Jewellery Focus November 2018 | Page 10

MONTH IN REVIEW www.jewelleryfocus.co.uk STORE OPENINGS Bibi Bijoux London to open its first concession in Selfridges Bibi Bijoux London has opened its first physical presence with the opening of a concession inside Selfridges, the Trafford Centre, Manchester. The award-winning brand’s Autumn Winter 2018 collection are also available in the store featuring the six collections: Tassel, Birdcage, Celestial, Coin, Waterfall, Rose Garden. The designs include classic profiles such as chunky ball bracelets and layered chain necklaces updated with contemporary elements. The brand said each collection has been inspired from various trips abroad, “the romantic streets and beautiful architecture” whilst visiting Paris inspired the Rose collection and the coins collection were reportedly inspired by a trip to Greece. Maxine Becker, director of Bibi Bijoux London, said: “We are so excited for the launch and we think the ladies of Manchester are going to love our latest collection as there really is a style to suit everyone. We will be giving away a very special gift to the first 50 customers. “Since embarking on a brand refresh in 2018, we’ve seen a real buzz around the brand and we’re excited to build upon this success through these stunning new collections. We look forward to continuing to inspire and delight our customers this season and beyond.” 10 JEWELLERY FOCUS 1 DIAMONDS Alrosa extracts largest yellow rough diamond this year Diamond mining company Alrosa has extracted the largest 28.59-carat rough yellow diamond since the beginning of 2018. The diamond was discovered at Ebelyakh placer deposit in July and has dimensions of 11.40 x 19.00 x 17.50 mm, with insignificant colorless inclusions on the surface. Evgeny Agureev, director of United Selling at Alroas, said: “The extracted stone is our new unique discovery. Fancy colors are very rare in nature. This stone is also unique, because nature seemed to have prepared it for cutting and in advance gave it a pear- like shape. “United Selling Organization of ALROSA and the company’s cutting division have yet to study the diamond and decide whether to auction it as a rough or to cut it into polished diamond. “However, even now one can say this is a worthy specimen for replenishing our collection of colored diamonds.” TOP 3 FROM THE WEBSITE 1.  Raymond Weil pulls out of Baselworld 2019 2. Silversmith J.A Campbell set to close after 60 years 3. Farado Design launches ‘Knot an Engagement Ring’ 2 3 4 5 6 WATCHES Watchmaker teams up with Cardiff University for 3D printed timepiece A south Yorkshire watchmaker has teamed up Cardiff University to harness the power of 3D printing to create a new timepiece. PARC - an academic and industry partnership based at Cardiff Business School - explored and used 3D printing (3DP) as an innovative technology for Guy Holland’s Doncaster-based watch business, Precise Time. Using the 3DP knowhow of Cardiff University and PARC, the team manufactured a prototype dial surround before commissioning a 3D metal printing specialist to make the final stainless steel part. Hrishikesh Pawar, who led the PARC project, said: “This is a really exciting innovation for us. It demonstrates that unique parts can be created from bespoke designs that are very tricky to make using conventional watchmaking methods.” Professor Aris Syntetos, chair in operational research and operations management at PARC, added: “This project has been judged outstanding by Innovate UK. It showed 3DP can shorten lead times for customised requests, helping us to provide bespoke services and allowing SMEs like Precise Time to manufacture spare parts on demand.” Holland added: “Due to my fascination with watchmaking, I am always interested in new methods of manufacture. Whilst designing a watch for myself, I came up with a plan for a custom dial surround. The part needed to be exact, with precise hour ‘markers’, and these would be awkward to manufacture with precision using a watchmakers’ lathe.” November 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk