The California Department of Toxic Substance Control is enforcing a new state law that regulates lead in jewelry, especially piercing jewelry, effective March 1, 2008.
I hope other countries will do the same. If in doubt always consult a reputed gem and jewelry testing laboratory.
Useful links:
www.dtsc.ca.gov
www.epa.gov
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Ivory Coast
According to Global Witness, Ivory Coast's northern rebels are still operating a war economy of illegal taxes on cocoa and diamonds which is hindering peace plan + affecting regional stability and economy.
I think the vested interests have a genuine reason to keep the region unstable for obvious reasons + as long as diamonds and cocoa are available it's show time for the rebels.
Useful link:
www.globalwitness.org
I think the vested interests have a genuine reason to keep the region unstable for obvious reasons + as long as diamonds and cocoa are available it's show time for the rebels.
Useful link:
www.globalwitness.org
Jewelry Update
With gold prices going yo-yo, we are seeing a new trend: people are selling gold jewelry they no longer wear opposed to buying. Signs of the time!
The Loire Valley
(via Wiki) The Loire Valley wine region includes the French wine regions situated along the Loire River from the Muscadet region near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast to the region of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé just southeast of the city of Orléans in north central France. In between are the regions of Anjou, Saumur, Bourgueil, Chinon, and Vouvray. The Loire Valley itself follows the river through the Loire province to the river's origins in the Cévennes but the majority of the wine production takes place in the regions noted above. The area includes 87 appellations under the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), Vin Délimité de Qualité Superieure (VDQS) and Vin de pays systems. While the majority of production is white wine from the Chenin blanc, Sauvignon blanc and Melon de Bourgogne grapes, there are red wines made (especially around the Chinon region) from Cabernet franc. In addition to still wines, rosé, sparkling and dessert wines are also produced. With Crémant production throughout the Loire, it is the second largest sparkling wine producer in France after Champagne. Among these different wine styles, Loire wines tend to exhibit characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavors-especially in their youth. The Loire Valley has a long history of winemaking dating back to the 1st century. In the High Middle Ages, the wines of the Loire Valley were the most esteemed wines in England and France, even more prized than those from Bordeaux.
They are delicious! Don't miss it!
Useful link:
www.loirevalleywine.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire_Valley_%28wine%29
They are delicious! Don't miss it!
Useful link:
www.loirevalleywine.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire_Valley_%28wine%29
Daniel Day-Lewis
I think Daniel Day-Lewis is a superb actor + his chilling performance as Daniel Plainview, a ruthless silver-miner-turned-oil man in the movie There Will Be Blood was so vivid and natural, it was great, a real American masterpiece + the milkshake analogy was memorable, the best revenge scene in a long time:
Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, [He holds up his index finger] that's a straw, you see? [He turns and walks away from Eli and turns around] You watching? And my straw reaches acrooooooossssss [walking back toward Eli] the room, and starts to drink your milkshake: I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZI-p8SKe0
Brilliant!
Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Day-Lewis
www.imdb.com/name/nm0000358
www.dd-l.net
www.therewillbeblood.com
Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, [He holds up his index finger] that's a straw, you see? [He turns and walks away from Eli and turns around] You watching? And my straw reaches acrooooooossssss [walking back toward Eli] the room, and starts to drink your milkshake: I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZI-p8SKe0
Brilliant!
Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Day-Lewis
www.imdb.com/name/nm0000358
www.dd-l.net
www.therewillbeblood.com
Gregorian Music
Heiligenkreuz Abbey is a Cistercian monastery on the territory of the town of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Wienerwald, eight miles north-west of Baden bei Wien in Lower Austria + now the brothers from the Monastery of the Holy Cross have wowed the Universal Music group with their magical and evocative sound, and later this year their first (Gregorian chant) album will be released for the international market + I believe the sudden popularity has to do with the soundtrack to the best-selling computer game Halo.
Useful links:
www.stift-heiligenkreuz.org
www.music.princeton.edu/chant_html
www.enigma.de
www.enigmamusic.com
Useful links:
www.stift-heiligenkreuz.org
www.music.princeton.edu/chant_html
www.enigma.de
www.enigmamusic.com
Double Stellar Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The French Blue has already been dealt with in great detail. It is included here primarily on the basis of its being a Double Stellar Cut diamond. It was fashioned by Louis XIV’s diamond cutter Pitau in 1673 from a next to rough diamond purchased by the king from the French traveler Tavernier in 1669. Eventually, it was refashioned into an oval Brilliant, the Hope diamond, now in Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
The Bazu diamond, the second largest diamond on the Golden Fleece of King Louis XV of France, was delivered to the king of Bazu, a lapidarian and dealer, in 1669. It has disappeared and any information about it is inconsistent.
The French Blue has already been dealt with in great detail. It is included here primarily on the basis of its being a Double Stellar Cut diamond. It was fashioned by Louis XIV’s diamond cutter Pitau in 1673 from a next to rough diamond purchased by the king from the French traveler Tavernier in 1669. Eventually, it was refashioned into an oval Brilliant, the Hope diamond, now in Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
The Bazu diamond, the second largest diamond on the Golden Fleece of King Louis XV of France, was delivered to the king of Bazu, a lapidarian and dealer, in 1669. It has disappeared and any information about it is inconsistent.
The Romantic Movement In France
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
It was not till the Great Exhibition at Paris in 1867 that Millet came into his own, and his opportunity came then because his friend Théodore Rousseau was President of the Jury. In this exhibition Millet was represented by ‘The Angelus’ ‘The Gleaners’, and seven other important paintings. He was awarded a first class medal for the collection, and in the following year was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He was now at the height of his fame, but the honors and fortune which followed came too late to be enjoyed. The artist was deeply smitten by the death of Rousseau in December 1867, and his own health began to fail in 1870. During the disasterous Franco-Prussian war he retired to Cherbourg, where his work was interrupted by frequent illnesses. When he returned to Paris, the new Republican Government gave Millet a commission in 1874 to paint a set of decorative panels of ‘The Four Seasons’ for the Panthéon, but though he at once began charcoal sketches for these subjects he was never able to execute the paintings. Throughout the autumn his health declined, and surrounded by his devoted family he died on the 20th January 1875.
Closely associated with Millet, whom he accompanied to Barbizon, was Charles Jacque (1813-94), who, though less poweful than Troyon, was one of the best animal painters of his time. He excelled in painting flocks of sheep in the open or on the edge of a forest. The painting of peasant life, inaugurated by Millet, was continued by Bastien Lepage (1848-84) and the still more popular Jules Breton (1827-1906), who, though weaker in drawing and less rich in color, reaped where Millet had sown. Associated with Diaz, and still more fantastic than this painter in the exotic pictures of his earlier years, was Adolphe Monticelli (1824-86). Born at Marseilles, Monticelli brought the warmth of Southern coloring and imagination to Barbizon: he was the most romantic of the romantic landscape painters, and his canvases loaded with rich pigment, from which radiant fairy-like figures emerge and seem to quiver with life, are magical masterpieces of jewel-like color.
Belonging to a slightly later generation, but encouraged in his youth by Corot, Daubigny, and Millet, the exquisite sea painter Eugene Boudin (1825-98) is a link between the Barbizon School and the Impressionists. Boudin was born at Honfleur, where his father was a sea-captain, and during his early years he assisted Troyon by painting the skies in some of his pictures. This was a department of painting in which Boudin excelled, and his rendering of the clouds and the blue vault of heaven excited the keen admiration of Corot, who hailed his young contemporary as ‘the monarch of the sky.’ Boudin spent the greater part of his life in the neighborhood of his birthplace, and never tired of painting the shipping, shores, and harbor scenes of this part of the Normandy coast. His paintings are pitched in a slightly higher key of color than those of Corot and Daubigny, and the prevalence of luminous pearly greys in his work have caused his paintings—together with similar paintings of similar subjects of his slightly older contemporary, the Dutchman Bartholde Jongkind—to be known as la peinture gris, i.e the ‘grey’ school of painting. ‘The Harbor of Trouville’ in the National Gallery is a beautiful example of Boudin’s delicate realism and of his sensitive feeling for the wind in the sky and the light on the water.
It was not till the Great Exhibition at Paris in 1867 that Millet came into his own, and his opportunity came then because his friend Théodore Rousseau was President of the Jury. In this exhibition Millet was represented by ‘The Angelus’ ‘The Gleaners’, and seven other important paintings. He was awarded a first class medal for the collection, and in the following year was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He was now at the height of his fame, but the honors and fortune which followed came too late to be enjoyed. The artist was deeply smitten by the death of Rousseau in December 1867, and his own health began to fail in 1870. During the disasterous Franco-Prussian war he retired to Cherbourg, where his work was interrupted by frequent illnesses. When he returned to Paris, the new Republican Government gave Millet a commission in 1874 to paint a set of decorative panels of ‘The Four Seasons’ for the Panthéon, but though he at once began charcoal sketches for these subjects he was never able to execute the paintings. Throughout the autumn his health declined, and surrounded by his devoted family he died on the 20th January 1875.
Closely associated with Millet, whom he accompanied to Barbizon, was Charles Jacque (1813-94), who, though less poweful than Troyon, was one of the best animal painters of his time. He excelled in painting flocks of sheep in the open or on the edge of a forest. The painting of peasant life, inaugurated by Millet, was continued by Bastien Lepage (1848-84) and the still more popular Jules Breton (1827-1906), who, though weaker in drawing and less rich in color, reaped where Millet had sown. Associated with Diaz, and still more fantastic than this painter in the exotic pictures of his earlier years, was Adolphe Monticelli (1824-86). Born at Marseilles, Monticelli brought the warmth of Southern coloring and imagination to Barbizon: he was the most romantic of the romantic landscape painters, and his canvases loaded with rich pigment, from which radiant fairy-like figures emerge and seem to quiver with life, are magical masterpieces of jewel-like color.
Belonging to a slightly later generation, but encouraged in his youth by Corot, Daubigny, and Millet, the exquisite sea painter Eugene Boudin (1825-98) is a link between the Barbizon School and the Impressionists. Boudin was born at Honfleur, where his father was a sea-captain, and during his early years he assisted Troyon by painting the skies in some of his pictures. This was a department of painting in which Boudin excelled, and his rendering of the clouds and the blue vault of heaven excited the keen admiration of Corot, who hailed his young contemporary as ‘the monarch of the sky.’ Boudin spent the greater part of his life in the neighborhood of his birthplace, and never tired of painting the shipping, shores, and harbor scenes of this part of the Normandy coast. His paintings are pitched in a slightly higher key of color than those of Corot and Daubigny, and the prevalence of luminous pearly greys in his work have caused his paintings—together with similar paintings of similar subjects of his slightly older contemporary, the Dutchman Bartholde Jongkind—to be known as la peinture gris, i.e the ‘grey’ school of painting. ‘The Harbor of Trouville’ in the National Gallery is a beautiful example of Boudin’s delicate realism and of his sensitive feeling for the wind in the sky and the light on the water.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Internet Jewelers
I found the article A Boy's Best Friend via Economist (March 21, 2008) http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10881758 interesting + insightful + I think it's the signs of the time that traditional jewelers will be squeezed, one way or another by the internet jewelers + expect to see more modified business models via internet selling jewelry worldwide.
Useful link:
www.bluenile.com
Useful link:
www.bluenile.com
School Of Design Innovation
I think James Dyson's design school in Bath, U.K will be a unique concept + inspire the next generation of inventors and engineers + with leading industrial giants like Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Williams Formula One as partners in the project, I believe the work experience and mentoring to students by the experts will be priceless.
Useful link:
www.dysonschool.com
Useful link:
www.dysonschool.com
Howard Hodgkin
Howard Hodgkin is a British painter + printmaker + his style is spontaneous with bright colors and bold forms, sort of semi-abstract, emotional + natural!
Useful link:
www.howardhodgkin.org.uk
Useful link:
www.howardhodgkin.org.uk
Becoming Self Aware
I found Mark Goulston's How to Deal With Anxious People extremely useful + I liked it.
Useful link:
http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com
Useful link:
http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com
Certifigate: Rallying Support For Closure
Total internal reflections of Chaim Even Zohar on Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) complex Certifigate scandal + the ongoing and evolving story + diamond industry concerns + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
The Pasha Of Egypt
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The Stellar Cut Brilliant, octagonal in outline and with eightfold symmetry, is reported to have weighed 40 ct (about 41 metric ct). In 1848 it was acquired by Ibrahim Pasha, the great Egyptian general and Viceroy of Egypt to the Turkish Sultan.
The Stellar Cut Brilliant, octagonal in outline and with eightfold symmetry, is reported to have weighed 40 ct (about 41 metric ct). In 1848 it was acquired by Ibrahim Pasha, the great Egyptian general and Viceroy of Egypt to the Turkish Sultan.
The Romantic Movement In France
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
3
The great struggle for liberty and truth in art, begun by the Romantics and landscape painters already mentioned, was carried a stage further by Jean Francois Millet (1814-75), who was the first to paint the peasant, not as a sort of ‘stage property’ in a landscape, but as he truly lived and moved. Millet came of peasant stock, and during his boyhood worked hard in the fields with his father, whose home was in the hamlet of Gruchy, near Cherbourg. When he was eighteen, his father, recognizing the lad’s talent, allowed him to study art in Cherbourg, but as the eldest son he returned to manage the farm on his father’s death in 1835. His heart, however, was still in his art, and seeing this his mother and grandmother heroically determined not to allow him to sacrifice himself, but soon persuaded him to return to Cherbourg. There his talent was recognized by the Municipality, who gave him a grant of forty pounds, and with this he went to Paris in 1836 and entered the studio of historical painter Paul Delaroche (1797-1856). During the next twelve years, spent partly in Paris and partly in Normandy, Millet experienced nothing but trouble, he married in 1841, and his wife died in 1844; at the end of 1845 he married again, and found a devoted and courageous helpmate in his second wife.
At this period of his life Millet chiefly painted portraits and small pictures of classical or mythological subjects, and already his color—in which he was considerably influenced by Correggio—began to attract attention and the admiration of other artists. He became friendly with Diaz, and through Diaz got to know Rousseau and others. In 1847 his picture ‘Œdipus taken from the Tree’ was favorably noticed in the Salon by Théophile Gautier, who prophesied that the painter would become famous, and in the following year Millet’s picture of a peasant woman was given a place of honor in the best room at the Salon. It looked as if the painter was on the point of achieving a popular success, for he had also been finding a ready sale for small pictures of nude figures, which he painted with great skill. But about this time he accidentally overheard somebody speaking of him as ‘Millet, who paints nothing but naked women,’ and this chance remark so upset him that he then and there determined never again to paint the nude. Already town life and town manners were distasteful to him; he longed for country air to breathe and the peasant people whom he knew and loved to paint.
In 1849 he decided to change his manner of life, and with his wife and babies he removed to Barbizon, where Rousseau and Diaz were already settled. In this peaceful village Millet made his home, and found his true vocation in chronicling in a series of noble paintings the dignity of peasant labor. To the Salon of 1850 he sent his unforgettable picture of ‘The Sower’, a work of epic grandeur which seems to symbolize the Present preparing the Future in the guise of an agricultural labourer fulfilling his common task. During the next ten years Millet painted some of his greatest pictures, ‘The Gleaners’ in 1857, ‘The Angelus’ in 1859, but all this time Millet was harassed by money difficulties, and with a growing and increasing family he had a hard struggle for mere existence. His new pictures were not popular; not only did they fail to find purchasers, but they were often attacked because many of them were thought to be ‘socialistic’ and ‘The Gleaners’ was particularly abused on its first appearance as a work expressing subversive political principles. Millet and his family might have starved at this time, but for the good deeds stealthily done by his more fortunate comrades. In 1855 Rousseau secretly bought one of his pictures for £160, and Troyon also bought several of Millet’s works, pretending that he was acting for an American collector who had no real existence. By this tactful generoisity Millet was prevented from ever knowing how much he owed to the devotion of his friends.
The Romantic Movement In France (continued)
3
The great struggle for liberty and truth in art, begun by the Romantics and landscape painters already mentioned, was carried a stage further by Jean Francois Millet (1814-75), who was the first to paint the peasant, not as a sort of ‘stage property’ in a landscape, but as he truly lived and moved. Millet came of peasant stock, and during his boyhood worked hard in the fields with his father, whose home was in the hamlet of Gruchy, near Cherbourg. When he was eighteen, his father, recognizing the lad’s talent, allowed him to study art in Cherbourg, but as the eldest son he returned to manage the farm on his father’s death in 1835. His heart, however, was still in his art, and seeing this his mother and grandmother heroically determined not to allow him to sacrifice himself, but soon persuaded him to return to Cherbourg. There his talent was recognized by the Municipality, who gave him a grant of forty pounds, and with this he went to Paris in 1836 and entered the studio of historical painter Paul Delaroche (1797-1856). During the next twelve years, spent partly in Paris and partly in Normandy, Millet experienced nothing but trouble, he married in 1841, and his wife died in 1844; at the end of 1845 he married again, and found a devoted and courageous helpmate in his second wife.
At this period of his life Millet chiefly painted portraits and small pictures of classical or mythological subjects, and already his color—in which he was considerably influenced by Correggio—began to attract attention and the admiration of other artists. He became friendly with Diaz, and through Diaz got to know Rousseau and others. In 1847 his picture ‘Œdipus taken from the Tree’ was favorably noticed in the Salon by Théophile Gautier, who prophesied that the painter would become famous, and in the following year Millet’s picture of a peasant woman was given a place of honor in the best room at the Salon. It looked as if the painter was on the point of achieving a popular success, for he had also been finding a ready sale for small pictures of nude figures, which he painted with great skill. But about this time he accidentally overheard somebody speaking of him as ‘Millet, who paints nothing but naked women,’ and this chance remark so upset him that he then and there determined never again to paint the nude. Already town life and town manners were distasteful to him; he longed for country air to breathe and the peasant people whom he knew and loved to paint.
In 1849 he decided to change his manner of life, and with his wife and babies he removed to Barbizon, where Rousseau and Diaz were already settled. In this peaceful village Millet made his home, and found his true vocation in chronicling in a series of noble paintings the dignity of peasant labor. To the Salon of 1850 he sent his unforgettable picture of ‘The Sower’, a work of epic grandeur which seems to symbolize the Present preparing the Future in the guise of an agricultural labourer fulfilling his common task. During the next ten years Millet painted some of his greatest pictures, ‘The Gleaners’ in 1857, ‘The Angelus’ in 1859, but all this time Millet was harassed by money difficulties, and with a growing and increasing family he had a hard struggle for mere existence. His new pictures were not popular; not only did they fail to find purchasers, but they were often attacked because many of them were thought to be ‘socialistic’ and ‘The Gleaners’ was particularly abused on its first appearance as a work expressing subversive political principles. Millet and his family might have starved at this time, but for the good deeds stealthily done by his more fortunate comrades. In 1855 Rousseau secretly bought one of his pictures for £160, and Troyon also bought several of Millet’s works, pretending that he was acting for an American collector who had no real existence. By this tactful generoisity Millet was prevented from ever knowing how much he owed to the devotion of his friends.
The Romantic Movement In France (continued)
New Business Models
I really liked the interactive map of new business start-ups from around the world + it was interesting and useful.
Diamond Market Reflections
It was interesting to note the peculiar contrast between stock markets (low consumer confidence + external factors) and jewelry auction houses (many items were sold for more than their pre-sale estimates because of strong interest + cash) + Is there a link between rise in prices of large size, high quality diamonds and sharp rises in oil prices? Experts believe the two are connected as petro-dollars seek alternative investment opportunities + What's intriguing this time was not the Sheiks from the Gulf region, but rich buyers from China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Argentina, Greece and Russia + My view is the scarcity of top quality diamonds (5+ carats +), both colorless and colored, is what driving the prices high + De Beers is not finding that many new top-quality stones + it's a new world with new players and a lot of cash!
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais is a triple Golden Globe + double Emmy + seven-time BAFTA award-winning English comedian/writer + I think he is one-of-a-kind-performing artist + The Office is still my favorite.
Useful link:
www.rickygervais.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Gervais
Useful link:
www.rickygervais.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Gervais
Friday, March 21, 2008
A Unique Diamond Phone
Here is what Case-mate has to say about the unique diamond phone:
The Case-mate Diamond Case is handcrafted with 42 stunning diamonds (3.5 carats) set in 18K gold. These gorgeous diamonds are embedded in a rare gold carbon fiber leather case. With VVS1 clarity and H color, these diamonds are superior in quality. Complete with an 18K gold emblem, the Case-mate Diamond BlackBerry Case is truly a one of a kind.
But that's not all. This Diamond BlackBerry Curve Case is crafted of luxurious Carbon Fiber leather, previously available only in high end aftermarket cars (Techart Porsche) and very high end cell phones (Vertu). Case-mate worked closely with its leather craftsmen to develop this rare gold leather for this very special BlackBerry Curve case.
It's brilliant + adamantine with metallic lustre!
Useful link:
www.case-mate.com
The Case-mate Diamond Case is handcrafted with 42 stunning diamonds (3.5 carats) set in 18K gold. These gorgeous diamonds are embedded in a rare gold carbon fiber leather case. With VVS1 clarity and H color, these diamonds are superior in quality. Complete with an 18K gold emblem, the Case-mate Diamond BlackBerry Case is truly a one of a kind.
But that's not all. This Diamond BlackBerry Curve Case is crafted of luxurious Carbon Fiber leather, previously available only in high end aftermarket cars (Techart Porsche) and very high end cell phones (Vertu). Case-mate worked closely with its leather craftsmen to develop this rare gold leather for this very special BlackBerry Curve case.
It's brilliant + adamantine with metallic lustre!
Useful link:
www.case-mate.com
Art Forgery Update
It has been reported that the Spanish police + the FBI have arrested the ring leaders which duped hundreds of customers into buying counterfeit prints of works believed to be by artists including Picasso, Warhol and Dalí.
Useful links:
www.artloss.com
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/arttheft/story/0,,2266679,00.html
Useful links:
www.artloss.com
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/arttheft/story/0,,2266679,00.html
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