New York's Managing Director

After getting back to reality after Vegas, I have had a chance to put-down some of my observations from the week's events.
 
The JCK show was either a marginal success, or a marginal failure - depending on whom you spoke to. 

I met with several people, exhibitors and non-exhibitors, Israelis and Americans, and the general sentiment was that the show was obviously much more quiet than last year.  That having been said, it was less quiet than many people expected; those who came expecting the worst - were pleasantly surprised. 
 
One American wholesaler, with whom I shared the galley of the plane on the flight back to New York from the show (sorry FAA regulations and seatbelt signs - it was a long and delayed 6 hour flight...), said that this had actually been his best show in a number of years.  He originally exhibited due to the "obligation" of participating (many felt it was a show you "had to do, regardless of whether you wanted to do it") but in reality he had made some new customers and several sales which were profitable.
 
Simplexdiam, which specializes in closeouts of jewelry, had a resounding success with their booth which sold such ex-bankruptcy items from Christian Bernard and other jewelry retailers who have recently shut their doors.  So much so, said CEO Yogesh Madhvani, that "we had an average of 15 customers in the booth at all times".  They reportedly sold more than 60% of their stock at JCK, and have recently purchased some additional 20,000 pieces of jewelry from the Colibri closings which will be added to existing inventory from Fortunoff and others.  Simplexdiam's items are in increased demand; In today's economy, everyone likes a deal...

Those seemed to be the exceptions - and many people made their best profits in the casino at night rather than the Show during the day. 
 
I recall, with fondness, the final day of the show, at 3:45pm when everyone was in the midst of packing up their showcases:  I was in the 2000's aisle speaking to an American exhibitor when suddenly someone in the 3000's aisle burst into a round of applause.  Everyone peered out from their booths to see what the commotion was and who was applauding - with questions of "what was that?" and "who was clapping", "does anyone know what just happened?".  Without missing a beat, one exhibitor remarked "I think someone sold a stone" - which led to an eruption of laughter to lighten the mood.
 
Some of the various events and conferences were better attended than others.  I attended the Jewelers for Children Cocktails, the LeVian/Harper's Bazaar Red Carpet Fashion Show, as well as the Women's Jewelry Association (WJA) Evening.  Those were very crowded and well attended.  These events all had one thing in common - an open bar, which was well anticipated after the hard days at the Show.  The WJA evening had one more unexpected feature - 25% men which, attendees happily told me, was an unusually high male turnout for such gatherings.

IDI's Managment Team

On the other hand I was told that the Rapaport seminars, Indian Diamond Coloredstone Association Dinner, National Colored Diamond event, and others were much less attended.  (There were even reports that some of the seminars were unable to draw panel participants.)  What these had in common was that they were either planned over the weekend (when many had not yet arrived) or during the daytime (when most people were focusing on the show itself). 
 
Networking, marketing, displays of new jewelry lines, and some socializing thrown in; all components of a successful Show.  Not to mention the slot machines at the Venetian which saw their share of diamantaires - as the ups-and-downs were a throwback to the now familiar market environment.
 
Business by day, Vegas by night - all in all, another JCK experience which was far from uneventful...

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Photo Credits: gmonster25 & Mark Heard