FEATURE WFDB PRESIDENTS’ MEETING

PROFESSIONAL JEWELLER | August 2015 professionaljeweller.com38

Choo shoes have gone from $495 to $650 in the same time, and Mulberry has merrily hiked up the prices on its bags.” What Franck Mueller is saying is, marketed the correct way, diamond jewellery could also have a 7,500 strong waiting list like Hermes does for its Bir-kin handbags. Imagine if you could do that with diamond jewellery…

Two heavy working sessions later and we are treated to a Gala dinner like I have never seen. Israel Diamond Bourse have put on a game changing showstopper of an event.

An industry accolade is awarded to Dieter Hahn; the fourth generation of his family to be involved in the oldest diamond manufacturing company in Germany. I’m on a great table, there are lots of topical discussion and I find myself deep in conversation with Paul Van de Steen, formally of the HRD Antwerp board of directors. I learn more about the physical properties of diamonds in a few minutes than I have in months.

Inspirational speeches ensue and a full-on stage show by some of Israel’s most renowned singers and artists, while the worldwide diamond commu-nity creates new relationships and re-news old bonds. I am lucky enough to be introduced by Harry Levy to more of his long-established colleagues who are so welcoming of a new generation coming through.

There has been much documented professional coverage of the WFDB

meetings over the last few weeks, with WFDB president Ernest Blom prais-ing Shmuel Schnitzer, president of Is-rael Diamond Exchange and his team for their initiative in putting together such a complete programme. “The Presidents’ Meeting is an excellent opportunity to gauge the wellbeing of our industry and the downstream market,” said Mr Blom.

The closing sessions included speech-es from both Philippe Mellier, CEO of De Beers, and recently appointed Alrosa president, Andrey Zharkov. They both gave their own perspectives on the pre-sent condition of the diamond market.

I left Israel with a more complete view of the industry. However, my overall rea-son for reporting my experience in Tel Aviv to the UK industry is to stress that seasoned diamond professionals are in-creasingly aware of the need to interact with the younger generation.

Well-intentioned professionals such as myself are being welcomed to meet-ings because there is growing recogni-tion that Generation X and Millenni-als have a relatively small window of opportunity to work alongside our es-

tablished industry hierarchy. Also, we bring something to the table — a new way of working and insight into a fresh generation of consumers.

I do not dispute that the diamond industry can be ‘old school’ but isn’t that the beauty of our trade? The basis of our customs and our history cou-pled with modern working practices could result in a heaven-sent indus-try, but there will be a need, in the fu-ture, to combine the old and the new and for that to be effective, we ‘young-sters’ need to learn.

Basic logic dictates that if we, the next generation of diamond industry professionals don’t make ourselves known to those who came before us, they are not going to go in search of us on our LinkedIn, Instagram or Twit-ter. We have to make ourselves known in the oldest of ways, by being physi-cally present, as without us being present there is no way for us to ben-efit from the infinite diamond wisdom and knowledge at these events, which would be an incredible loss to us.

Overall, I would encourage anyone who is interested in the future of the diamond industry and learning from those established elders of our trade, to start to find a way to participate at a national or global level, as soon as you can. You might find that you get a sur-prising welcome.

To put it in the hashtag speak that almost everyone is beginning to under-stand... #effectchange #getinvolved

THE BASIS OF OUR CUSTOMS

AND OUR HISTORY COUPLED WITH MOD-ERN WORKING PRAC-TICES COULD RESULT IN A HEAVEN-SENT INDUSTRY.”

Behind-the-scenes images from the WFDB Presidents’ Meeting in Tel Aviv