EDITOR’S LETTER
CONTRIBUTORS
A fond farewell
CONTRIBUTORS
GAVIN
MULLINS
Gavin Mullins is the
CEO of Eooro.com
and an expert in
helping companies
to benefit from user
generated content
(UGC).
AL KECK
director of Infinity
Nation, which
helps manage
the ecommerce
operations for
many major
brands. Al founded
Infinity Nation
back in 2005
JANET FITCH
Janet is a veteran
JF columnist, and
has written for
both magazines
and newspapers
including the Sun
and the Daily Mail,
later owning her
own jewellery
shops
LEONARD ZELL
Leonard has
been training fine
jewellers for 25
years. His monthly
column gives
some top tips on
sales training and
improving your
bottom line
ON THE
COVER
Cover photography by
Ro Copenhagen.
Ro is a new Danish brand
focused on outstanding,
handmade jewellery wrought
in 18 carat yellow and white
gold, set with the finest
diamonds and precious stones.
MICHAEL NORTHCOTT
Editor, Jewellery Focus
[email protected]
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This month brought the news that WB The
Creative Jewellery Group, which owns Domino,
Gecko and Weston Beamor, has been sold to the
Heimerle + Meule Group by owners Patrick and
Vivian Fuller. I have met Patrick many times
since becoming editor of Jewellery Focus and
what always struck me about him was how
much of a deep mine of information he is about
the jewellery world both today and historically. He is of the generation in
the jewellery world who knew it before and after the advent of computer
aided design and manufacture, and his firm has been at the forefront of
applying that technology in sustainable and profitable ways.
Fuller and his team twice welcomed me to the manufacturing
facilities in Birmingham’s’ Jewellery Quarter, and I was always
impressed by the modernity of the place – mixed though it was with
the obviously perennial skills of hand-finishing stone-setting. It is
a marvel of a facility especially in an age where so many in the UK
jewellery industry feel pressure on their price points from cheaper
overseas manufacturing.
The group will continue to operate as an independent entity and join
a number of other companies operating across the UK and Europe,
including Cookson Precious Metals. Heimerle + Meule was founded
in 1845 and is one of Europe’s largest precious metal suppliers. In a
statement Andrew Morton, managing director of WB, said “retention of
independence” was a key consideration for previous owners Vivian and
Patrick Fuller in the sale, and that operationally, little will change.
After more than 40 years in the trade, during which the business
grew into one of the largest independent UK jewellery manufacturers,
and as champions ever-greater supply chain integrity in the British
jewellery market, I wish Patrick and Vivian the very best for their
retirement.
www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk/newswire
JEWELLERY FOCUS
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