Ya’akov Almor – Ya'akov Almor

Different industries, similar issues
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Different industries, similar issues

Blog, English - Industry related

Different industries, similar issues

Earlier this month, Business of Fashion held a professional summit, entitled How to build a responsible fashion business. The four hour-summit covered a wealth of topics that discussed the fashion business' values, labor rights, discrimination, and racial inequality, and sustainability. It was an inspiring afternoon! Of course, nothing that happens in the fashion industry stays in the fashion industry. These topics, with variations, also apply to the luxury industry, among them the diamond, gemstone, and jewelry trade, as often demonstrated by the content published on [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2020-06-28T22:32:08+02:00 June 28th, 2020|Blog, English - Industry related|0 Comments

Trepidation

I write this column with trepidation, as it discusses how the ultra-orthodox Jewish cities and neighborhoods in Israel have become the central hot spots of the coronavirus. With trepidation, because no matter how careful I will spin the tale and report on the below, it is bad news. The good news is that, in a recent report, Israel was identified as one of the safest countries at the time of this pandemic. That is encouraging news, but it can still change. A humorous look at [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2020-04-08T16:45:17+02:00 April 8th, 2020|Blog, Human Interest - English, Uncategorized|0 Comments

BC-AC

BC-AC? No, it’s is not the name of a band. That’s AC-DC. BC-AC is a term we’re going to hear a lot more in the coming weeks, months, and maybe years. I first came across it on March 20, in an article in the New York Times, written by the renowned journalist and columnist Thomas Friedman. “There is the world B.C. - Before Corona – and the world A.C. – After Corona. We have not even begun to fully grasp what the A.C. world will [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2020-03-31T23:43:36+02:00 March 31st, 2020|Blog, English - Industry related|0 Comments

Dancing at two weddings at the same time

On Thursday, I watched Martin Rapaport’s webinar. The webinar ran for almost two hours. As Rapaport carried on, I became progressively more uncomfortable. Did he ask valid questions? He sure did. Here are some of the questions he asked. Are diamonds more than a luxury product? Are they better than shoes and pocketbooks? Are diamonds valuable? Why?Who makes them valuable? Who stands behind those diamonds? Are diamonds a store of value in troubled times? Good questions, you’ll agree. He then continued making some more good [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2020-03-21T20:51:23+01:00 March 21st, 2020|Blog, English - Industry related|0 Comments

Tequila Sunrise

Earlier this week, Vlad Yavorskyy posted a story about Mandarin Garnet on Facebook. He wrote: “In recent years many new gemstones have been unearthed in distant and exotic places, occasioning great excitement in the gem world. One such a fantastic moment came at the beginning of the 1990’s with the discovery of a vivid orange garnet in the remote North-West of Namibia….” And “Mandarin garnet itself is a spessartite with some almandine, and owes its bright orange color to the presence of manganese...” Thank you, [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2019-10-30T13:20:43+01:00 October 30th, 2019|English - Industry related, Uncategorized|0 Comments

The girl of yesterday

In early September, the head of the IDEX design team sent me the draft of the info mailer that announced the publication of IDEX Magazine’s September issue. If you haven’t seen it, take a look. It’s a great issue with a brilliant cover story by IDEX’s former head of research, Ken Gassman, that was inspired, so he said, by several of my Eagles-themed Memos. There is also an insightful article by Rami Baron and an important profile of Victoria McKay, who heads the Women’s’ Jewellery [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2019-10-24T12:16:36+02:00 October 24th, 2019|English - Industry related, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Time for OUCH: Openness, Understanding, Cooperation and Harmonization

This October, CIBJO – the World Jewellery Confederation will hold its annual congress in Bogota, Colombia, and shortly after that the delegates of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) will gather in Mumbai for their biennial congress – the 38th! There will be a lot to discuss, since the global diamond, gem and jewellery trade is facing lots of pressing issues and challenges. This past July, the United States Federal Trade Commission released the final revision [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2018-10-10T21:36:12+02:00 October 10th, 2018|English - Industry related, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Geen dag zonder Bach….in Israel

Bach-liefhebbers in Israel waren tot een jaar of wat geleden aangewezen op het luisteren naar hun eigen afspeelbare verzamelingen, op de - sporadische - uitzendingen van Bach's muziek op de lokale klassieke zender, op de uitvoeringen van een handvol barok-ensembles, op het jaarlijkse Bach Festival in Jeruzalem en op andere, eveneens sporadische concerten. Voor de laatste twee moest - en moet je nog steeds - flink in je geldbuidel tasten en meestal ook een flink stuk reizen. Maar nu is Bach overal 'bereikbaar.' Op mijn [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2018-08-11T14:06:42+02:00 August 11th, 2018|Blog, Dutch - Human Interest|0 Comments

A blast from the past: Counterclockwise – a review of BaselWorld 2013

This blog, written in 2013, did not make it to the digital screen at the time, but with the Swatch company announcing it is withdrawing from BaselWorld 2019. I'm happy to share it, five years later.... I love going to Basel. I mean BaselWorld, that unique fair that has been held steadfastly, uninterruptedly – even during WWII… – since 1917 and ultimately evolved, over time, into Europe’s leading watch and jewelry fair, and into a must-attend event for European, North American and Asian buyers. I [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2018-07-30T13:16:02+02:00 July 30th, 2018|Blog, English - Industry related|0 Comments

The end of emotion – the beginning of reason

From today and onward, the diamond industry and trade can stop screaming foul. During the past decade(s), the diamond industry has been discussing, arguing and sometimes been kicking and screaming foul against the tendency to call synthetic diamonds….indeed, diamonds. Throughout the years, I have witnessed grown men and women getting worked up and all emotional, arguing passionately that synthetic or lab-grown diamonds cannot be called diamonds, because they just aren’t. Their arguments were driven by emotion, not by reason. This contrary to their colleagues in [...]

By Ya'akov Almor| 2018-08-07T21:12:13+02:00 July 28th, 2018|Blog, English - Industry related|0 Comments

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