With diamond brands crowding the marketplace, some companies have hit upon a way to stand apart: branding not one diamond, but two. Although YEI's "Perfectly Matched" brand and Diamond Pairs have long successfully marketed matched sets of diamonds to the trade, two new brands that debuted in Las Vegas are aimed at the consumer rather than the jeweler.
Kirchner launched the "Mother and Child Diamond," an extension of its popular trademarked Mother and Child jewelry line. Sightholder JB Diamonds also launched "SoulMate," two diamonds cut from the same piece of rough.
Since 1981, Minneapolis-based Kirchner has sold more than a million pieces of Mother and Child gold jewelry. The extension of the brand into diamonds was natural, explains Don Kirchner, since there is an even larger market for diamonds for life events like the birth of a child and graduation. The Mother and Child Diamond has an emotional impact, with its natural celebration of the special bond that exists between a mother and her children. "It also helps to create a relationship with the next generation," Kirchner says.
In addition to two-diamond "families," each displayed in a custom box with individual certificates, Kirchner also offers larger sets for three generations or for mothers with more than one child. Because all the Mother and Child diamonds meet the same general criteria--H or better, SI2 or better, cut to matching 60/60 proportions--additional diamonds can be added to the set for additional children. Each diamond is laser inscribed with matching serial numbers the company calls "fingerprints."
Mother diamonds range from 0.65 to 0.20 carats and Child diamonds range from 0.35 to 0.10 carats. Suggested retail ranges from $799 to $4,449. Kirchner is providing a co-op allowance, display and packaging, and training for sales associates. A starting kit with 32 diamonds is $12,000.
The company anticipates that many Mother and Child Diamonds will be set into a piece of Mother and Child jewelry after purchase. Most families will set each diamond into a separate piece of jewelry, multiplying the add-on sales for the retailer.
SoulMate diamonds from JB Diamonds are two diamonds cut from one piece of rough "that have been together for a billion years," as JB's luxury division president George Prout puts it. Once the two stones are cut from the rough, they are carefully tracked to make sure that they can be re-united after cutting and polishing.
SoulMate capitalizes both on the emotion behind the diamond purchase and a peculiarity of the box received by the Indian-based sightholder. The rough in JB's typical box includes the shape known to cutters as a "cube." This shape economically cuts two round brilliants closer in size than the large and small cleavages of octahedrons and dodecahedrons, with less than 50 percent in total weight loss in cutting. The one drawback is that cubes tend to be small. The larger of the two finished pieces is seldom more than a carat.
Targeted principally as an expression of the mother-daughter bond, SoulMate can easily extend to best friend, sister, or wife. Packaged loose, the two stones are sold in a handsome teal lacquered box. Collateral material includes a certificate and an extensive history of the stone, from origin to polishing.
Although SoulMate diamonds are packaged as loose stones, JB Diamonds has created a collection of gold and platinum bridal and fashion jewelry, including engagement rings, men's wedding bands, and matching heart pendants.
JB Diamonds is supporting the brand with advertising, public relations, and retail training. A new division in Los Angeles, Luxury by JB Diamonds, supplies the jewelry and marketing services to independent jewelers. In addition, the company launched the new Charles Winston Couture jewelry collection, and also supplies non-branded jewelry.