2008 proved to be a very difficult year for many people, and many businesses. All the indications are that this year will prove to be at least equally as challenging.
Several clients have asked me how my business has been performing in this gloomy economic environment, and I am delighted to have been able to tell them that after a very busy 12 months in 2008, this year has started off just as strongly.
Why do I think this is the case? I feel that it is a combination of a number of key factors that I have focussed on over time. I have long believed in the importance of offering top quality service, and have sought to build and maintain strong relationships with my clients. I spend time with people, I listen to what they have to say and I treat them as individuals, thereby making them an integral part of the jewellery design “process.” I pay particular attention to the quality of both design and manufacture, and the vast majority of our jewellery continues to be hand made here in Sydney.
The long term relationships that I have established with my suppliers in Australia and overseas, has also enabled me to continue to deliver both quality and value to my clients despite a difficult economic environment, in which exchange rates, and gemstone availability have fluctuated.
Finally top quality precious jewellery has both an allure, and an enduring value, that many more transient gifts and possessions will never have.
I am quietly confident that my business will continue to go well in 2009 and I hope to see you in my studio at sometime during the year, where we have a number of new pieces on display, including this diamond ring featuring a wonderful princess cut centre diamond.
I am sure that all parents like to think that they are successful in passing some of their best qualities on to their children, so I was thrilled when my 23-year-old daughter Charlotte was recently awarded the NSW Business Chamber’s 2008 Textile Clothing Footwear and Leather Industry Award. Charlotte, who has loved fashion and clothing since she was very young, won the award for her innovative business plan for her fashion label “Char Hicks.” It will allow her to turn the dream of owning her own fashion label into reality, including as it does a combination of cash and in kind investment, business advice and export market development assistance.
To say that her dad is very proud of her is an understatement!
Since the latter part of last year I have noticed a renewed interest, from both new and existing clients, in the remodelling or renovation of existing jewellery and I am currently working on several commissions in this area.
The design and creation of a hand made “new for old” piece of jewellery is something that I really enjoy. You maybe surprised how much value you have tied up in jewellery that you seldom wear, or maybe have inherited from other members of your family and have tucked away in a bottom draw, particularly when you consider the dramatic increase in the price of gold in recent months.
If you would like some advice about the potential for remodelling, or would like my thoughts on some pieces of jewellery that you are currently not getting the full benefit from, give me a call on 0419 484 287.
Michelle Obama is creating quite a buzz in the fashion world and has just been featured on the front cover of US Vogue for the first time. She is also taking on the role as an unofficial ambassador for diamond jewellery wearing some wonderful pieces during official engagements in the early weeks of her husband’s first term. This picture of her taken at one of the Inaugural Balls shows a diamond cocktail ring, classic linear diamond earrings and a number of diamond bangle bracelets. Wearing multi diamond bracelets is a fast growing trend in the United States.
Sometimes it’s hard not to raise a smile at other people’s misfortune as this story from the UK illustrates.
Lefkos Hajji, 28, wanted to make his engagement one his girlfriend would never forget, only to have his dreams cruelly snatched from his grasp by a gust of wind. Rather than simply dropping to one knee before Leanne, 26, he told a florist to put her 6,000-pound diamond engagement ring in a silver helium balloon. But no sooner had he left the shop than his plans backfired spectacularly when the balloon blew away - taking the ring with it. Keeping his prize in sight, Mr Hajji, from Hackney, pursued the balloon for two hours in his car across London before giving it up as lost.
He told the Sun newspaper: "I couldn't believe it. I just watched as it went further and further into the air. "I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me. "I thought I would give Leanne a pin so I could literally pop the question." While Mr Hajji hopes the ring will still turn up, his girlfriend, as he suspected, was apparently less than impressed. Florist Helen Savva, from Cockfosters, told the newspaper: "I thought he was taking a risk. I said, 'I hope you hold on to it'."
Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to friends, relations or work colleagues who you think would be interested in reading it. They are of course also most welcome to register on line by visiting my home page at www.billhicksjewellery.com.au to ensure that they receive future newsletters direct.
Regards,
Bill Hicks
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