A record-breaking number of exhibitors, almost 500, a new hall with silver and gold jewellery, nearly 6 000 registered buyers from 45 countries are the most important news after this year’s, 15th International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones AMBERIF 2008, held between 11th and 15th March 2008.
According to the statistics held by the fair’s organizers the number of registered buyers mildly decreased. It can be said for sure that many Americans did not come while, as the exhibitors claim, there was a noticeable appearance of new clients from Europe. Lack of American buyers plagued especially the exhibitors offering traditional amber jewellery. Despite initial forecasts about good moods of buyers at
the fair in Tucson at the beginning of the year, many of them did their amber shopping there and decided not to come to Poland. Weakening dollar, significant difference in exchange rates and a slump in the economy announced on the world markets resulted in cautiousness as it comes to purchasing decisions.
This way Polish buyers and European merchants, among whom amber is getting more and more fashionable, are becoming more and more significant clients for amber producers. Similar situation could be observed during the inhorgenta europe fair, where the exhibitors noticed more interest in amber among buyers from Central and Eastern Europe; according to some there are also new clients from the West. A certain sign of the times is a higher decrease of turnover in trade with many former big-time wholesalers, having been observed for a few years. There are plenty of small companies importing jewellery and an easy access directly to producers results also in the fact that going on a business trip becomes more profitable, even for an owner of a small chain of stores without a middleman.
Presentation and design 
For a few years one has been able to observe a professionalization of exhibitors and the fair itself, and it has been exceptionally noticeable this year. More and more companies have their own walled off stands. There is a noticeable departure from multi-storeys, huge constructions which apparently were not economically justified in favour of simple and clear expositions. There are less stands where the jewellery presented in display cabinets amounts to several dozen kilos; many companies have only jewellery designs to place orders realized after the fair.
There are more companies which had invested in a cooperation with good designers and they clearly stand out as it comes to design. A moder design which touch a taste of conscious clients, is according to some the only chance of escaping forward and facing up to demanding competition. Many jewellery producers are nowadays aware that a well designed and perfectly manufactured jewellery can be easily sold for a good price. There is a noticeable division into those who provide market with products of poor quality and for a low price and those who are on a higher jeweller’s shelf with a good design and great workmanship. Unfortunately, there are still many manufacturers of products which are poor as it comes to beauty and quality.
Traditionally a few companies surprised us with an interesting design. But in the offer one can determine a certain general trend for amber jewellery: sculpturally modelled amber stones are more and more frequent, sometimes they constitute the forms in reproducible shapes in a jewellery set. These are not only kaboshons in different shapes but multidimensional forms. An example of such sculptural forms can be unique rings presented at the stand of S&A Amber Jewellery – one of them, “Not quite white”, was awarded with the Amber Ball by the students of Lodz Academy of Fine Arts for the best desing at the fair. A comeback in some companies to a traditional method of clenching stones is also worthy noticing. After the years of glue abuse while placing amber in settings, we are again able to admire stones intricately clenched with delicate paws. Amber is more often accompanied by precious stones: not only diamonds but also emeralds, sapphires and pearls of higher quality.
Also there is an increasing number of the companies offering gold jewellery with amber, whereas a design is not aiming at the lowest quality and consequently price. The producers admit that on the market there is a substantial demand for expensive and exclusive amber. They managed to promote the jewellery which previously was produced by Italian and German companies. A modern golden setting, diamonds and amber reigned supreme results in the fact that the products presented are becoming a real jewellery. It seems that the next step will be the use, for a larger scale, of white gold combined with amber and diamonds, bigger and of better quality.
Amber trend
During the fair one could take part in colloquiums on trends. One of them was presented by Christel Trimborn, the editor-in-chief of “GZ Art + Design”. She paid attention to
an amber trend in fashion for the nearest future. This trend is characterized by sanded and dull surfaces, a reference to colours and textures of the earth and warm colours. Among the leading producers one can notice adjusting a design to general world trends and more frequent playing with textures of metal surfaces. Previously there had not been such experiments wich amber. This year at least a few stands presented dull amber and, which is a novelty, stones cut towards inside.
Prices
An increase in prices of metals on the world markets, an increase of amber prices and strengthening of zloty in comparison with weakening dollar are only some of the factors which resulted in higher prices of ready-made jewellery. Since Ambermart in autumn, where some exhibitors already raised prices, to Amberif an average jewellery price increased by 15% to 25%. The exhibitors say that it is still possible to buy silver jewellery with amber at exceptionally low prices but the buyers who want to choose high quality jewellery must be prepared to pay more. So it was possible to buy jewellery for less than a dollar for a gram but also for more than three euro for a gram. The fair observations show that many companies decided on a more expensive assortment which additionally provides prestige and facilitates brand creation.
Gala of Fashion and Amber 
Every year one of the most important fair events is the Gala of Fashion and Amber. This year the Gala was conducted by Lidia Popiel – an Ambassador of Amber. There were seven shows, although not all of them with the use of amber. During the break the winners of the
Amberif Design Award (Elektronos),
Mercurius Gedanensis and
Amber in Handicraft competitions were given their awards. A general opinion on the gala is getting more disputable. The gala, despite being the exceptional event in Europe, is at the same time a neglected part of the fair. Many participants claim that with each passing year a general level of organization is getting lower. Lack of the gala’s director and one subject responsible for promotion result in the fact that it is really hard to say who this evening is dedicated to. Intuitively it feels that it should be for the most important buyers but lack of translation into the English language discourages them from coming. Moreover, the organizer is not able to arouse the interest of enough journalists representing national fashion press and media (not mentioning the foreign ones), and the reports from the shows are presented mostly in trade and local media. These are the reasons why this year’s gala was conducted without two undoubtedly the best and the most professional teams: Image Silver and Jola Sloma & Mirek Trymbulak and S&A Amber Jewellery and Michal Starost. In the opinion of many spectators their absence significantly lowered a level of the event.
4 or 5 days?
This year’s Amberif for the second time lasted 5 days – 4 days were for trade only and the last one was open for the audience. However, the surveys conducted after the fair show that most exhibitors want 4-day fair without non-trade audience. According to Ewa Rachon, the fair’s commissar, it is possible that the Amberif fair will be closed for the audience and open only for registered buyers. The decision will be made at the meeting of the fair’s consultants on 6th May this year. The August
Ambermart fair will be certainly open for the audience.
A new hall and new fair premises
A new hall and a new parking lot are two things which the Gdansk International Fair has lacked for a long time. This year the need was satisfied, at least partially. The new Golden Hall, built next to the Amber Hall, having an area of 3 500 m
2, allotted for the exhibitors from the previous small hall number 4, in subsequent years can become insufficient. The fact that the fair’s buildings are situated in the Przymorze district is very problematic for their development and that is why there have been dicsussions about new fair premises for a few years. Last year, after granting Poland a right to organize European football championships and the city’s plan to build a stadium, people started talking about the fact that a conference centre should be built next to the stadium. This year the management of MTG SA, the fair’s organizer, during the press conference closing the fair has officially confirmed that there have been made efforts to build such centre in the Letnica district. So there is a chance that in a few years’ time the fair will be moved to a less populated part of the city, to the fair centre built from scratch.
Opinion
The overall opinions on the fair among the exhibitors were completely different. There were enthusiastic opinions of the companies which entered into good agreements, but also very loud complaints. But it was enough to compare the fair’s opinions with the assortment being offered in order to reach a simple conclusion that the producers of interesting and attractive jewellery have rather good opinions on this fair’s edition. It is said that each fair can be judged objectively only after a few months and potential complaints or lack of clients should lead to thinking over the fact if the designs on offer or a quality of products have their potential buyers. For 15 years Amberif has strengthened its position as the biggest amber fair in the world but it is not enough – the producers have to work on their offer and the way of exposition.
Opinions of some exhibitors:
Jacek Leszczyszyn, Balt – Dulinscy
We assessed the fair as generally successful, although less buyers came from the States and Far East. Previously the Americans have been key clients for some companies. I think that Poland is getting more expensive and Americans start buying jewellery mainly in Asian countries. There were plenty of Europeans and we managed to establish contacts with a few new clients. Quite many new clients came from Russia and Ukraine but also from Germany, France and Spain. Definitely there was a lack of guests from Scandinavia.
The Polish market is getting better and we try to strengthen our position on it. A sale during the fair was similar to last year’s. Unfortunately, more and more clients want to purchase products with postponed payments.
As it comes to our new designs the clients liked combinations of amber with cubic zirconias, especially the clients from the East who have not met such combination before. The interest was also aroused by our new cuts of stones and many clients asked about such desings which we offer in gold. During Amberif we donated an amber crown to the Museum of Amber. It met a very good media reception and aroused interest among other companies. So we can consider the fair successful.
Rafal Zukowski, Enzo
This year’s Amberif fair had a little tense atmosphere. A considerable increase of silver and amber prices before the fair forced the exhibitors to raise jewellery prices what influenced the buyers’ behaviour. It could be noticed that some clients were more careful while spending their money and their purchases were better thought out. But is should not be surprising – our zloty is getting stronger, they predict a crisis on the American market and fear that there will be a decrease in global demand. One could feel the absence of some buyers from the United States and those who visited our stand admitted that weak dollar hindered their previous business activity. However, we were not let down by the clients from Europe. Many of them claimed that their businesses were okay and they did not feel any crisis, and some of them appraised the last half year as the best one for many years. The buyers from Central and Eastern Europe were much more active, especially those from Baltic countries. I think that it can also result from increasing affluence of their people, a tourist attractiveness and a fact that their national currencies, similarly to our zloty, are getting stronger in comparison to euro and that is why they find it a little easier to accept higher prices. The buyers from Western Europe chose lighter and cheaper products while the clients from its eastern part bought more impressive and expensive ones. Whereas everyone, regardless of a country of their origin, were searching for novelties. In my opinion it was more noticeable than during previous years and maybe it results from some foresight typical for a period of waiting and uncertainty with respect to a vision of a global recession. A positive aspect of this year’s fair for us was a fact that beside a circle of regular clients a lot of new clients visited our stand. So lack of some people was made up for by others. We also see that the age of big wholesalers ended. Representatives of store chains and store from all parts of the world get directly to the producers. In this respect the world is getting smaller and undoubtedly there is less place for middlemen.
Marek Juszczak, Amberglobe
For me Amberif was worse that last year both as it comes to clients and orders. There was a lack of American buyers but it resulted from a weakening of dollar. But there were definitely more Chechs and Hungarians. A huge minus was giving a whole hall to Lithuanians. It harmed the companies which in Poland produce only amber. Some Lithuanian companies, beside considerable amounts of boring products, had also very nice designs and in really competitive prices. As far as I know amber was mostly bought at Lithuanian stands, not Polish ones. However, my old clients chose me to be sure of its absolute authenticity.
Photos: Amber Hall. Flower collection of the company New Amber Collection. Amber with diamonds by Amer Mix. Fashion and Amber Gala: Amberways Bozena Kaminska (jewellery) and Mariusz Szarek (fashion) (Fot. A. Szycik).
