Jewellery Focus June 2017 | Page 11

MONTH IN REVIEW GO ONLINE www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk POLITICS Tiffany faces backlash after Trump letter Tiffany & Co faced a backlash from some of its customers after publishing a letter addressed to US president Donald Trump on its Facebook page. The letter - laid out in the Tiffany brand colours - read: “Dear President Trump, We’re still in for bold climate action. Please keep the U.S. in the Paris Climate Agreement. The disaster of climate change is too real, and the threat to our planet and to our children is too great.” The post sparked a mixture of reactions from the jewellery brand’s customers, with some praising it for speaking up and others asking them to “keep political opinions out of [their] retail choices”. One poster wrote: “Well this is certainly not going to make me want to buy me a Tiffany key or heart necklace... Good luck with being political.” Another said: “I don’t think I like my favourite jeweller stepping into the political arena.” Nearly 800 comments have been made on the post so far. Tiffany & Co appointed its first chief sustainability officer in 2015 and the firm regularly advocates a number of social and political issues including climate change. June 2017 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk 1 2 3 4 5 6 SUPPLY CHAIN GIA warns of ‘hybrid’ diamonds The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has warned of “hybrid” diamonds entering the supply chain after uncovering a natural diamond with a blue synthetic coating. Claiming that the stone was the first of its kind that the institute had encountered, it reported that a number of “unusual characteristics” gave away the gem’s synthetic nature. It had both nitrogen and boron defects, which were described as a “rare combination”, and was also uncommonly a mixed Type Ia and IIb. The ‘natural-synthetic’ gem was sent to the GIA’s New York lab as a natural fancy 0.33-carat bl