INHORGENTA MUNICH February 2023: a glamourous international green edition

INHORGENTA MUNICH – based jewelry show took place from 24 to 27, February 2023. Six exhibition halls were dedicated to jewelry, watches, gemstones, pearls, innovative designers and renowned brands. At first glance, the surroundings impressed me: the visitors were welcomed by a glamorous floral and garden set-up. The whole fair was immersed in a luscious forest-like atmosphere: tropical plants and flowers were everywhere and an I had a deep feeling of being in the midst of nature.

Laura Astrologo Porché at Inhorgenta Münich

This was in every way a green edition: for the first time, participants could minimize their carbon footprint with a GoGreen ticket. The 802 exhibitors belonging to 38 different countries represented a 10% increase compared to the previous edition.

Annamaria Cammilli, Regina collection ring

Emil Kraus since 1866

Fabergé Imperial Zenya White Gold & Emerald Egg Pendant

The show attracted 24,000 visitors from 90 countries (up 51 per cent compared to April 2022 show).

Everything was organized to perfection. There were a lot of cosy restoration points: in particular, at the entrance, the Chinese-inspired “cosy corner” with a charming fireplace welcomed the participants with a large offer of food and drinks. Each and every booth was a surprise in terms of decoration, elegance, style and display of jewelry, watches and gemstones. Inhorgenta was a real success. A new entry was the joint pavilions from France and Italy and the top new exhibitors Damiani, World Diamond Group and NXT LVL Brands (Christ).

Laura Astrologo Porché, wearing the Bloody Mary collier and Jerôme Favier, CEO Damiani

The demand for Hall B1 Fine Jewelry exceeded the space available. “With around 800 exhibitors from all over the world—including many brands of great charisma—INHORGENTA MUNICH is Europe’s leading platform for jewelry, watches and gemstones” explains Stefan Rummel, Managing Director of Messe München. “Both manufacturers and retailers are confident about the future as their goods are valued investments.”

Capolavoro Jewellery snow globe pendant

This jewelry show also offered an interesting program of seminars and particularly highlight trends such as digitalization, sustainability, watch talks, expert diamonds lectures and advice for young professionals and so much more with TRENDFACTORY MUNICH at Hall C2. Top speakers from all over the world presented the trends of tomorrow and explained how the jewelry and watch industry will change in the future. On Inhorgenta website your will find all the lectures and talks inhorgenta.com/en/. “Given the many current challenges we all have to face, it was more important than ever for us to create a conference program that gives trade show participants practical orientation”, explains Maritta Lepp, Exhibition Director of INHORGENTA MUNICH. Avi Kravitz, from Rapaport, Israel, was interviewed by me before his Trends in the Diamond Industry lecture.

He said “Three issues are affecting the diamond market. The first is on the supply side relating to Russian diamonds and how the sanctions are affecting the market. The second is related to lab-grown diamonds. We are at a pivotal point: there is an issue regarding the value and prices. Speaking of values there is the third topic which is the values of the natural diamond industry related to the verification of the sources. Can you account for the diamonds you are selling and what it is the integrity you represent in the industry?”

On Saturday 25^th of February, 2023 the Award Ceremony Gala Evening took place at BMW Welt www.bmw-welt.com, an exhibition and museum space dedicated to the world of vehicle manufacturer BMW. It was a sparkling and magnificent event with glamorous guests and a gourmet dinner for everyone attending the Award soirée.

Well-known jurors presented the coveted trophy to the winners of ten categories.

“The INHORGENTA AWARD is our way of providing a great stage for exceptional creations from the jewelry, watch and gemstone industries—from a piece of jewelry by a young newcomer, a special watch by an established brand to a newly conceived retail concept” explains Stefan Rummel, Managing Director of Messe München. “We are particularly pleased with the strong international participation: 80 of 137 submissions came from 37 foreign countries.”

The award winners – As for the “Fine Jewelry” category, the award winner was BINDER Jewellery with “Perception Collection”.

BINDER – Fine Jewellery of the Year – Perception Collection

The award winner of the new category “High Jewelry of the Year” was Pavit Gujral with “Crab Earrings”.

Pavit Gujral – High Jewellery of the Year- Crab Earrings

The “Fashion Jewelry” category, addressed to current fashion trends, was won by BOLTENSTERN with “FABNORA Mix and Match” earrings.

Boltenstern- Fashion Jewellery of the Year – Fabnora Mix and Match earrings

The “Designer of the Year” winner was Theodora D. with Flamenco ring, an outstanding piece of design.

Designer of the Year – Theodora D. – Flamenco ring

Young talents competed as “Design Newcomer” with self-manufactured jewelry or watches. The award winner was Margret Hipp from Pforzheim Goldsmith School with the “PISCIS” earrings.

Designer Newcomer of the Year – Margret Hipp – Piscis earrings

The category “Watch Design”, demanding an innovative concept and independent design, was awarded to Uhrenfabrik Junghans with “Junghans 1972 Competition”.

Watch of the Year – Junghans 1972 Competition

This year for the first time, the “Gemstone Design of the Year” category honored special-coloured gemstones, diamonds and gemstone objects. The award winner was Gerhard Hahn with “bi-color Saphir”.

Gemstone Design of the Year – Gerhard Hahn – Bi-color Sapphire

A trendsetting retail concept was honoured in the “Best Jeweler of the Year” category. The award winner was Sebastian Frost with his store in the small fishing village of Listed on the east coast of Bornholm in Denmark.

Best Jeweller of the Year – Sebastien Frost, Denmark

This year, the nominees in the two Retailers Choice categories were also selected by the jury. The winner of the “Retailers Choice Awards—Best Pieces of Jewelry” was EGF Manufaktur with “Precious Heritage” and the winner of the “Retailers Choice Awards—Best Watch” was Casio Europe with “G-SHOCK GM-B2100GD5AER”.

Retailers Choice – Best Piece of Jewellery – EGF Manufaktur- Precious Heritage

Retailers Choice – Best Watch – G-SHOCK GM-B2100GD5AER Casio Europe

The jury was composed by: watch expert Gisbert L. Brunner, jewelry designer Leo Eberlin, Sarah Fabergé (Director of Special Projects Fabergé), Anja Heiden (Member of WEMPE’s Executive Board), Martin Julier (Head of Gemlab Bucherer), Giorgia Mondani (watch expert and digital entrepreneur), designer Patrik Muff, founder and editor-in-chief Katerina Perez, blogger and fashion label owner Nina Schwichtenberg, Christoph Stelzer (Dfrost, retail specialist) and Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber (Managing Director of the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V. (German Association of Goldsmith’s Art). The show was appreciated by all the exhibitors, visitors and buyers.

Jérôme Favier, CEO of Damiani declared: “Consumers from German-speaking countries already know us from their travels or from digital channels. The reason why we are at INHORGENTA is that we now also want to reach them through retail trade and thus build a trusting relationship.”

Sarah Fabergé during our interview explained: “It was a great experience to be back at Inhorgenta and a great privilege to be invited back to the jury of the Awards. We were very busy and excited to meet so many different people as passionate as we are and maybe want to collaborate”.

Marco Bicego, owner of the homonymous Maison, showed me his new Jaipur ALTA High jewelry collection. He was very proud of the quality of the top handcraft, coloured gems and versatile pieces. His timeless collections attracted a lot of visitors and buyers. “ALTA is an ode to the magnificence of natural gemstones, but also to the incredible craftsmanship of our artisans working from our atelier in Trissino, Italy,” Mr. Bicego said. “We see High Jewelry as the art of elevating precious stones. Nature, flowers, and leaves have always been sources of inspiration to me, and we still are very loyal to these concepts, because they give us the possibility to highlight the traditional handcrafting techniques we use. It is also important to mention the intense research that is conducted by our gemology team as we pay particular attention to the colour, weight, cut and shape as well as the inherent beauty of the gemstones, as we only work with natural, non-treated and non-heated stones.”