Before I give my assessment of the 2011 Basel show, I have to mention my amazing team.  That show is brutal, 8 days long - a duration dictated by the watch side of the industry - but the SW sales, PR, creative, and operations crews once again worked well and truly above the call of duty.

People have come to expect a certain experience from their SW appointment, whether that be to place orders, conduct interviews, browse the new collections, or just hang out at the Absolut vodka bar.  A unique experience they definitely get.  Time after time retailers complimented me on the particular sales person who services their account.  Kate and her team have to be the best in the business.  As for our PR duo, I can’t imagine another jewellery brand who work through anywhere close to the 100 press appointments they manage to attend throughout the show.  I wish I could offer them a week’s holiday straight after the show, but unfortunately next week marks the start of the massive follow up and confirmation drive. Oh well - thank God its only once a year!

The latest women’s fine jewellery collection is called Murder She Wrote; a tongue in cheek take on the very English Murder and a cup of tea in the countryside.  A glamorous armoury of poison rings, stilettoes, and gem set ‘bangs’ created using rose, white and blackened gold.  Black and white diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubellites and crystal haze stones - M.S.W is definitely for the passionate.

Pop Superstud is the new women’s silver collection.  This is a high impact collection with an explosion of coloured gems.  This layers nicely onto the now core Superstud collection.  Over four years old since launching, Superstud has established the SW brand as a driving force in the now essential Sterling Silver business.

Musically inspired, Alchemy in the UK is the latest collection for men.  Playing on a Sex Pistol’s lyric from 1976, this collection takes the punk spirit of the times and translates it into jewellery for men and of course women, as women always buy our men’s jewellery - only then we call it boyfriend.  Using rose gold, black silver, white silver, black diamonds, sapphires and leather, this is a celebration with attitude.

Overall, the Basel show was a great success.  There are always challenges, this year for us (and everyone in the industry) with the price of gold, diamonds, silver, biscuits, tea and virtually everything else sky rocketing…  Achieving price points that are acceptable to the end consumer has become challenging to say the least.  One of the major factors in our favour has been the diversity of our product on offer, combined with the creativity that is our hallmark.

With clients from all over the world each giving their pennies worth, a week in Basel can often result in dizziness and confusion.  There is no denying that a lot of this is due to the unavoidable heavy consumption of Vodka based drinks; but more importantly down to the head full of opinions and requirements that need to be processed and subsequently addressed before the product hits the shelves.  Claire and I are used to this now and I like to think that eventually we can make nearly everyone happy - whether they like it or not.

I am off to Brazil for a holiday next week.  Nothing like a stretch on the Copa Cabana to clear the last remnants of Basel’s staple diet of sausage and bread from the system.

SW