Mobile U.S Dollar + The Diamond Industry

The diamond/jewelry industry are concerned because every level of the pipeline in the industry are being affected by the U.S. dollar’s weakness + calculating diamond/gold prices in the mobile U.S. dollar has become unprofitable for many diamond/jewelry companies worldwide.

Are there any stable currencies in the world? Swiss franc? Who knows!

ArtTactic Update

(via livemint) ArtTactic’s latest survey of the Indian art market shows a 13 percentage point dip in its Indian Art Market Confidence Index, a measure based on the responses of 80 experts to questions on the current and future prospects of the economy and the primary and secondary markets for art. The sample of 80 respondents included a mix of collectors, gallery owners, auction houses, dealers and advisers. It included no artists.

Useful link:
www.arttactic.com

There might be a slowdown in external factors, but Indians still have the money to buy.
- Ganieve Grewal, Christies India

How true!

Jim Collins

Jim Collins has served as a teacher to senior executives and CEOs at over a hundred corporations. He is a well-known author + his work has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company.

Useful link:
www.jimcollins.com

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

(via Wiki) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a Tony-nominated play by Tennessee Williams. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955. The big-screen version of the play was made in 1958 by MGM, and starred Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson.

Useful links:
www.cat2008onbroadway.com
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

It's a great movie.

African Contemporary Art

I found the article on African contemporary art @ http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11436150 interesting, because I think African art works are wonderfully vibrant and evocative, it will be a matter of time that collectors will be chasing the artists with impressive prices.

Useful links:
www.caacart.com
www.chrisspring.co.uk

Disney + Popley

It has been reported that Popley Group + Disney Consumer Products will be launching Disney fine jewelry across India.

Useful links:
www.popleys.com
www.disney.in

The Diamond Development Initiative

The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) has released standards and guidelines for Sierra Leone's artisanal diamond mining sector @ http://www.ddiglobal.org/login/Upload/Standards%20&%20Guidelines.pdf

Useful link:
www.ddiglobal.org

I hope through proper education and dialogue with artisanal diamond miners and their communities, let diamonds become a catalyst for individual and national development.

New Rough Diamond Regulations

New U.S. regulations governing the import and export of rough diamonds were published on May 21, 2008 in the Federal Register in an effort to strengthen the international Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Useful links:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/may/105110.htm
www.state.gov/e/eeb/diamonds
http://www.jvclegal.org/index.php?categoryid=228

I hope the new regulations will improve international implementation of the Kimberley Process.

Grainger McKoy

Grainger McKoy's designs are striking and unique work of art. I liked it.

Useful link:
www.graingermckoy.com

From Mines To Finger

I have always been intrigued by the convergence of technology and diamond quality identification + in my view the interesting thing about isee2 is its authenticity + the experience factor. Brilliant!

Useful link:
www.isee2.com

The Backpacker Company

The Backpacker Company is India's first backpacking company. The story @ http://www.livemint.com/2008/05/23001501/Alternate-Life--Snail-male.html was interesting and informative.

Useful link:
www.thebackpackerco.com

I liked it + when I am in India I will plan a trip for the experience.

How To Be Useful

How to Be Useful: A Beginner's Guide to Not Hating Work by Megan Hustad is a wonderful book with interesting anecdotes from the contemporary workplace.

Useful link:
http://meganhustad.com

Che Guevara Movie

I think Steven Soderbergh's Guerrilla (2008), a movie about Che Guevara, one of the most fascinating lives in the last century + Benicio Del Toro as Che Guevara was a brilliant choice because he has the intensity to portray the revolutionary.

Useful links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyqOByAB76k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_g3BegC67w&feature=related

British Prints 1914-1939

Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939 examines the impact of Futurism and Cubism on British Modernist printmaking from the beginning of World War I to the beginning of World War II. The fascinating exhibition is @ Torf Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, till June 1, 2008. A must-visit.

Useful link:
www.mfa.org

Truth And Justice – No Blackmail Or Extortion

Chaim Even Zohar has an interesting update on Julius Klein Diamonds (JKD) + John Stafford + 'Certifigate' information + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Thomas Moran's Work Of Art

(via Wiki) Thomas Moran was an artist of the Hudson River School. Thomas Moran's vision of the Western landscape was critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. His pencil and watercolor field sketches and paintings captured the grandeur and documented the extraordinary terrain and natural features of the Yellowstone region. Moran's artwork was presented to members of Congress by park proponents. These powerful images of Yellowstone fired the imagination and helped inspire Congress to establish the National Park System in 1916. Mount Moran in the Grand Teton National Park is named for Moran.

Useful links:
http://www.nga.gov/feature/moran/moranhome.shtm
http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=543

Thomas Moran’s 'Green River of Wyoming' was sold at Christie's in New York on May 21, 2008 for $17.7 million. www.christies.com

I think he is one of the finest artist of the mountains!

The Chelsea Flower Show

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the ultimate event in the gardening year. It sets the latest gardening trends, features the newest and most desirable gardening products and creates an explosion of colours and scents.

Dates: May 20 - 24, 2008
Venue: Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London.

Useful link:
www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea

Don't miss it!

Design Experience

(via businessweek) For unique consumer experience, visit @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXzWeMCTUGo&eurl + http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/429573

Useful links:
http://adaptivepath.com
http://beta.criticalmass.com

I think's it's one of the best videos on design experience (s). I liked it.

Telectroscope

(via Wiki) From May-June 2008, artist Paul St George will exhibit two outdoor interactive video installations linking London and New York City in a simulated 'telectroscope'. Although St George claims that the device works using a transatlantic tunnel started by his great-grandfather, it is actually the product of two high definition cameras connected through a fiberoptic link.

Useful links:
www.paulstgeorge.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7415911.stm

It's incredible! I liked the concept.

Post-Doi Moi: Vietnamese Art After 1990

The Singapore Art Museum will be exhibiting, Post-Doi Moi: Vietnamese Art After 1990, until Sept. 28, 2008. It examines what happened to Vietnamese art when the Communist government opened up to a market economy with the Doi Moi, or 'renovation,' policies. A must-visit.

Useful link:
www.nhb.gov.sg/sam

(via Wiki) Hanoi University of Fine Arts is an art school in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was established under the French occupation in 1925. The university has trained many of Vietnam’s leading artists and each year it participates in many cultural exchanges with sister institutions overseas. The long and distinguished history of the Hanoi University of Fine Art may be traced back to the colonial École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine (1925-1945) (the Indochina College of Fine Arts) which trained successive generations of Vietnamese students in the western art tradition, laying the essential groundwork for the development of a distinctive Vietnamese style of modern art. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanoi_College_of_Fine_Arts