jewelry is about to get a lot more colorful
trend report from JCK Las Vegas, the industry's hottest trade show
Hi!
June gloom has finally burned off in the Bay, we’re getting some straight up paradisiacal weather. Around town: lots of baobab woven baskets at Berkeley Bowl, produce snobs picking cherries at Monterey Market like it’s an extreme sport, the line at Fish in Sausalito was “like, 200 people long” according the ladies in front of me who gave up after 10 minutes, I’ve been wearing this chili red one-piece swimsuit with this striped button-down to the pool.
💎 Today’s newsletter is a recap of JCK Las Vegas, which is like Paris Fashion Week for jewelers.
While there were several shows taking place from June 4-9 (Luxury for example, is the adjacent, high-end counterpart), the focus today is on JCK because it’s a larger global gathering of gem, jewelry, luxury and fashion circles (Forbes).
Whether you’re an up-and-coming jewelry designer or a buyer for Moda Operandi, JCK is the essential professional event of the year. Here’s who I interviewed:
Julyssa Rose, jewelry designer and metalsmith behind July Rose Jewelry
“I listened to a lot of Hemlocke Springs and Addison Rae while getting ready to solidify the vibe of the day: glamour, empowerment, sexiness.“
Xarissa B., content creator aka @jewelboxing on JewelryTok
“Last year, the lab diamond booths were mobbed. They still did a nice business this year, I'm sure, but every designer and retailer I talked to was saying they have a huge uptick in requests for interesting colored gems.”
I absolutely loved doing this interview. Vegas has been a niche interest of mine ever since I took a college class and fell in love with its history of campy architecture. Nowadays, even with the influx of sports teams and crypto conferences and leg-lengthening surgery clinics and general boom boom vibes, Vegas still retains an undeniably kitschy spirit.
It is this very tension of old and new influences, pushed to the extremes, that make Las Vegas a retro-futurist, zeitgesity city. And events like JCK contribute to that. When non-traditional press (like TikTok creators, or this newsletter!) broadcast to wider audiences beyond the jewelry industry niche, it establishes Vegas as a rising player in the fashion world.
This interview covers:
the biggest emerging jewelry trends at JCK
what makes a designer stand out in a sea of booths vying for attention?
behind-the-scenes itinerary breakdowns
what people were wearing?
comfy but cute shoes for surviving a weeklong trade show
Paid readers get the full scoop! If you've been thinking about upgrading, this is exactly the kind of insider story that makes it worth every penny.
Interviews have been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
💎 What makes Vegas an ideal setting for one of the world’s biggest jewelry trade shows?
Xarissa:
If there's one place where it's appropriate to wear all your biggest and gaudiest things at once, it's definitely Vegas!
I also wonder if there's an element of security to it—we all know how much surveillance there is at casinos, and if you're a vendor showing millions of dollars of inventory, it probably feels a little safer to be there than some other places you could exhibit. There are guards everywhere and you can see why.
Julyssa:
Oh it is just perfect. First of all, folks in the casinos are dressed in their favorite pieces, adorned in their sweetest jewels, whether they are watches, pearls, huge colorful rings. It just makes sense. If you were to reflect the glamour of jewelry in a city, it would have to be Las Vegas.
Even if I were not there for business, that city inspired the hell out of me. Here is one thing I haven’t shared yet, but I will be making a Flamingo Milagro pendant inspired by the flamingos I met at the Flamingo Hotel. Obsessed!!!
💎 What’s the difference between this event and the Tucson Gem Show? I know both are big deals for the jewelry industry.
Xarissa:
Having gone to both shows for several years, the vibe is definitely different.
Most designers and jewelers go to Tucson specifically to buy gems. There are a lot of international vendors with the latest material coming from different mines, especially colored stones, and you really get a sense of what the smaller independent brands will be working with in their collections over the next year or two.
JCK is more broad: you have a lot of high-end finished jewelry at the Luxury show, as well as supplies, tools, and gems on the regular floors, plus events and workshops. Most press will prioritize JCK, especially because it's concurrent with By Couture and the Vintage & Antiques shows, which are in the hotel next door.
If you cover jewelry design, Vegas is the place to see almost everything in a very short period of time.
Julyssa:
This was actually my first time attending a jewelry trade show! Though I haven’t attended Tucson yet, I see a clear difference in the focus of the two events. The Tucson Gem Show is very gem-focused, hence the name. From what I understand, it’s a dream for sourcing stones and raw materials.
JCK, on the other hand, is more like the jeweler’s equivalent of Fashion Week. It is highly curated and touches the full spectrum of jewelry business needs, tools, packaging, to fully finished fine jewelry.
As both a designer and a metalsmith, JCK was a dream. It wasn’t just about admiring beautiful gems (though we absolutely did), I got to actually interact with high-end tools I’ve only seen online. That hands-on aspect was so inspiring for me. And honestly, if I had to choose between gems and metalsmithing tools…I’ll almost always choose the tools!
