The World Pearl Forum in Dubai has just come to a close and the reports are already flowing in. The following report was posted by an attendee. AME Info also has posted a short recap of the first day.“Well, it is over. It certainly was a lot of fanfare for two days of speeches and panel discussions.
The pearl tender was described as a success, but oddly, results were never publicly disclosed. There were numerous gem lots from Paspaley, Wan and Jewelmer, as well as a large number of natural pearls – some of the most extraordinary coming from Paspaley and Titan Gold Mining Company.
The speeches began on the first official day, February 17th. After a short introduction from Ahmed Bin Sulayem and Gaiti Rabbani, the invited speakers began.
The speakers were lined up – the industry heavyweights in front. Paspaley first, followed by Robert Wan, Noriyuki Morita (pres. of Mikimoto) and Jacques Branellec. The listed topics focused on branding and market influence, but the speakers took their own routes. Starting with Nicholas Paspaley, we were treated to a historical account of each company’s history and detailed explanations of why they are just so damn great whilst playing promotional videos and featuring close-ups of branded merchandise. To Branellec’s benefit, he did have the crowd chortling more than once. Poor Morita-san looked close to passing out during his oratory – that’s one timorous Japanese gentleman.
The second half of the day had a lot more meat in it. It kicked off with a brilliant account by Chis Figee of the state of the economy and how that affects the jewellery market and the pearl market as a whole. This was followed by a lackluster panel discussion on economic outlook with the aforementioned speakers.
Justin Hunter was up next. He gave a stellar rendition of the up and coming Fijian industry. This was followed by chairman Zhan of Grace, a bumbling Bill Reed who could not seem to work the PowerPoint, Jeremy Shepherd with a well-received speech on the Internet’s role in the industry and the growth in jewellery sales online, and Jorg Gellner discussing family business and branding.
Kenneth Scarrat followed with a speech on new GIA grading “standards” and the ultimate goal of a national standard. This was followed by a lively panel discussion between Paspaley, Scarrat, Shepherd and Gellner. A meager 20 minutes was allotted to this panel, likely the most interesting part of the forum so far – that was unfortunate.
The second day began with Sonny Sethi and was slated to follow with Rosario Autore, but like Cepek of Iridesse, he was a no show. It appears two speakers succumbed to the bungling economy and had more important issues to attend. Hedda Schupak spoke of promotion, yet seemed out of her element in the pearl discussion. David Bennet delivered an interesting history of natural pearls on auction and KC Bell read from a prepared speech without the benefit of inflection. A good account of the natural abalone never the less.
On day two, the highlight was once again a panel discussion. The Pearls94-esque discussion focused on the need for a single body to promote pearls and pearl jewellery around the world – a DeBeer’s approach. The discussion came to no conclusion but did leave the door open for further discussion. When the Chinese delegate was questioned regarding their interest in supporting such an effort, their response was one of surprise. Maybe it was a language issue, maybe it wasn’t. Their response seemed to be one of, “No, we compete with you. We are here because we respect the natural pearl and respect the other pearl producers of the world. But we still plan to kick your asses.”
The conference ended with a late lunch and continued networking among the delegates, clearly the primary reason for attending for most of the crowd.
Overall, there were some great speeches. Figee, Shepherd, Hunter, Rogers, Sethi and Bennett genuinely delivered. The networking was nothing less than fantastic, and we left with some hope during this difficult time. Was World Pearl Forum ‘09 worth the time and expense? That’s a tough call. This industry has a habit of dropping the ball after big pearl conferences.
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