The first off-line exhibition, the "Moscow jewellery podium" organized by the Guild of Jewellery Exporters at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the photo project “Valuable and expensive" took place on the site of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The exhibition showcased collections of jewellery from leading jewellery brands that participate in foreign exhibitions and exports, as well as thematic works by the photographe, Mr. Tengiz Dvalishvili.
"We are proud that our country has such jewellers," said the Vice President of the MCCI, Mr. Suren Vardanyan, opening the exhibition. He wished good luck and success to all of the participants, "It is not just a craft. It is creativity, causing a desire to wear all exhibited items, to present them as gifts and to please oneself and loved ones". At the same time, the representative of the Chamber’s management noted that the jeweller branch is the leading branch for attracting direct investments.
The Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights, Ms. Tatyana Mineeva, called the jewellery business “the most beautiful and elegant endeavour. Unfortunately, we were not able to seclude the jewellery industry, the most affected by the pandemic, even though we have submitted a proposal to the Government. After all, it is 4,500 factories across Russia, 5,300 workshops, and 160 thousand workers are employed in creating jewellery!”
The Business Ombudsman wished success to all the artists and pointed out that if representatives of jewellery business have any economic proposals, now would be the right time to voice them. "And the platform of International Chamber of Commerce is the best place for it," said Ms. Mineeva.
The Chairman of the Guild of Jewellery Exporters at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Alexey Shcherbina, said that Russian jewellers are now known throughout the world; they win prizes at prestigious exhibitions, Russian jewellery is prized internationally.
"This is the first time since Faberge that our craftsmen have been awarded the most prestigious professional statures," said the head of the Chamber's public structure. "Not just any particular jewellery company is represented here, but the best of the best, who have been recognized not only in Russia, but abroad as well.
Among them are the winners of the "Russian Diamond Line 2020” contest, who have many times become winners of international contests. The main mission of this project is to further promote domestic jewellery products beyond the region and beyond the borders of the country. And I am sure that in the near future this exhibition will be represented in Paris, Irkutsk, Hong Kong and everywhere else.”
At the "Moscow Jewellery Podium," participants were able to see jewellery pieces made with great skill and distinguished by their original designs. The craftsmen used unique stones for the jewellery, displayed at the exhibition: green diamonds, weighing over 18 carats, rare tourmalines and emeralds, large spinels, natural spessartines, tourmalines paraiba, known for their bright neon colours, Australian opals, aquamarine, etc.
The exhibition included a round table, at which industry professionals discussed urgent problems. One of them being complexities connected with obligatory jewellery marking. According to Mr. Flun Gumerov, the Chairman of the Board of the Guild of Jewellers of Russia, despite the fact that the introduction of compulsory marking has been postponed for a year and a half, the main difficulty remains the requirement of placing a QR code on an item.
"Nowhere in the world is a code applied to jewellery," the expert stressed. At the same time, it is expected that precious metal bars will be marked on the packaging. According to representatives of the jewellery business, it would be more logical to put markings on the tags of jewellery items. In addition to difficulties with application and reading the QR-codes on jewellery, experts predict problems with exported goods. According to them, even putting a hallmark is already causing dissatisfaction among foreign consumers, while the appearance of another black spot code may result in lower demand for Russian jewellery on the international market.
Another task, which was discussed at the round table, was the legislative definition of the status of an artist. As Mr. Shcherbina explained, "We do not have so many jewellery artists and we should create favourable conditions for them, in which they can easily create their works of art.” The Heads of the Guild of Jewellers of Russia, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Russian Export Centre, the Moscow Export Centre and other state, municipal and public organizations also participated in the discussion.
As part of the exhibition, there was an award ceremony for the winners of the “Russian Diamond Line 2020”, who will then be delegated to the world's jewellery design contests. 23 works became finalists and laureates of the contest. The Grand Prix of the contest was awarded to the brooch "Wind in the Garden" from the "Japanese Garden" collection, created in the "Highest Grade" workshop (Izhevsk) by the artist Mr. Sergey Izmesteev. This collection was inspired by the paintings of Japanese artists, who are characterized by the beauty of nature.