Luke Johnson Viewpoint

Humour and charm are a surprisingly powerful combination as a means of ascent in life. I have met a number of entrepreneurs who have built fortunes on the back of their wit and general popularity – and not much else.

- Luke Johnson

Useful links:
www.ft.com/comment/columnists/lukejohnson
www.lukejohnson.org
www.riskcapitalpartners.co.uk
www.channel4.com

Spot on.

Wildlife Finder

Check out Sir David Attenborough's favourite moments from BBC's famed natural history unit.

Useful links:
www.bbc.co.uk/wildlifefinder
www.davidattenborough.co.uk

Hope Diamond In New Setting

See footage of the Hope Diamond in its new setting, including an interview with winning designer Maurice Galli.

Useful links:
www.mnh.si.edu
www.smithsonianchannel.com

The Poetry Of Time

Check out The Poetry of Time, a visual anthology of Van Cleef and Arpels' contribution to watchmaking. www.vancleef-arpels.com

One Hundred Years Of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez's seminal novel One Hundred Years of Solitude has been chosen by international writers as the most influential book. It's an amazing book. It's a masterpiece. Really.

Useful link:
www.wasafiri.org

Art News

Anyone who believes the art market has been felled by the financial crisis should have been in New York earlier this month for the seasonal auctions of Chinese bronzes, furniture and ceramics. The salerooms at Sotheby's and Christie's were overflowing with bidders, more than three-quarters of them from Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. Extra Mandarin-speakers, all of them fluent and young, had been taken on specially to handle additional telephone bidding from Asia.

- Economist
www.economist.com

Useful links:
www.sothebys.com
www.christies.com

I guess confidence has returned to the market.

Random Thoughts

If you are intelligent the market will teach you caution and fortitude, sharpen your wits, and reduce your pride. If you are foolish and refuse to learn a lesson, it will ridicule you, laugh you to scorn, break you, and toss you on the rubbish-heap.

- Frank J. Williams

Spot on.

Synthetic Colored Diamond Market Update

I think synthetic diamonds in a variety of color ranges are catching the attention of price sensitive Indians. I hope dealers and jewelers disclose treatments and sell the stones with proper description/identification.

Useful link:
www.gjepc.org