(PRESS RELEASE) NEW YORK — The first edition of “The Italian Jewelry Manifesto”, a workshop promoted by ICE-Agenzia in collaboration with Federorafi and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in New York, has wrapped up with resounding success.
The “Salotto” format, held in the prestigious headquarters of Piazza Italia from 18 to 20 May, 2022, at 360 Madison Avenue, saw the participation of 46 companies representing all the Italian goldsmithing districts, and some 300 buyers, including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, a number of Mayfair, London-based jewelers, and leading industry players Zales and Signet.
Over 70 journalists registered for the event, including from Forbes, National Jeweler, the New York Times, Vogue, Rai, Ansa, and Il Sole 24 Ore.
Fabrizio Giustarini, Director of ICE-Houston Agency, said, “The Italian Jewelry Manifesto responded to a need from the U.S. market to find, at a single event, the best Italian offering for the jewelry sector.
“As an Italian Trade Agency we are thoroughly satisfied to have contributed to the design and implementation of this new format which, we hope, can be repeated in future in other U.S. locations. The feedback from the buyers involved and the companies which took part, confirm the well thought out decisions by our Agency. The responses of the exhibitors to the customer satisfaction survey reveal that about 89% of the companies considered the initiative to be valid or very much needed, and about 85% of the same group considered the support of ICE Agency to be satisfactory or very satisfactory. »
Claudia Piaserico, President of Federorafi, said, “The event in New York, thanks to the support of ICE, has once again demonstrated the ability of our entrepreneurs and our jewelry offering to fully meet the tastes and expectations of operators across the Atlantic. On this occasion we also showed our ability, all Italian, to introduce new ways to foster a more stable presence of companies, especially some of the smaller ones, and in a prestigious location like “Piazza Italia”, another factor that was greatly appreciated by exhibitors and around 300 buyers. This is a sign of the huge interest in the U.S. market, which is the main destination of ‘Made in Italy’ jewelry, absorbing 16% of our exports for a record value of almost 1.3 billion euros.”
“I am very proud to have participated in the establishment of an innovative project like this, to collaborate with Federorafi and ICE, with the firm belief that events of this type can project Italian excellence in global business,” concluded Paola De Luca, creative director of the project.