Abbreviation | JA |
---|---|
Formation | 1906 |
Purpose | Advance the professionalism and ethics of the jewelry industry. |
Headquarters | 120 Broadway, Suite 2820 New York, New York |
Website | www |
The Jewelers of America (JA) is a trade association of professionals in the United States jewelry industry. The organization was formed in 1906. Jewelers of America produces a Code of Professional Practices for use by those in the industry. The association also provides information to help consumers learn about jewelry. [1]
In 2009, the Jewelers of America formed a strategic alliance with Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company to enhance services to the industry. [2]
In January 2015, Jewelers of America acquired National Jeweler from Emerald Expositions. [3] National Jeweler magazine was founded in 1906.
Gemology or gemmology is the science dealing with natural and artificial gemstone materials. It is a geoscience and a branch of mineralogy. Some jewelers are academically trained gemologists and are qualified to identify and evaluate gems.
A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms silversmith and goldsmith are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary greatly as may the scale of objects created.
Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., commonly known as Richemont, is a Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company founded in 1988 by South African businessman Johann Rupert. Through its various subsidiaries, Richemont produces and sells jewellery, watches, leather goods, pens, firearms, clothing, and accessories. Richemont is publicly traded as CFR on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the JSE.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is a nonprofit institute based in Carlsbad, California. It is dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Founded in 1931, GIA's mission is to protect buyers and sellers of gemstones by setting and maintaining the standards used to evaluate gemstone quality. The institute does so through research, gem identification and diamond grading services and a variety of educational programs. Through its library and subject experts, GIA acts as a resource of gem and jewelry information for the trade, the public and media outlets.
The American Gem Society (AGS) is a trade association of retail jewelers, independent appraisers, suppliers, and selective industry members, which was founded in 1934 by Robert M. Shipley.
The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWCI) is a not-for-profit trade association based in the United States that is dedicated to the advancement of the modern watch industry, from which it receives a significant portion of its funding. While the AWCI is an American organization, it also has members throughout the world.
Art jewelry is one of the names given to jewelry created by studio craftspeople. As the name suggests, art jewelry emphasizes creative expression and design, and is characterized by the use of a variety of materials, often commonplace or of low economic value. In this sense, it forms a counterbalance to the use of "precious materials" in conventional or fine jewelry, where the value of the object is tied to the value of the materials from which it is made. Art jewelry is related to studio craft in other media such as glass, wood, plastics and clay; it shares beliefs and values, education and training, circumstances of production, and networks of distribution and publicity with the wider field of studio craft. Art jewelry also has links to fine art and design.
Zoltán Dávid (1955) is a Hungarian-born American jewelry designer based in Texas. His business, Zoltan David Precious Metal Art, opened in 1980 and has focused on individually crafted one-off pieces. On August 27, 1988, he was knighted by the Hungarian nation in honour of his father, Zoltan David I.
Prong setting or prong mount refers to the use of metal projections or tines, called "prongs", to secure a gemstone to a piece of jewelry. A prong setting is one component of what is known to jewelers as a head, a claw-shaped type of binding that is welded or soldered to a jewelry item to mount a gemstone to the jewelry item. A common setting for diamond engagement rings, the prong setting allows light to strike a gemstone from more angles, increasing its brilliance.
A birthstone is a gemstone that represents a person's period of birth, which is usually the month or zodiac sign. Birthstones are often worn as jewelry or as a pendant necklace.
Sterling Jewelers, Inc. is an American specialty jewelry company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company was founded in 1910 by Henry Shaw, from LeRoy's Jewelers in Lorain, Ohio. Sterling Jewelers is a wholly owned subsidiary of UK-based Signet Jewelers Limited, having been acquired in 1987.
Green Lake Jewelry Works is a Seattle jewelry designer, manufacturer, and retailer. Selling mostly custom made jewelry, the company is known for a customer experience of personalized contact with traditional artisans that is profitably scaled up to a relatively large business operation, made possible by its use of computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), in combination with effective use of e-commerce technology. They maintain a relatively small physical inventory that is augmented by a "virtual inventory" of renderings of their offerings. The company's sales volume grew quickly from about $2 million per year in the years 2003–2005 to over $7 million for 2006, passing $10+ million by 2018.
Gerald D. "Jerry" Sisk Jr. was an American gemologist who co-founded Jewelry Television (JTV) in 1993. Sisk also served as the executive vice president of Jewelry Television until his death in 2013.
Jamie Bennett is an American artist and educator known for his enamel jewelry. Over his forty-year career, Bennett has experimented with the centuries-old process of enameling, discovered new techniques of setting, and created new colors of enamel and a matte surfaces. This has led him to be referred to as “one of the most innovative and accomplished enamellers of our time” by Ursula Ilse-Neuman, historian and former curator at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. Bennett is closely associated with the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he studied himself as a student, and taught in the Metal department for many years. Bennett retired from teaching in 2014, after thirty years at SUNY New Paltz.
Tabbah is a bespoke jewelry company that was founded in 1862 and now is a family business owned and run by Nabil and Nagib Tabbah.
Bromberg's is a jewelry, crystal, silver and gift retailer with two locations in the Birmingham, Alabama area. The firm was founded by Prussian immigrant Frederick Bromberg in Mobile in 1836, the oldest family owned and operated retail business in the United States and the oldest business firm operating in the state.
Donna Chambers is an American jewelry designer based in White Plains, New York. She is known for designs featuring pearls and antique mother of pearl gambling chips. Chambers' fine jewelry has been carried by major department stores such as Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Na Hoku and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Marjorie Schick was an innovative American jewelry artist and academic who taught art for 50 years. Approaching sculptural creations, her avant-garde pieces have been widely collected. Her works form part of the permanent collections of many of the world's leading art museums, including the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia; the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City; the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania; and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London.
Oscar Heyman & Brothers is an American fine jewellery design and manufacturing firm. The company is known for its expertise in manufacturing and for its use of colored gemstones. The company is known in the jewelry industry as ′The Jewelers’ Jeweler,′ which is the name of the book on the company researched, written, and published by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Martha Lillian Addis was an American jeweler, businesswoman, and clubwoman, based in Topeka, Kansas.