Jewellery Week outperforms last year’s edition

Dubai: From India and Japan to Italy and Turkey, more than 320 jewellers from 20 countries have gathered at the seventeenth edition of the Dubai International Jewellery Week on Wednesday. They came to network and showcase their jewellery designs of silver, gold, diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones.

“We aim for this show to be one of the largest jewellery exhibitions in the region. We are expecting an increase of visitors by 5 to 10 per cent,” Yvonne Zeljkovic, the show’s director told Gulf News.

In the show, some exhibitors utilise the opportunity to showcase their exclusive designs for the first time. Komal Bajaj, an exhibitor from New York-based Monique Creations Inc. commented: “ Coloured diamonds are our specialty. We expect that it will sell well this year as it has in previous years.”

A white-gold set, including a necklace, earrings and a bracelet, with yellow diamonds were selling for Dh750,000 ($204,000) at Monique Creations’ booth.

A few meters from Monique’s was UAE-based Dhamani‘s booth, which was displaying a unique miniature design that grabbed the attention of Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The Burj Khalifa miniature they showcased utilised stainless steel and gold for the structure, with its base made from marble and gold. It’s sale price tag, a whopping Dh6 million.

Their other exclusive designs include big diamonds.

According to Uditha Obeysekere, marketing manager, Dhamani expects to sell even better than last year, which brought in about Dh5 million. “We’re aiming at doubling that figure to Dh10 million,” He believes this is largely due to the larger turnout over last year’s.

Other exhibitors were offering products that catered to customers with lower budgets. At Dewcarat’s booth for example, a company based in Hong Kong and participating for the 10th year in the exhibition, the designs ranged from silver to 18 karat gold and were sellinging from Dh100 to 100,000. “We offer discounts, especially to wholesalers who buy in big quantities. For regular customers, they can get 80 per cent discounts on retail prices,” Tiffany Tse of Dewcarat said. “At the show, we normally have customers from Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Eastern Europe,” he added.

Exibitors seemed generally content by the turnout and interest in their products. “The UAE jewellery market is maintaining well, considering the current declining state of the global economy,” Tse said. The show, which opens between 3:00 pm 10:00 pm (except for Saturday, when it opens at 2:00 pm) will wrap up by Saturday.