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The one-of-a-kind necklace, along with a coordi-nating pearl and diamond ring, will be available exclusively at Zadok Jewelers in Houston this fall, and additional pieces will be in-troduced shortly thereafter. Featuring over six carats of diamonds, a strand of sizeable pearls, and a heavy silk taffeta sash—given to the buyer in both white and black for versatility—the necklace, says Katharine, is a “statement piece.”

It’s a statement tailor-made for a fashion-forward bride who wants to add flair to her wedding-day look without throwing tradition to the wind. When the bride walks down the aisle, it appears as though she is wearing a classic strand of pearls. With the sash and diamonds on the nape of her neck, only after she passes by does the mag-nificence of the piece become evident to others. “It’s meant to be a subtle look in the front, and a dramatic look in the back,” says the designer.

“That was the concept. I pictured the bride walk-ing down the aisle with the pearls in front, and in

back is the drama of the bow and the diamonds trailing down.”

After the wedding, or per-haps as soon as the ceremony ends, the bride can turn the piece around and wear the bow in the front or off to one side, if she so desires. “She can be demure going down the aisle, and after the wedding, take off her veil and move the bow to the front,” says Katharine. “From there on out, it’s some-thing you can wear on New Year’s Eve, holidays, or to any black-tie event.”

Johnson & Johnson heir-ess Casey Johnson recently borrowed the Black Tie Bow™ necklace and, with the black sash in front,

wore it with a pair of jeans. “It was a chic-hip look, yet so elegant,” says Katharine. “You can do a lot with this piece. You tell the piece what to do.” ■

One glance at a photograph of a bride in her wedding gown was all it took to inspire a new collection from Katharine James. “Her dress was backless and had a bow on the lower part of the back” explains Katharine, “and covered buttons going

all the way down. I started sketching a bow, and then came a necklace, and that’s where Black Tie Bow™ was born.”

By Amy Gurvitz

James Katharine

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Table ofcontents

32 Made In aMerIca

A new way to think about Made in America.

48 PlatInuM’s 10 tIPs

The top 10 reasons why platinum bridal jewelry is a hot ticket for the holidays.

52 ses creatIons

With their tagline, “classics never fade away,” SES Creations believes that

jewelry should last a lifetime.

14 Katharine James “On The Cover”

22 Publisher’s View & Contributors

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the Jewelry Book, a division of Bromstad Publishing, Inc. P.O. Box 2017, Sonoma, CA, 95476.Tel: 707-996-3313. No editorial or photography may be reproduced in any way – in print internet or otherwise – without the written consent of Bromstad Publishing, Inc.

on the cover Jewelry: Katharine James 877.752.8479Photographer: James Garrahan

www.KatharineJames.com ◆ 877.752.8479

‘Bella’s Love’ ™

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30 Giving Back

44 Season to Season

56 Monica Rich Kosann

58 The Jewelry Box

64 Trends & Views

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It starts with the ineffective auto executives who make more money than most of us can comprehend. They negotiate unrealistic contracts with labor unions. Management and labor are so busy splitting the spoils, they forget to leave money for research, development and capital improvements. They forget to work. They forget to make good cars. They forget that the public can’t drive a slogan - there must be a tangible product behind the slogan. Doesn’t sound American, or patriotic, to me.

America began losing its dominance as a manufactur-ing powerhouse in 1973, and that was when public perception of the slogan made in America changed. Before

1973, Americans considered most imported products to be lacking in quality. With the oil embargo of 1973 came escalating gas prices. For the next eight years, the world’s supply of oil was inconsistent.

Rationing and out-of-gas signs at the pump were commonplace. Sometimes we sat in our cars waiting for hours to get ten gallons of

gas. Car brands that had been the punch line of jokes, like Toyota and Datsun, compared favorably to

the small cars that American manufacturers were producing. Foreign cars were small-boned and fit their frame. The technology seemed suited to the car’s size. American-made small cars were merely smaller versions of larger cars. Enough people began preferring the foreign vehicles, so that collectively, America decided imported stuff wasn’t so bad after all. The words made in America rang hollow.

Fast forward to 2009. Once again you see the words made in America in ads and on packaging. But the mantra made in America needs to be quantifiable and not just another marketing ploy. My friend Frank buys the American product because he thinks it’s good for the country. I buy American products that are well-made, reliable and thus good for me. That way, I feel like I’m encouraging good American companies to prosper.

IN MY MADE IN AMERICA . . .My made in America is domestic jewelry manufacturing.

My made in America is the tradition of manufacturing companies providing an alternative-training field to college.

Now let me tell you quickly about my good friend Frankie. Since we were teenagers, he has only bought domestic cars. Buying American, he says, symbolizes his

patriotism. He bought his new 2009 Jeep Wrangler because it’s made in America. Unfortunately, most consumer guides rate the Jeep Wrangler very poorly when it comes to safety and reliability. Two months later with the rain teaming, his Wrangler dropped

a tailpipe on the local highway. Legions of Toyotas and Nissans hydroplaned by, the waves of water cascading over Frankie’s now soaking-wet shoes. You might ask him how patriotic he was feeling at that moment, but the real

point is that, sometimes, inferior products are made in America.

By Bruce Pucciarello

The U. S . Je w elry M a n ufac t ur erA new way to think about Made in America

MADE IN AMERICA OR

M.I.A.?

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Precision Set

I learned almost everything that I know by working in factories, and then owning and managing a manufacturing company. At ev-ery level, the people who work in the manu-facturing sector get experience problem solv-ing, setting and achieving goals. But every year there are less American manufacturers. In the last thirty years, with a growing popu-lation, we’ve lost 7.5 million manufacturing jobs.*

Whether we are tackling large national problems or making our own day-to-day business decisions, supporting our better domestic-jewelry manufacturers is not only patriotic, but good business. The best manufacturers and retailers are providing and expecting products of superior design, originality, quality and service.

Today, most American-made jewelry comes from the hands of our most highly skilled artisans. We use some of the most sophisticated equipment available. We are as adept at advancing the technologies involved as any country and more capable of using it than most. We are one of the world leaders in jewelry design and innovation. Through good times and bad times, Ameri-cans have been designing and manufacturing excellent jew-elry; in today’s economy, that puts the American jewelry manufacturer in the perfect position to give the retailer a better option.

With a good American manufacturer, communication and reaction time is quicker. Problem solving is fast because days aren’t lost communicating across time zones. More and more, American jewelry manufacturers are customization-capable, offering rapid turnaround on cus-tomized product.

A good U.S. manufacturer knows their competition and tells their customers when it does and does not make sense to do business together. At the risk of sound-ing cliché, relationships in business are critical. My experience is that the closer a retailer’s relationship is to where his prod-uct is made, the better.

Therefore, it turns out that, unlike in other industries, made in America jewelry isn’t M.I.A. However, manufacturers need to proactively inform retailers about made in America excellence. Retailers should seek out the manufacturers that represent the highest made in America standards. Made in America jewelry has always been there as a profitable product to be sold with confidence.

WHO MAKES WHAT WHERE?So, how would a retailer know who

makes what where? Most retailers are very knowledgeable about which of their current products are domestic and which are imported. The information that is harder for them to find is an industry-wide overview of the types of products they buy and what is available on the market from domestics or from outsourcers. With that knowledge, a retailer could choose in advance to explore relationships that he knows are made in America.

For the next few issues, The Jewelry Book will be featuring the best domestic manufactur-ers of jewelry today. These are American jewelry manufactur-ers that have one thing in com-mon: Pride. These are compa-

nies that I’m proud to share an industry with. They make and service the product here, they are good at it, and they are always trying to get better. The Jewelry Book and jewelrybook.com will provide easy access for retailers who want to find these companies. Editorials, articles and product features will introduce you to some compa-nies you don’t know and give a clearer defi-nition of companies that you might already be familiar or doing business with.

As it all comes together, this will be a collection of jewelry that is as diverse as it is national. Isn’t that the beauty of America? It isn’t what melts in the melting pot, but what we cast from it.

*Kichen, Steve. “Made In America.” Forbes.Com (5-28-09): Online. Internet. 9-13-09. Available forbes.com. ■

Alex Sepkus

Katharine James

Jack AbrahamJohn Buechner

Mark Patterson

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212.391.8466www.alexsepkus.com

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