World Jewelry Center appoints SVP

David Girty is the new senior vice president of the World Jewelry Center's commercial office division.

The World Jewelry Center (WJC) has appointed David Girty to the newly created position of senior vice president of the commercial office division.

In his new position, Girty, who has extensive experience in the commercial real estate industry throughout southern California, will work closely with WJC Managing Director Bill Boyajian and WJC sales associates as they transition clients from letters of intent to purchase and sale agreements in the second half of 2008.

"David is a seasoned real estate broker with an exceptional background and 20 years experience in the field," Boyajian said in a media release. "I am delighted to have him join our team of professionals."

Girty's experience includes posts with prominent commercial real estate firms such as Transwestern Commercial Services and PM Realty Group. He most recently worked as senior vice president with Grubb and Ellis Co., one of North America's largest commercial real estate services firms.

Girty graduated from California State University at Los Angeles with a degree in finance, real estate and law. He is co-chairman of the South Coast (California) Metro Alliance, Commercial Leasing Group. Each year from 2002 through 2005 he was honored with the National CoStar Group's "Power Broker" top brokerage distinction in the Orange County, Calif., area.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Kath Resigns as Jewelers Mutual president, CEO

Darin L. Kath has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co., after only a year, to head another insurance company. He informed Patti Geolat, who has chaired Jewelers Mutual’s board of directors for eight years, on May. 12. The board accepted his resignation, May. 13.

Geolat, who joined the board in 1994, was named interim president and CEO by the board, effective immediately, until a permanent replacement is chosen. “The company will move forward to accomplish its vision and strategic goals, while we seek a new company president and CEO,” she said, following Kath’s resignation.

She told JCK that there is no timeframe, yet, or deadline for selection of a replacement. “We will take whatever time is necessary and go through a deliberate process to find the right person,” she said. Candidates both inside and outside the company will be considered. “We are looking at all options,” she told JCK.

“There’s no pressure to react quickly and name someone,” she said, because, “we have such a great management team that knows so much about the insurance business, we can take the time necessary.” The board has full confidence, she added, in Jewelers Mutual’s “talented staff, outstanding financial results, and exciting future. We will continue to provide superior products and service to policyholders and be the insurer of choice for the jewelry industry and owners of jewelry.”

Kath, a 20-year veteran of the insurance business, was the handpicked and groomed successor of Ronald Harder, Jewelers Mutual’s former president and CEO for 25 years.

Kath joined Jewelers Mutual, based in Neenah, Wis., as vice president of underwriting in 1997 and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2001. He was promoted again to president in 2005, as part of a succession plan in preparation for Harder’s retirement. He took over as CEO when Harder retired in May 2007.

Kath has left Jewelers Mutual to become president and CEO of Integrity Mutual Insurance Co., in Appleton, Wis., Kath’s hometown, effective June 2, pending approval by Integrity’s board. He will replace Richard Schinler, Integrity’s president for 25 years.

Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co. is the only company specializing exclusively in jewelry insurance in all 50 states of the United States and in Canada. It was founded in 1913 by jewelers who needed affordable insurance. Today, it has 10,000 commercial policyholders and 180,000 individual policyholders, carrying $2.5 billion in personal insurance coverage.
Source: jckonline

George Switzer, 92, Dies; Started a Gem Treasury

George Switzer, the mineralogist who started the Smithsonian Institution’s vast collection of gems and minerals by acquiring the legendary, and some say bedeviled, Hope Diamond, died on March 23 in Solomons, Md. He was 92 and lived in Port Republic, Md.

The cause was pneumonia, his son Mark said.

Dr. Switzer, who also played a significant role in analyzing rocks brought back from the moon, was chairman of the mineral sciences department at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History from 1964 to 1969. He had been associate curator of the museum’s division of mineralogy from 1948 to 1964.

When Harry Winston, the renowned New York City jewelry merchant, decided to donate the 45.52-carat, steely-blue Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1958, the arrangements were made by Dr. Switzer.

“That started the national collection,” Sorena Sorensen, the current chairwoman of the Smithsonian’s mineral sciences department, said in an interview Wednesday.

“At midcentury, great gemologists around the country were talking about building a national collection to rival the crown jewel collections of Europe,” Dr. Sorensen continued. “The idea for the national collection at the Smithsonian was a collaboration between Harry Winston and George.”

On Nov. 10, 1958, Mr. Winston’s wife, Edna, presented the Hope Diamond to Leonard Carmichael, then the secretary of the Smithsonian, and to Dr. Switzer. Soon after it went on display, the Hope — surrounded in a pendant by 16 white diamonds on a necklace containing 45 more white diamonds — became one of the museum’s premier attractions.

There are now about 15,000 gems, 350,000 mineral specimens, 300,000 rock and ore specimens and 35,000 meteorites in the Smithsonian collection, one of the most comprehensive in the world.

Dr. Switzer’s contributions went beyond acquisitions. In the 1970s, he played a central role in helping the museum get, through a grant from NASA, an electron probe micro-analyzer for minerals. The instrument, then new, allows scientists to determine a mineral’s origin; for example, whether it was crystallized from a molten state.

Using the micro-analyzer, Dr. Switzer and other mineralogists examined samples brought back from the moon by the Apollo 15 and 16 crews. Their work helped determine that the moon never had water on its surface and never had an atmosphere like Earth’s.

“This showed that museums could become places where cutting-edge science was carried out,” Dr. Sorensen said. “It put the Smithsonian at the forefront of instrumental technology in geology.”

Dr. Switzer also worked with other scientists on examining and naming five newly discovered mineral species. After three mineralogists — John S. White, Peter B. Leavens and Pier F. Zanazzi —analyzed pale brown crystals from North Carolina, they proposed that the manganese phosphate mineral be named in honor of Dr. Switzer. In 1967, the International Mineralogical Association approved the designation: Switzerite.

Born on June 11, 1915, in Petaluma, Calif., George S. Switzer was the son of Albert and Charlotte Ryan Switzer. Besides his son Mark, of Port Republic, Dr. Switzer is survived by his wife of 68 years, the former Sue Bowden; another son, James, also of Port Republic; eight grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Dr. Switzer graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937, then earned a master’s degree in mineralogy in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1942, both at Harvard. Before joining the staff at the Smithsonian in 1948, he taught at Stanford and Harvard.

As an associate curator, Dr. Switzer approached Mr. Winston and began sharing the dream of a national gem collection. Mr. Winston had bought the Hope Diamond in 1949 from the estate of Evalyn Walsh McLean, whose father had struck it rich in a Western gold rush.

There are gaps in the Hope’s provenance, but it is known to have passed through the hands of three French kings and Queen Marie Antoinette before being stolen during a looting of the crown jewels in 1792. It later came into the possession of King George IV of England and, in 1839, entered the collection of Henry Philip Hope, heir to a British banking fortune. Because of financial and other troubles that befell many of its possessors (Marie Antoinette lost her head), the diamond was said to be cursed.

When, in April 1962, Dr. Switzer carried the Hope to Paris for an exhibition at the Louvre, he began to wonder whether there was truth to the curse. Museum officials had determined that secrecy would the best security.

“My mother sewed this little velvet pouch and the Hope was put in the pouch and the pouch was safety-pinned to the inside of my father’s pants pocket,” Mark Switzer said. “The plane did a hard landing in Pittsburgh, almost tore the wing off.”

Upon arrival in Paris, nine hours late on the day the exhibition opened, Dr. Switzer got into a car with French officials. “They end up with a classic Paris fender-bender on the way to the Louvre,” Mr. Switzer said. “It was a running family joke.”
Source: nytimes

Seeing a void in jewelry market, former Mr. Z store manager opens own business

When Mr. Z and Co. Jewelers went out of business in December, Fred Westervelt realized there would be many loyal customers looking for a new place to shop for jewelry.

The store manager at Mr. Z for 11 years, Westervelt decided to help those people find a new place.

The original Mr. Z closed on Dec. 29. Little more than a month later, Westervelt opened a new store also called Mr. Z, on Feb. 1.

The store is located in one of Mr. Z's old locations at 3423 Miller Road.

"I opened this store primarily because so many of Mr. Z's customers asked for that," Westervelt said.

The store sells bridal jewelry and colored gems, Westervelt said. He also sells the Chamilia bracelet line, which features several different types of charms.

The store also does repairs -- nearly all of them on location, Westervelt said.
Source: mlive

Charles and Colvard honors cancer survivor

Nichelle Eggleston, winner of the "Milestone Moment" contest and a Charles and Colvard moissanite pendant.

Nichelle Eggleston, an 18-year cancer survivor from New Castle, Del., has received a custom-made moissanite pendant from Charles and Colvard as the winner of the national "Milestone Moment" contest sponsored by Hearst Communications.

Eggleston was one of more than 13,600 entrants and won the judges over with her story about being diagnosed with cancer twice and having her leg amputated to save her life.

She has gone on to dedicate her life to sharing her message with others.

The pendant is made from platinum and set with an approximately 5-carat brilliant-cut moissanite jewel surrounded by micro pavé-set diamonds. The pendant is valued at $10,500 and was supplied by J.C. Penney and Charles and Colvard.

North Carolina-based Charles and Colvard is the world's sole source for lab-created moissanite. Moissanite is a near-colorless jewel that has exceptional fire, brilliance, luster, durability and rarity. It has been marketed primarily to self-purchasing women celebrating achievements in their personal and professional lives.

Eggleston will be celebrating her own personal achievement with the world in the May issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

"I am so proud that people will be able to read about people like me, who have lost a limb, but have a good quality of life. We are out working and enjoying life," Eggleston said in a media release. "This brilliant moissanite pendant symbolizes my commitment to encourage other people to be the best they can be."
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Arthur Gleim, 91, Prominent California Jeweler

Arthur Gleim, of Palo Alto, Cal., died November 26. He was 91. Gleim, whose father Frederick founded Gleim the Jeweler in 1931, was a well-known fixture in the jewelry industry, just as his business—today comprised of three stores—is a fixture in Palo Alto.

Gleim gave generously of his time to the industry, having served as president of the American Gem Society, the California Jewelers Association, and Jewelers of America.

Gleim sat on the Gemological Institute of America Board of Governors from 1961 to 1966 and then again from 1970 to 1981. He sreved as GIA chairman from 1974-1981. And he made Governor emeritus on July 29, 1985. To date, he remains the only member of the industry to have held all of those positions.

“He and Dick [Richard T.] Liddicoat were very close friends from the time Dad took his GIA classes in the mid-1950’s,” says his daughter, Georgie Gleim, current president of Gleim the Jeweler.

Arthur Gleim is well remembered in the industry for his sense of responsibility and ethics, as well as his willingness to reach out and help others.

“He loved the jewelry industry and I think his most important rule was to do something because it was the right thing to do. But one thing he didn’t believe in was complaining," Georgie told JCK, noting that one of her father’s oft-repeated sayings was, “If you had problems with any kind of organization, then you owed it to that organization to be part of the solution.”

Arthur Gleim lived that belief. In addition to holding the abovementioned offices, he also served as a director of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, the Jewelry Industry Council (now called the Jewelry Information Center), and a chair of the AGS Trustees. He was a member of the Jewelers Research Group, and member of the Carat Club. He wrote the original AGS Appraisal Guidelines, and also served as president of the Northern California Guild of AGS.

Gleim was always willing to try new things in the business, says Georgie. “For instance, we had three diamond cutters in our shop at one time. He acquired the world’s largest carved emerald, and was one of the pioneers in estate jewelry—buying directly from the public decades before it became the thing to do.

Gleim was also remembered for helping others, and, as his many awards and commendations in the industry prove, his efforts didn’t go unrecognized.

“He was always willing to give a hand to someone starting out, and helped start a number of careers in the jewelry industry by giving them a job, whether or not they had experience,” says Georgie. Among those to whom he gave shop space, launching his US career, was Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof, now recognized as one of the premier gemstone carvers and artists in the world, she adds.

Gleim received the American Gem Society’s prestigious Robert M. Shipley Award in 1980—and was especially proud to be able to be the one to present the same award to Georgie in 1999. He won the received the CJA’s Robert B Westover Award for Meritorious Service in 2004, and received the 1975 Meritorious Service Award from the Golden Nuggets of Southern California, an organization of traveling sales representatives.

In addition to his work in the jewelry industry, he and Marjorie, his wife of more than 60 years, have been ardent supporters of a variety of charitable organizations in their own community. They met when she took a job as “temporary Christmas help” in the store in Nov, 1941, married shortly thereafter, and have been pillars of the Palo Alto community every since.

Among the local programs the Gleims have supported are Avenidas’ La Comida program, which offers inexpensive or free meals to seniors on budgets, the local Little League, local schools, and Stanford University Hospital.

Gleim never formally “retired,” says Georgie. In 1985, she became president of Gleim the Jeweler, but her father remained active in the business, gradually tapering down his level of involvement over the years.

Gleim is survived by Marjorie, Georgie, son-in-law George Schumann, two grandchildren, Jared and Lisa, and several nieces and nephews. Two sons, Arthur Jr. and Bruce, preceded him in death.
Source: jckonline

Sinkankas Leaves Final Gift to GIA Library

The Gemological Institute of America has received the third and final gift from the late Marge Sinkankas, co-owner of Peri Lithon Books and wife of the late John Sinkankas.

The donation was given to the Institute's Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center. The gift included 37 boxes of books, journals, awards, letters, and scrapbooks, as well as original watercolors and manuscripts of some of John Sinkankas' well-known gem and mineral books.

Marge Sinkankas died on May 30 at the age of 89.

"This gift is special because it represents important milestones of John and Marge's life together," said Dona Dirlam, director of GIA's Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center. "In our visits together in the last several years, Marge was always interested in what was happening in gemology and at GIA. It was her wish that this donation be used to continue support of the GIA Library in Carlsbad, though she also envisioned it being a part of the creation of libraries for other campuses as GIA expands internationally."

Included in the donation are an original typescript of Peri Lithon catalogs; a five-volume set, Encyclopédie ou Dictionnairé Raissoné des Sciences, des Arts, et des Metiers, 1969; Curtis Schuh's 1989 draft of Mineralogy and Crystallography: A Biobibliography from 1469 to 1920; illustrations from John Sinkankas' Gemstones of North America 3rd edition; a 1994 manuscript of the translation of Arab Roots of Gemmology by Al Tifaschi; and early Rocks & Minerals magazines from 1951 to 1954.

The Sinkankas' extensive book collection was acquired by GIA's Library in 1998 and, according to Dirlam, became the "cornerstone" of the Library's Cartier Rare Book Repository and Archives. Marge Sinkankas had made two other donations to the RTL Library since her husband's death in 2002.

John and Marge Sinkankas at GIA's Robert Mouawad campus on John's 88 birthday.
Source: jckonline

Hans Stern Dies at 85; Built Global Jewelry Empire

Hans Stern, a poor Jewish immigrant from Germany who used Brazilian precious stones to build a global jewelry empire, died here on Friday. He was 85.

The cause was not immediately known, said Betti García, a spokeswoman for his company, H. Stern.

Born in Essen, Germany, in 1922, Mr. Stern fled with his family at the outbreak of World War II and arrived at age 17 in Brazil, where he fell in love with the country’s abundance of colored gemstones, according to a biography the company released.

He started working for Cristab, an exporter of minerals and precious stones based in Rio.

Traveling inland on horseback, Mr. Stern got to know the miners and the lodes of tourmalines, amethysts, topazes and other semiprecious stones in the backwoods of Minas Gerais State.

In 1945, he founded H. Stern here as a gemstone trading business, to harvest the potential he saw in marketing Brazilian gems — a trade then practically nonexistent.

As the company grew, Mr. Stern trained dozens of young jewelers who worked for him and raised the Brazilian jewelry trade to international standards. His company grew to become a chain of 160 stores in Brazil.

He also established a network of partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

Today, 170 stores are franchised in 26 countries.

Mr. Stern especially loved the tourmaline, a multicolored semiprecious stone common in Minas Gerais. His jewelry was featured in magazines like Elle, Vogue and Marie Claire, and in shops in New York, Paris, Frankfurt and Tel Aviv.

Mr. Stern married in 1958 and is survived by his wife, Ruth, and their sons, Roberto, Ricardo, Ronaldo and Rafael.
Source: nytimes

Former Hardy wife reports jewelry theft

Debra Hardy-Ucman, a former wife of 84 Lumber Co. founder and billionaire Joseph A. Hardy, has accused her current husband, Paul Ucman, of stealing more than $5 million in jewelry from a safe in the couple's Rostraver Township home.

Rostraver Township police officer Rich Beranek filed charges of theft by unlawful taking or disposition late Saturday against Paul Ucman, 43, of Debbie Lane, Belle Vernon.

Beranek said an arrest warrant for Paul Ucman was issued by District Justice Bernice McCutcheon of Vandergift.

Ucman is accused to stealing $5 million in jewelry, including a 20-karat diamond ring valued at $650,000, a 100-karat diamond necklace valued at $500,000, a Piage watch valued at about $85,000 and an 18-karat presidential Rolex watch valued at $100,000, according to an affidavit of probable cause that was issued by Beranek.

At presstime, Beranek said the jewelry was being inventoried and valued in an effort to determine exactly what was missing.

Beranek conducted interviews and an on scene investigation at the home located at 2 Debbie Lane Wednesday, the affidavit said.

Through his investigation, Beranek said, in the affidavit, that he discovered that in the early hours of Sept. 27 Ucman was ordered to leave the residence and not to return. Beranek explained that Debra Hardy-Ucman and her husband are currently in the process of getting a divorce.

The following day on Sept. 28, the homeowner, Debra Hardy-Ucman and her niece, Tracy Antanovich, reported that they told Paul Ucman that they were leaving the residence, Beranek said. Hardy and Anatanovich left around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 28.

According to the affidavit, surveillance of the residence showed Paul Ucman arriving at about 3:49 p.m. The surveillance showed that he went into the victim's bedroom alone, where Debra Hardy-Ucman's safes are located.

"The door to the safes were secure and were not forcibly entered," Beranek said in the affidavit. "Ucman placed a petroleum jelly substance over a security camera covering the area of the safes."

Ucman was reportedly alone in the victim's bedroom from 3:53 to 4:09 p.m.

"He was caught on camera leaving the bedroom with a Nemacolin (Woodlands Resort) bag that was reported by the victim to have been in the room with the safes," Beranek said.
Source: heraldstandard

Marie Antoinette's pearls to fetch more than $700,000

This historically important necklace, which features pearls that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, is up for auction on Dec. 12.

London—By now, the much-maligned "Let them eat cake" phrase, attributed to Marie Antoinette's treatment of the poor, has been ruled out as nothing more than a fable.

That's not to say, however, that the most-famed queen of France's legacy of extreme extravagance is at all false. Marie Antoinette continues to be remembered for the exorbitant amount of money she spent on everything from clothing to jewels.

Auction house Christie's is now offering a part of that legacy to the public. In its upcoming "Magnificent Jewellery" sale, to be held on Dec. 12, Christie's is offering a historically important natural-pearl, diamond and ruby necklace, the pearls of which belonged to Marie Antoinette.

The necklace has never before been offered at auction, and the pearls have been in the same family for more than 200 years, Christie's said in a statement. The necklace is estimated to fetch between about $711,830 and $813,520.

The necklace was made in 1849 and features a fringe of 21 graduated drop-shaped natural gray pearls, each suspended from an old-cut diamond collet surmounted to a diamond ribbon. The ribbon is intertwined with a ruby collar that is set with 12 button-shaped natural gray pearls, mounted in gold.

The historically important pearls came into the possession of Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, the Lady Sutherland, during Marie Antoinette's imprisonment at the height of the French Revolution. The queen gave the pearls, along with the diamonds, to Lady Sutherland for safekeeping.

Anyone caught in possession of this jewelry risked severe punishment, but Lady Sutherland, the wife of the British ambassador, had diplomatic immunity, so she was one of the few who could be trusted to return the jewels when the queen escaped.

The plan was never realized, however. Marie Antoinette was put to death by guillotine in 1793 on the precept of treason.

The diamonds were later fashioned into the Sutherland diamond necklace, and the pearls were mounted on the occasion of the marriage of Lady Sutherland's grandson George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower to Anne Hay-McKenzie.

"It is exceptionally rare to be able to offer jewels that belonged to Marie Antoinette and which are completely fresh to the market," Raymond Sancroft-Baker, senior director of Christie's Jewellery, London, said in a statement. "The story behind the pearls and their integral integration into this necklace for the Sutherland-Leveson-Gower family wedding in 1849 adds to the fascinating history of this necklace."
Source: nationaljewelernetwork

Bill Clinton Wears Green Bracelet

Former president Bill Clinton was caught "Green" handed at the VH1 Save the Music 10th Anniversary Gala wearing Simmons Jewelry Co's philanthropic Green Bracelet.

Russell Simmons saw Clinton backstage at the event and seized the opportunity to tell him about the Diamond Empowerment Fund, his initiative that gives back to Africa. The Green Bracelet donates more than $20 from the sale of each to D.E.F. for educational programs in African countries where diamonds are a natural resource.

"I was officially dared by Simmons Jewelry president Scott Rauch to put this bracelet on your wrist before you go onstage," Simmons recalls telling Clinton. "He promised me $25,000 to my charity if you do it," he emphasized.

Clinton paused, looked Russell in the eye, smiled, and grabbed the Green Bracelet, Simmons said. As Clinton spoke onstage on national TV, Clinton waved his wrist in the air with purpose, displaying the bracelet to millions of national viewers.

Clinton and Simmons share the honor of recently being named one of the "25 most influential people of the past 25 years who changed our world" by USA Today.
Source: jckonline

Laurel Burch, Artist, Dies at 61

Laurel Burch, who as a 20-year-old single mother found metal in junkyards to hammer into jewelry to support her two children, and went on to win distinction as a fanciful designer and success as a savvy businesswoman, died on Sept. 13 at her home in Novato, Calif. She was 61.

Rick Sara, her husband, said yesterday that the cause was complications of osteopetrosis, a painful bone disease she had her entire life, suffering more than 100 bone fractures as a result.

Ms. Burch translated her visions of “fantastic felines,” mythical animals, colorful blossoms, butterflies, moons, hearts and imagined people, among myriad other imaginings, into colorful enamel jewelry, paintings, T-shirts, scarves, ceramics and tote bags, which were sold by thousands of stores. Forbes magazine in 1985 said she had created a niche between high-volume, low-price costume jewelry and high-priced designer lines like Paloma Picasso’s for Tiffany.

She told Women’s Wear Daily in 1986 that she wanted to become “one of the design influences in the world.” She also loved being the chief executive of the company named after her and paid close attention to the details of how department stores marketed her products.

But her passion was art, and even as she churned out hundreds of products, her husband said that 90 percent of her designs derived from her original paintings.

A woman who lived in pain, she said her goal was to pass on her joy. Ms. Burch described herself this way on her Web site:

“I live within the vivid colors of my imagination ... soaring with rainbow feathered birds, racing the desert winds on horseback, wrapped in ancient tribal jewels, dancing with mythical tigers in steamy jungles.”

Laurel Anne Harte was born in the San Fernando Valley of California on Dec. 31, 1945. She grew up in a broken home; her father married three times, her mother twice. She said in an interview with The Marin Independent Journal in 1995 that as a girl she felt emotionally unstable and untalented. She found some measure of peace in playing the guitar, dancing and drawing.

She left home at 14 with only a paper bag of clothing, and she cleaned houses and cared for children in exchange for room and board. She dropped out of high school and became a vagabond, “going around singing and playing the guitar,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 1986. Her husband said that she never took an art class.

She married a jazz musician, Robert Burch, when she was 19 and was the divorced mother of a son and daughter by the time she was 20. When she was pregnant with her second child, her son Jay, she was arrested for stealing a piece of meat from a supermarket, The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2000; someone had told her she should be eating more protein.

In addition to receiving welfare payments, she supported the children by making jewelry at her kitchen table in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco and selling it on the street from tackle boxes. Some local stores began stocking her creations, and Forbes reported that an Indian businessman, Shashi Singapuri, took samples to China. The Chinese were intrigued enough to invite her to China in 1971.

There she discovered cloisonné, a kind of enamel work, which has sectioned-off brightly colored areas of enamel that form a larger pattern. She made a dozen paintings and had the designs made into earrings. Mr. Singapuri put up some money, and manufacturing began. The brightly colorful jewelry was the beginning of her signature look, with cloisonné patterns showing up in many other media, including fabric.

She went on to work on cast metals and wood and to include spinoff products on paper, porcelain and fabric.

She pointedly ignored fashion trends, saying her goal was a look that appealed to shy people as well as bold, eccentric ones. As countless kitchen shelves attest, thousands upon thousands of cat lovers treasure her feline coffee mugs.

After splitting with Mr. Singapuri, she started Laurel Burch Inc. in 1979, with full control as president and chief designer. By the mid-1990s she found herself devoting 80 percent of her time and energy to business matters. In order to return to art, she licensed her designs to a dozen companies that make and distribute them around the world.

Her second marriage, to Jack Holton, ended in divorce. In addition to her current husband, she is survived by her daughter, Aarin; her son, Jay; and two granddaughters.

In Ms. Burch’s last years her bone disease worsened. She learned to paint left-handed after breaking her right arm in 2005. Still, she told The Independent Journal that if she had to choose between good health and her artistic gifts, she would choose her art — “in a second, in a heartbeat.”

In her last artworks she sometimes included words. One quoted an American Indian proverb: “The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.”
Source: nytimes

Jewelry store owner to help other women start in retail

Monica Swidler knows the challenges women face in starting up a new business.

The Carlisle woman wanted to be her own boss since she was a little girl growing up in Santiago, Chile.

Never afraid to express an idea, she used to get in trouble with her supervisors who either took the credit for a good suggestion or asked her to be quiet so as not to be upstaged.

Swidler learned that to be a success in business, a person has to enjoy the challenge of trying to sell something to somebody. “You must like to talk and listen to people.”

Applying the simple principle of buy it for less, sell it for a little more, Swidler started selling jewelry to friends, neighbors and co-workers in Chile before moving to the United States about 15 years ago.

For about a year, she sold merchandise out of her home before opening Magnolia Jewelry store at 728 N. Hanover St. about three years ago. Now Swidler wants to open the door for other women to walk in.

“I have a passion for helping people make their dreams come true,” Swidler says.

Plans are under way to rent out floor space in her building to women who run a business out of their home, but want a more visible location to sell merchandise.

Three tenants have signed up so far for what Swidler calls a small business incubator for women helping women. She anticipates her tenants moving in around mid-September - just in time to take advantage of the holiday shopping season.

Tenants have the flexibility to customize their space which can be set apart by a divider or cubicle wall, Swidler said. She added they would benefit from shared advertising space on the sign out front along with an opportunity to network with other women.

“It's empowering,” Swidler says. “They could use a friend and a place to help them get started.”

Eventually, she hopes to sign five to seven tenants. The one condition Swidler places on tenants is not to have two vendors compete under the same roof offering the same type of merchandise.

Debbie String is owner of the Leaf of Eve clothing boutique and gift shop in Enola. She plans to open a second location at the small business incubator to move her product line closer to her Carlisle-area clients.

String thinks it is a good opportunity for her to offer advice to other women working to start a business. Sharing space in the same building will draw more customers to all the tenants.

Swidler wants to have a play area set aside for children while parents shop. There are also plans to bring in two instructors who can teach customers how to make their own jewelry using high-end beads of precious metals and gemstones.

Swidler is going to expand her product line to include jewelry designers from her native continent of South America. Her goal is to support them while offering her customers more of a variety of upscale merchandise.

“It's a big jump for me - a step above in quality,” Swidler says. “It's all about support. The more you give, the more you get but you do not give to get something in exchange.”

Swidler meet recently with representatives from the Project SHARE food bank in Carlisle and advocates for victims of domestic violence to discuss how to help struggling women rent a booth at the incubator for minimal rent.

Project SHARE executive director Elaine Livas said, conceptually, it is a great idea and she applauds Swidler's efforts. “She is obviously a woman of vision and a woman with a heart for other women who are struggling.

“We have yet to figure how Project SHARE is going to fit in with this,” Livas said. “We do have some women who have a talent and can put it to work, but most of them face obstacles before they can get to that point.”

Livas suggested Swidler taking some women “under her wing” in her effort to help them get started in business.
Source: cumberlink

Industry mourns passing of diamond pioneer

Moshe Schnitzer, one of the founding fathers of the Israeli diamond industry, died last night at the age of 86.

Ramat Gan, Israel—Moshe Schnitzer, a founding father of the Israeli diamond industry, past chairman of the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) and honorary president of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), passed away last night. He was 86.

Schnitzer was born in Chernowitz, Romania, in 1921 and immigrated to Israel in 1934. He studied history and philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem before beginning his career in the diamond industry as a diamond sawer in 1942. He advanced in the industry and opened Schnitzer-Greenstein with a partner in 1952. His own company, M. Schnitzer and Co., founded in 1980 with his son and son-in-law, would become a leading firm in the industry.

Schnitzer helped found the IDE in 1947 and was a leading force in the expansion and development of the exchange, now the largest in the world. From 1967 to 1993, he served as president of the IDE. Under his leadership, polished-diamond exports increased from $200 million to $3.4 billion annually.

He was also president of the WFDB from 1968 to 1972, and again from 1978 to 1982. He became lifelong honorary president of the WFDB in 1982 and lifelong honorary president of the IDE in 1994.

Schnitzer received the Order of King Leopold of Belgium for his contributions to the international diamond industry and to the development of ties between Israel and Belgium. He also received an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University.

He established the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Ramat Gan and served as its chairman until July 2003. The municipality of Ramat Gan named the plaza adjacent to the diamond exchange Moshe Schnitzer Plaza, and the campus of the diamond exchange was named the Israel Diamond Center in his honor in 2002. He was also named an honored citizen by the city of Tel Aviv.

Schnitzer received the prestigious Israel Prize in 2004 for his contributions to the State of Israel and Israeli society.

"Moshe Schnitzer is identified more than anyone else with the Israel diamond industry, and his vision and personality have contributed greatly to Israel's stature in the world," stated the official announcement for the prize. He was called "the highest-ranking ambassador of the diamond industry."

His three children, Hanna Gertler, Etty Yovel and Shmuel Schnitzer, and their families, survive Schnitzer. His wife, Varda, died in 2002. His son Shmuel also served as president of the IDE and the WFDB.

Schnitzer's funeral was held today in Israel. The funeral began at the IDE compound, where he was eulogized by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Mayor of Ramat Gan Zvi Bar, IDE President Avi Paz, IDI Chairman Moti Ganz, past vice president of the Diamond Exchange Bumi Traub, his daughter Hanna and his son Shmuel. He was buried in the Nahalat Itzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork