The mining giant also wants to offload its platinum business as part of an overhaul designed to “unlock significant value.”
5 Things That Are New from Stuller
The fine jewelry supplier and manufacturer debuted an on-trend bridal collection, added lab-grown melee in pink and blue, and introduced a new tester.
Las Vegas—As usual, Stuller’s booth at JCK Las Vegas was hard to miss.
Spanning 4,100 square feet on Level 1 of the Sands, it contained everything needed to run a jewelry business, from diamond testers and jewelry engravers, to fine jewelry itself—bridal, fashion and an expanded collection of colored gemstones—to displays for showcases and packaging for customers.
Here are five things that caught our editor’s eye when she visited the Lafayette, Louisiana-based supplier and manufacturer at the jewelry trade show.
1. Stuller has embraced “alternative” bridal.
At this point, the industry can probably drop the “alternative” when describing any ring that’s a departure from a traditional engagement ring, as rings that are unique have become the norm.
Many consumers today are looking for something “different,” and Stuller is now supplying its jewelers with such.
At JCK Las Vegas, the company introduced the Designer Bridal Collection, which it describes as “refresh on traditional styles.”
RELATED CONTENT: 5 Engagement Ring Trends to Track in 2019There’s unusual or exaggerated halos and accents, center stones that are set east-west, vintage-inspired designs and asymmetrical styles.
The rings can be set with either a diamond or colored gemstone—center stones sizes and shapes can be swapped in some, but not all, of the styles—and are available in platinum as well as 18-, 14- and 10-karat gold.
Stuller sold the Designer Bridal Collection as a unit for its debut at Las Vegas and might do so again in the future, but for now, the rings are available individually at Stuller.com.
2. It’s now selling lab-grown diamond melee, and it comes in colors too.
Stuller started selling larger lab-grown diamonds in late 2015. It announced at this year’s JCK show that in order to give jewelers every option available, it has added man-made diamond melee to the mix in a total of six colors.
There is F+ and GHI melee as well as blue, coral pink, lavender pink, and peach, all four of which are pictured below.
Available in round only, the stones range in size from 0.08 to 0.33 carats (2.8-4.4 mm).
The diamonds are screened and quality-checked there before being shipped out in a blue parcel, making them identifiable just as the larger lab-grown diamonds are in their blue acrylic boxes.
In addition, like larger lab-grown diamonds, the melee is labeled with
3. There’s a new machine for testing diamonds.
Among the new tools and equipment Stuller introduced was the DiaTrue CS Scanner, a device that can detect diamonds grown using either the chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) or high-pressure, high-temperature process (HPHT). It can also pick up CZ, moissanite, and CZ and moissanite coated with CVD-grown diamond.
Stuller said its current testers will only tell jewelers if the stone is a natural diamond or Type IIa, with the Type IIa diamonds getting referred to a lab for further testing. The DiaTrue CS Scanner gives jewelers a more definitive answer.
It is a relatively compact machine at 8” L x 10.5” W x 9” H and costs $5,800.
4. This selling system is magnetic, literally.
Stuller introduced new selling systems for religious jewelry, birthstone crosses and personalization at the show, as well as the Magnetic Ring Builder.
It’s a prototype selling system that lets ring shoppers try different diamond shapes and sizes on bands in a variety of metals colors and styles.
WATCH: Alissa Talbot Demos the Magnetic Ring Builder
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Each shank has a magnet at the top so customers can, for example, pop on, a 1 1/2-carat round and then switch it out for a 2 carat, or they can see how an oval looks on their hand compared with a pear.
There are 800 different variations available, and Stuller said it has plans to expand the Magnetic Ring Builder in the future. The cost is $1,999.
5. And … more color.
In keeping with the color trend, Stuller expanded its selection of colored gemstones, both in its Stuller Gemstones Collection and its calibrated assortment.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by National Jeweler (@nationaljeweler) on Jun 3, 2019 at 11:43am PDT
On display at JCK Las Vegas, the company had imperial topaz (pictured above) and apatite alongside a few gemstones that are new to its Gemstones Collection, including indicolite tourmaline and moonstones from Burma, Sri Lanka and Africa.
Stuller also added two gemstones that were hot at the Tucson gem shows—garnet, which it carries in every color, and spinel.
WATCH: Sam Larson on Colored Stones
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