(PRESS RELEASE) OMAHA, NE – Shoppers purchased every one of the more than 1,500 boxes on Borsheims’ Giving Tree by Sunday afternoon during Borsheims’ annual Weekend of Giving. For $10, all of which went to Partnership 4 Kids, shoppers could take home a box with a surprise gift inside – anything from jewelry to home décor to Borsheims gift cards. Borsheims also donated a percentage of all instore sales during the Weekend of Giving to Partnership 4 Kids, a goal setting and group mentoring program that builds hope for under-served students in the Omaha metro area.

This is Borsheims’ 14th annual Weekend of Giving, held in conjunction with jewelry and engagement designer trunk shows. The Giving Tree is always a big draw for Borsheims customers who love buying multiple boxes and giving them as gifts or even trying to win the big prizes themselves. The top prize this year was a $2,700 14k white gold diamond-by-the-yard necklace. Other featured gifts were jewelry from LAGOS, Pesavento, Alex Woo, Phillips House, and Robin Haley.

“Our Giving Tree has become such a big part of our customers’ holiday shopping traditions,” said Borsheims CEO Karen Goracke. “We love that our customers can have such a fun Borsheims experience and feel good about donating to this great local child-focused charity at the same time.”

(PRESS RELEASE) LOS ANGELES — Uneek Jewelry, the Los Angeles-based brand founded by designer Benjamin Javaheri, the most awarded jewelry designer in the industry, launches its new campaign, Every Love is Uneek, with an endearing wedding proposal film. Watch it here.

The film depicts that special moment between a couple from when the man is about to pop that question until that ever-thrilling reaction of an “I do.” It highlights the 10-carat cushion set on a three-row shank with a rose gold middle row and filigree on the basket accent with Natural Pink Diamonds (LVS1066) — A Benjamin Javaheri exclusive and a part of Uneek’s Silhouette Collection.

Another star of the film is the Blue Sapphire Pear Ring (LVS1067BS) on her right hand. Embraced with diamond halo, the magnificent Blue Sapphire ring is also an original piece from the Royal Blue Collection that belongs in the roster of Uneek’s award-winning jewelry design. “The film brings out the emotions of a special moment that inspires me to design one-of-a-kind pieces that come to life.”, Javaheri shares.

The campaign hashtag, #EveryLoveIsUneek, is an addition to Uneek’s bold tagline, #DareToBeUneek, as a part of its ever-growing social media presence.

LVS1067BS and LVS1066

(PRESS RELEASE) NEENAH, WI — Jewelers Mutual Group, as part of its continuing support of the jewelry industry, has donated seven synthetic diamonds to the Diamond Durability Laboratory.

Each of these diamonds had been damaged and was sent to Jewelers Mutual as part of its policyholder claims process. Jewelers Mutual worked with the policyholders’ jeweler of choice to replace the stones with synthetic diamonds of the same kind and quality.

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About the synthetic diamonds:

• The donated, damaged synthetic diamonds ranged in size from 0.64 carat to 2.27 carat weight.
• Each of the synthetic diamonds were worn in an engagement ring by a Jewelers Mutual policyholder.
• The length of normal wear of the donated, damaged synthetic diamonds varied from 43 days to less than 2 years.
• Jewelers Mutual and DDL have been collaborating for more than a year to better understand damaged diamonds – both natural and synthetic – and their relationship to several physical characteristics with the goal of creating a more predictive model for potential damage during wear.

Jewelers Mutual’s Kay Kostelny and Mitzi Rietveld, Graduate Gemologists (GIA), studied the damaged synthetic diamonds and shared their observations with DDL that “the damage to the synthetic lab grown diamonds are not characteristic of damage to natural mined diamonds.”

When Jewelers Mutual observed the differences in the damage between their typical natural damaged diamonds and the synthetic damaged diamonds, they reached out to DDL for discussion. The idea of the donation was in part supported by the lack of a secondary resale market for synthetic diamonds.

DDL plans a complete evaluation of the donated synthetic diamonds. The donation from Jewelers Mutual will deepen the understanding of synthetic diamond durability, a subject that has not been studied with any rigor. As the only diamond lab that focuses on diamond durability, DDL is well positioned to learn from these diamonds.

Additionally, DDL CEO Thomas Gelb has served as the technical adviser to the ASSURE Program and its development of a universal standard for synthetic diamond screening or detection services.

“We appreciate this donation from Jewelers Mutual and we are excited to use the stones to further our research and contribute to the industry knowledge about synthetic diamonds,” Gelb said. “Our collaborative research relationship with Jewelers Mutual is extremely important, and we hope by adding these synthetics to our knowledge base we can learn even more.”