8
Q&A
Orna tells us some of her
best kept secrets in the
Q&A below:
What is the piece you are most proud of?
The 2007 Town and Country Design Award
brooch, combining petal shape Fresh Water
pearls.
What is the most unusual item in your
handbag?
Whatever it is, I can never find it in my “Mary
Poppins” bag.
What is your favorite everyday piece of Yvel
jewelry (the one you wear most often)?
A natural golden Indonesian Keshi pearl
necklace which Isaac designed for me.
What is your favorite song right now?
Simon and Gurfunkle “The Sound of Silence”.
What is your ultimate guilty pleasure?
Chocolate and 50 Shades of Grey.
Favorite photo of your family or your
children?
All of them...
What is your favorite part of Jerusalem?
The “Mahane Yehuda” market.
Best place you ever traveled?
The Maldives.
Isaac shares with us
some of his best kept
secrets:
In terms of design, could you please
share with us the trends impacting the
freshwater pearl jewellery product
category in 2014? I am not a pearl
dealer. I am a jewelry designer that is
in love with pearl…therefore, you will
not find at Yvel simple strands of pearls.
I leave this part of the business to the
pearl dealers. I focus more on designing
fine pearl jewelry. This year we had
taken the baroque fresh water pearl,
and combined it with satin finish yellow,
white and rose gold in long necklaces,
earrings, rings and a brain new collection
of bracelets. The earthy gold textures
with the organic fresh water baroque
pearls, had created a symphony of
shades and colors that no other pearl can
create, but the fresh water pearl.
This year, where do you think will the
strongest demand for freshwater pearl
jewellery come from? The market that
appreciates the expression “Perceived
Value” is the US market. It is still the
larges- most effective market in the
world. Europe has always been a strong
market for pearls Especially Spain and
Germany but surprisingly enough, in the
last three years, countries like Singapore,
Thailand and the Philippines discovered
the fresh water pearls and today even
China has a strong demand for their own
product.
What are your wholesale price points
for freshwater pearl jewellery? Starting
from $300 all the way to $30,000 per
piece.
How do you think would the
freshwater pearl jewellery market
perform in 2014 compared with 2013?
One of the main reasons for the fresh
water pearl’s popularity is with no doubt,
the price difference, compare to the salt
water pearls. In the last year, there have
been many pearl farms that were closed,
due to the unprofitability of the product
on one hand, and the increase change
for the labor cost of the manpower
in the pearl farms. If this change will
continue, and the prices of fresh water
will keep raise in price, the gap between
the fresh water pearl and the salt water
pearl will be such that the market will
shift back to the salt water pearls. In the
pearl world of today, still – the salt water
pearls are considered more expensive
and desirable than the fresh water pearls.
According to some freshwater pearl
producers in China, freshwater pearl
production volumes are expected to
drop this year and in the succeeding
years due to various reasons (some
farmers have left the business, others
have shifted their focus from volume
production to quality production).
Do you expect the supply of finequality freshwater pearls to be tighter
this year? In the last Sep show in Hong
Kong, there was an extreme shortage
of fine fresh water pearls in the market.
If this situation will continue, the FWP
will lose their mystique. My humble and
true suggestion to my pearl farmers’
friends and colleagues is to make sure to
maintain the prices low and the quality
high. Pepsi remained the number 2 soft
drink in the world for the simple reason
that they understood that Coca Cola is
the number 1 soft drink in the world...