Saturday, September 22, 2007
Girl With A Pearl
Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni profiles Victoire de Castellane and her jewelry + her Christian Dior connection + other viewpoints @ http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1659346_1659345_1658237,00.html
A Dangerous Game
(via Newsweek) Garry Kasparov's reflections on life, career, politics + chess vs real life + other viewpoints @ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18986275/site/newsweek/
There's Nothing Better In Life Than Diamonds
(via The Guardian) I really enjoyed reading Charlotte Chandler's interview with Mae West + her unique reflections on life, men, Hollywood, diamonds + her interpretation of sex with love + what I liked most was this one:
What kind of 'life' do you look for in a man?
Fire. A man can be short and dumpy, but if he has fire, women will like him.
In the diamond industry, the term 'Fire' would be interpreted as dispersion, a unique optical property in diamond--it's life. So when Mae West talks about fire in men, it makes sense. For women, men without dispersion will be dull or inert.
Useful links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2159152,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2154762,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2159227,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2159211,00.html
What kind of 'life' do you look for in a man?
Fire. A man can be short and dumpy, but if he has fire, women will like him.
In the diamond industry, the term 'Fire' would be interpreted as dispersion, a unique optical property in diamond--it's life. So when Mae West talks about fire in men, it makes sense. For women, men without dispersion will be dull or inert.
Useful links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2159152,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2154762,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2159227,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2159211,00.html
Selling Diamonds
(via Diamond Promotion Service) Students: If yours is a college community, you have available the most exciting of all markets. However, the full potential of such a market will not be yours unless you understand what’s happening in the student’s lives and have the empathy to communicate with them and to provide the kind of merchandise that interests them.
Students are knowledgeable and demanding. They like to browse, because it’s entertaining for them. They like to ask questions, because that’s a form of entertainment, too. They like action and change. They move, and they like places and things that move also.
It has been estimated that the average college student has $3000 a year to spend after tuition, room, board and books. This makes the student market well worth cultivating. But you can lose it if you aren’t geared to the fashion, fun and quality that students expect. They’ll go to the jeweler who is so geared.
Engagement Diamonds And Diamond Gifts
The engagement diamond is a sure sale. With four out of give brides wearing diamond engagement rings, and with the number of marriages increasing every year, this is a sure and expanding market.
However, it is likely that too many jewelers overlook the fact that the engagement ring is only one expression of the consumer’s interest in diamonds. They neglect the possibilities for selling diamond jewelry.
Less than one in three wives has received a gift of diamond jewelry since her wedding day. Among single women the proportion of those owning diamonds is even smaller. Here is a great market for diamond jewelry, as gifts or as self-purchase.
The Competition
No study of a market is complete without a study of the competition. Many jewelers believe that their main competition is the jeweler in the next block or in another shopping center. It really isn’t, because when another jeweler sells a customer on the idea of diamonds he is broadening a base that can be beneficial to you as well.
Rather, your main competition come from other products, from such items as furs, automobiles, major appliances, even vacation trips. There must be a pattern of this type of competition in your community. Once you learn it, you can lick it.
This, then, is your potential market. It is the people from all walks of life with whom you can communicate to persuade them to buy diamonds from you. It is the engagement rings and diamond jewelry that you can sell them. It is the competitive products you must sell against.
Once you’ve studied all this, you’re ready to take the next step in selling diamonds.
Selling Diamonds (continued)
Students are knowledgeable and demanding. They like to browse, because it’s entertaining for them. They like to ask questions, because that’s a form of entertainment, too. They like action and change. They move, and they like places and things that move also.
It has been estimated that the average college student has $3000 a year to spend after tuition, room, board and books. This makes the student market well worth cultivating. But you can lose it if you aren’t geared to the fashion, fun and quality that students expect. They’ll go to the jeweler who is so geared.
Engagement Diamonds And Diamond Gifts
The engagement diamond is a sure sale. With four out of give brides wearing diamond engagement rings, and with the number of marriages increasing every year, this is a sure and expanding market.
However, it is likely that too many jewelers overlook the fact that the engagement ring is only one expression of the consumer’s interest in diamonds. They neglect the possibilities for selling diamond jewelry.
Less than one in three wives has received a gift of diamond jewelry since her wedding day. Among single women the proportion of those owning diamonds is even smaller. Here is a great market for diamond jewelry, as gifts or as self-purchase.
The Competition
No study of a market is complete without a study of the competition. Many jewelers believe that their main competition is the jeweler in the next block or in another shopping center. It really isn’t, because when another jeweler sells a customer on the idea of diamonds he is broadening a base that can be beneficial to you as well.
Rather, your main competition come from other products, from such items as furs, automobiles, major appliances, even vacation trips. There must be a pattern of this type of competition in your community. Once you learn it, you can lick it.
This, then, is your potential market. It is the people from all walks of life with whom you can communicate to persuade them to buy diamonds from you. It is the engagement rings and diamond jewelry that you can sell them. It is the competitive products you must sell against.
Once you’ve studied all this, you’re ready to take the next step in selling diamonds.
Selling Diamonds (continued)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Design Notebook
Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.
Eliel Saarinen
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Robert Heinlein
Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.
Tom Peters
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
Walt Disney
Eliel Saarinen
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Robert Heinlein
Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.
Tom Peters
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
Walt Disney
Tea Notebook
Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea! And if you were my wife, I would drink it!
Winston Churchill
A woman is like a tea bag, you can not tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
Nancy Reagan
If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
Japanese proverb
Winston Churchill
A woman is like a tea bag, you can not tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
Nancy Reagan
If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
Japanese proverb
It's A Family Affair
Kate Betts writes about the 100-year-old diamond company, Kwiat + other viewpoints @ http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1659346_1659345_1658229,00.html
The Economics Of Human Behavior
Daniel Gross writes about Alan Greenspan + his new memoir, 'The Age of Turbulence' (see an excerpt here and an interview) + human behavior = psychology = anthropology = economic irrationality + other viewpoints @ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20824935/site/newsweek
I liked it.
I liked it.
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