Our day at the VicenzaOro jewellery fair
During PAVÉ Jewellery's nearly 15-year history, we have received a lot of praise for our carefully selected, tasteful jewellery collection. It is always flattering when a customer says we are the most beautiful jewellery store in Budapest. Selecting our partners and assembling a jewellery collection is not an easy task. If you’d like to hear more about this process, read this short summary of our recent “shopping trip".
We have met our most important partners and suppliers at the VicenzaOro jewellery fair in Italy throughout the years. It is probably the foremost jewellery fair in Europe today, with international exhibitors from all over the world.
We are in the exceptional position that the organisers have elected us to attend the international VIP delegation, taking care of our complete comfort and even our entertainment. While this was a tremendous help, the three days we spent at the fair and the preceding planning were really hard work.
Only professionals of the jewellery industry can attend VicenzaOro, so this is a B2B event. The companies representing different categories of products are located in various pavilions, from fashion and silver jewellery through mid-range gold jewellery all the way to the most impressive luxury jewels and the most special gemstones. Our main focus is on the pavilion showcasing high-end jewellery, and we are also regular visitors at the gem pavilion to select “ingredients” for the custom orders of our customers.
We arrive at the show in the morning, and fortunately we're adjusted to the Italian “time zone,” so we don’t have to get up too early. We arrive at about 10 am, after going through strict security checkpoints.
Due to the enormous values, safety is of great importance, as a single jewellery booth can showcase a product range worth millions of euros.
Once we get through the security check, the full day’s work can finally begin. From the outside, each stand looks like a jewellery storefront, but inside they are tailored for business. We sit down at a desk where the various collections are presented to us on trays. Due to the huge variety of goods, we have to select from them very efficiently. This may seem like an easy task at first, but it is actually a very difficult and tiring procedure, even though we find it enjoyable as we love beautiful jewellery. We need to think over very quickly what would best complement our offer, what our customers would like best, what represents the best value for money, and what price category is most sought after in our market.
A very striking diamond choker is more in demand in the Far East or the Americas, while in Hungary our sophisticated customers are usually looking for delicate and quality pieces which can be worn everyday.
However, occasionally it happens that someone wants to buy a very unique piece of outstanding value, and in such cases it is important to know the source of supply, so we also study these curiosities with great pleasure. Moreover, we provide personalised jewellery advice and are proud to make the dreams of all our old and new customers come true to the best of our ability, either by finding or by designing the perfect piece of jewellery for them.
In compiling our new stock, we ultimately rely on our own tastes, intuitions and many years of experience. The selected jewellery is continuously collected on a separate tray and once we are done with sorting, typically after 1.5-2 hours (per company!), we receive a list of these items. A few days later the supplier sends a document with photos, data and prices. The order will be finalized after we have traveled home, and it will be about two to three months before the new stock arrives into our store.
Although the online interfaces and catalogues certainly help our preparations, we still consider it essential to see the jewellery live, to hold each piece in our hands, feel their quality, and see how they look when worn. This is especially important for the jewellery that we do not buy for our stock, but would like to offer to our customers to order in case of a special request. The other important aspect for which we like to be present in person is the human factor.
After nearly a decade and a half, we have developed a very deep trust with our partners, we can almost call them our friends, which also gives us a high degree of flexibility.
This is something our customers also benefit from, because if they have a request, we can ask our partners to ship a piece of jewellery for viewing without any financial commitment, or in case of an urgent order they might help us by bringing forward the production. These are just a few examples from the lots of help we have received over the years. In the jewellery industry trust, honesty and credibility are of paramount importance. This is not surprising when you consider the values involved.
Apart from the business aspects, the fair is the perfect place to learn about trends and market processes. Listening first-hand to designers, manufacturers and traders, as well as business owners is more worth than any book or article. The organisers will also give educational presentations on the latest developments and trends, such as the highly debated emergence of laboratory made diamonds or the role of influencers in the jewellery industry.
After we are done with the 3-4 multi-hour meetings scheduled for the day and we are so tired that putting together a nice round sentence seems to be a challenge, we spend 30-40 minutes at the bar in front of the fair, where prosecco, aperol spritz and campari are served to the participants. A great veteran DJ takes care of the good mood and sometimes we even do a little dancing before we take the shuttle bus back to the hotel.
If we still have some energy left, we go to the old town for dinner or to one of our favourite authentic restaurants in the area.
An example of these is a fantastic fish restaurant, Storione, and another is the picturesque Il Castello restaurant in Sovizzo, where our longest partner Garavelli kindly invites us every year. Unfortunately, due to clashing schedules, they were unable to attend the fair this year, so we missed our favoured dinner party this time.
We usually repeat the all-day program for two more days, and once we’ve completed all meetings and still have some time left, we’ll walk around the fair for a while longer, buy a few small things, spare parts, jewellery boxes, or we listen to a professional lecture or two.
One of the most memorable was the Ludovico Einaudi piano performance at the Teatro Olimpico, a beautiful building with a very special stage in the center of Vicenza. If you happen to be in the surroundings, it is definitely worth a visit. We probably don’t need to introduce the amazing Einaudi, but if you don't know him, he composed the music for the movie 'The Intouchables', among others.
We always plan to do a little shopping, too, as we think Italian fashion is unlike any other, but we usually don’t have time left for that. We return to Budapest, where a lot of new tasks await us by then…
Are you wondering what was the most memorable to us at this year’s fair? Maybe the delicate emerald earrings we tried on at Piero Milano's booth. At the stud part, each piece was adorned with a heart-shaped diamond, on which hung a square-shape Colombian emerald of ca. 10x12 mm.
Dearer than the earrings was only their price, close to a million dollars. We’ve seen miracles before, but that has still blown us away.
Colombian emeralds are rare, and these were among the few stones that did not receive any treatment, had a beautiful deep green colour, and were also of excellent clarity.
One piece of such a stone would be rare to find, but in pairs they are an even greater curiosity. Well, it will definitely take us a (good) while to save up for those…
We’ll be coming back soon with a post about current jewellery trends. If there is a topic you would like to hear more about, please feel free to write to us.
Until then, Viva Italia, and of course Carpe Diem!