Jewelry Trends when It’s All Jewelry The

Jewelry Store Viewpoint

Lab-grown diamonds are hot — but matching sets, like diamond studs to go with a tennis bracelet, are often not. And while generic jewelry is widely available from online retailers like Overstock, personalized workmanship remains highly coveted by discerning shoppers. Such are the trends as reported by independent jewelers around the United States during a busy retail year. Americans, many flush with lockdown and stimulus savings, are splurging on baubles for engagements, anniversaries, and other occasions.

“The popular stuff is always diamonds — pendants and earrings, bridal jewelry,” said Geno Avenoso , a goldsmith and owner of Franklin Jewelers in Farmington, Connecticut. His four-decade business has a devoted following for custom work. “We still use the wax process, the old-fashioned way,” Avenoso explained. “People like that we can actually make a piece from a picture they like, or copy a ring they already own.”

Custom jewelry is also the calling card at Skalet Family Jewelers, a fourth-generation business in Sacramento. Owner Adam Skalet said the family hasn’t advertised in at least 15 years: “Word of mouth and really good internet reviews are pretty much all we need.”

Skalet specializes in old wax design; his brother, Co-Owner Howard Skalet, is a whiz at antique-style reproductions using computer-aided design technology. “And my other jeweler does metal fabrication, so we pretty much cover the gamut,” Adam Skalet noted. The store specializes in classic pieces designed to become heirlooms, rather than the fashion trends that dominate department store cases.

Like many in the industry, Skalet thinks lab-grown diamonds are the biggest news in the jewelry world. Natural diamonds have soared in price, and many younger customers are put off by that industry’s environmental and human-rights problems. In contrast, “there’s really no physical difference with labcreated diamonds,” noted Skalet. “They’re just as durable, just as shiny, the same parameters as stones from the earth — but at a really, really good price. And they appeal to the younger generations getting married, who grew up with the concept of saving our planet.”

In Bismarck, N.D., Susan Weiand is seeing the same phenomenon at Walkers n’ Daughters Jewelers, the third-generation family business she oversees. Weiand recently sold a $3,000 pair of lab-grown earrings that would have cost $5,000-10,000 if the diamonds had been natural. “You get a whole lot more for your money,” she observed.

So far, lab-grown diamonds are mostly traditional

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Jewelry Trends (From page 72)

white. Walkers n’ Daughters is known for specializing in colored gems — from blue diamonds, watermelon tourmalines and sapphires in all hues to trendy “salt-and-pepper” diamonds.” “Anything different, we probably have it,” said Weiand. The store also has a reputation for clocks and clock repair that dates to Weiand’s grandfather, who started the business in 1934. Weiand’s husband took over the clock-repair niche, traveling across the region to fix grandfather clocks and others that can’t be brought into the two Bismarck locations.

One aspect of the business has certainly changed over the years: the dwindling demand for matching a band according to personal style,” Weiand noted.

“We do advertise in a few local magazines and newspapers, but mostly it’s digital media — Facebook, Instagram, and email blasts. It’s second nature for our sales people to collect email addresses from customers.”

– Theresia Oreskovic, Peter & Co., Jewelers, Avon Lake, Ohio

jewelry. In past generations, when a woman matched her purse to her shoes, earrings and necklaces were often sold as a set, perhaps with a brooch or ring as well. Engaged couples would purchase his-and-hers coordinating wedding bands. But longtime jewelers say those days are long gone. “Nowadays, instead of matching bridal sets, each member of the couple wants to choose

So Weiand doesn’t typically encourage multiple pieces — unless the customer is buying for someone who also has a birthday or anniversary coming up, in which she’ll recommend the coordinating item for a future purchase. “Or we’ll sell one for Christmas, and then the matching piece for Valentine’s Day,” the retailer said.

Geno Avenoso said he sometimes sells anniversary bands that coordinate with the original wedding rings. “But for the most part, people don’t come in anymore and say, ‘I want an earring and a pendant to match,’” the Farmington jeweler reported. “We’ll show them the matching items, but most people just concentrate on one nice piece. Then maybe later on they’ll get the matching items for a birthday, Mother’s Day or anniversary.”

At Michaels Jewelers, a storied nine-store chain in Connecticut, gold is the top category. Hannah

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