New home for Melbourne lab
The story: Melbourne-based Bauer Gemmological Labs has a new home at 343 Collins Street, Melbourne.
To celebrate, Ronnie Bauer and his team hosted a “lab warming” party on 19 September where guests enjoyed music, hors d’oeuvres and champagne.
JAA president Peter Beever, GAA federal president Grant Hamid, GAA state president Kathryn Kovacs, diamond merchants and industry colleagues were all in attendance.
Opal centre moves ahead
The story: Development approval has been granted for a centre dedicated to displaying, researching and promoting Australia’s national gemstone, the opal, with the project expected to reach construction certificate stage in 2009.
According to a press release from the developers, “The Australian Opal Centre at Lightning Ridge will be a world renowned, financially and environmentally sustainable, high security facility to house Australia’s most significant public collection of opal and globally-significant opalised fossils.”
Internationally-renowned architects Glenn Murcutt and Wendy Lewin are designing the centre and its permanent exhibitions in conjunction with design firm Freeman Ryan, and the two-storey, 100-metre long building will be constructed underground on the historic Three Mile opal field.
Watch ambassadors draw blank faces
The story: A study into luxury watch brand ambassadors at the JAA Australian Jewellery Fair in Sydney in September found that 86 per cent of respondents were unable to associate an ambassador with a particular brand.
The report raises questions about the widespread practice of appointing celebrity ambassadors at luxury watch brands such as Tag Heuer, Rolex, Omega and Longines. The survey was conducted by independent research group Micromex Research.
“Eighty per cent of respondents were unable to associate an ambassador with a particular brand, while six per cent gave the incorrect brand.” Tiger Woods was the most heavily recognised with 33 per cent of respondents linking him correctly to Tag Heuer.
JAA Fair scores straight ‘A’s  The story: The JAA Australian Jewellery Fair has received top marks in an independent survey conducted at the event, with 91 per cent of respondents expressing their satisfaction with the show. The survey was completed by independent research group Micromex Research and was commissioned by fair organiser Expertise Events as part of its qualitative research. Expertise Events managing director, Gary Fitz-Roy said he regularly conducted independent research on his events to establish if they were achieving their aims. The report has shown that visitors found the event an overwhelming success with only two per cent of respondents saying they would not return in 2009. In rating their overall satisfaction with the fair on a scale of one to five, the 150 respondents reported a mean score of 4.4 (out of five), a rating significantly higher than the EEAA Trade Show Industry Benchmark 2007 of 4.1. |