Queen's Heart makes its way into China

Posted by admin on December 16th, 2014

Hong kong – based fancy shaped diamond supplier and jewelry maker J.R Diamond International Ltd is providing manufactures and retailers in China opportunities to capture the hearts of jewelry lovers in compelling way, company-managing director Ilan Horowitz said.
“We are always looking for ways to stand out in the market. In my view, if you focus only on the classic shapes – mainly rounds – you will find yourself engaging in a price and inventory competition. I think that is a game reserved for the big players, and one where profit margins are getting thinner,” Horowitz said. “The only way to increase your profit margin is by focusing on nice or special products like our Queen’s Heart setting, a heart-shaped diamond set formed by two half-moons and one princess Diamond.”

Competitive edge
Protected by trademark and design patent laws, Queen’s Heart also allows manufacturers to produce heart-motif diamond jewelry in larger quantities, he continued.
“In China, jewellery makers like to engage in volume production to meet repeat orders. If you have an order for bracelets or necklaces made up of solid 60-point to 1 – carat heart-shaped Diamond, it could take you a year or two to collect the stones and fulfill the order.” Horowitz explained. “Our diamond combination – Queen’s Heart – however makes it easier for manufactures to meet orders for say, 100 to 300 pieces of heart-motif jewelery.”
Queen’s Heart jewelery comes with a lab certification, he continued, adding that J.R Diamond International only uses stones in E-F color and VVS-VS clarity grades. The stones are also precisely cut to produce symmetrical “hearts”, said the polishe diamond supplier.
“Because of the special cutting that we do, a 50-point Queen’s Heart set looks like a 1 –carat heart- shaped diamond. Face up, the diamond combination looks twice its actual carat weight. Since the ‘heart’ is constructed out of three stones, retailer can also offer better and more competitive price points for their jewelery,” Horowitz said. “Availability, however, is the key factor. We can meet volume orders.”
A ‘happy ‘ heart
J.R Diamond International hit the idea of Queen’s Heart diamond set while testing several fancy-shaped diamond layouts for its clients.
“My partner was arranging half-moon and princess Diamond, and suddenly, there it was – a happy heart,” he said. From the same Diamond, we can also produce flowers and crosses. Queen’s Heart, however, accounts for more then half of our business although flower-motif diamond jewelery is catching up nicely.”
In many cases, the company supplies the complete set to its Chinese customers. “We sell them the brand, the packaging and jewelery designs. Sometimes, we make the jewelery for them and sometimes, they manufacture the jewelery under our license and with our brand name,” Horowitz said.

His clients are given access to the company’s extensive design portfolio. “Our customers will tell us, “We want this design in this carat size,” and we will make it for them,” he said.

Challenges and opportunities

The first half of the year was marked by challenging trading conditions, but Horowitz said he is cautiously optimistic with regard to business prospects for the next six months.

“ ours is niche product, and it s a product that is gaining a bigger share in markets like China,” he said. “However, some external factors such as movements in stock markets could affect consumer sentiment. The opportunities are there – no doubt about it – but people are a bit reluctant to try new things because of macroeconomic variables.”
Tight rough supply also remains a challenge for many diamond manufacturers. ‘This is why we encourage jewelery makers to place their orders sooner, especially in anticipation of polished diamond supplier said.
Horowitz, who has been based in Hong Kong for 16 years now, also sees opportunities in the colored gemstone jewelery business, noting that the demand for color stones such a s Emerald, Sapphire, Rubellite and tanzanite has been steadily increasing in the last few years, especially in China.
“To me, the jewelery industry has a very exciting future,” said Horowitz. “There are so many beautiful gemstones to choose from and so many jewelery pieces still waiting to be made. More importantly, the passion for jewelery is there – be it in Asia, Europe and the US. The affluent class is expanding: people are falling in love and getting married: and often, people want to treat themselves to a nice piece of jewelery.”