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Why Cartier and Other Big Luxury Brands Are Pulling Out of This Major Trade Show

Published

8 years ago

May 16, 2016

INSTORE Staff

They’re not taking kindly to a request that show organizers are making.

A group of household luxury names that includes Cartier will not be participating in the Biennale des Antiquaires trade show, to be held in Paris this September – “decisions that some observers say stem from organizational changes that were made to reduce the jewelers’ presence in the wake of antique dealers’ complaints,” The New York Times reports.

The article says that Cartier, which had the show’s largest stand in 2014, was the first jeweler to announce it will not participate in the upcoming fair. “Cartier has made the decision not to participate in the next Biennale des Antiquaires due to new technical measures adopted by its organizers,” a statement from the company said, referring specifically to “the request to drastically reduce the maximum surface area of the stand.” Other luxury brands followed suit, including Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Giampiero Bodino, Boucheron, Alexandre Reza and Graff Diamonds.

On April 13, the article adds, organizers released an initial list of 112 exhibitors that included antique dealers that sell jewelry, but no contemporary jewelers.

Why This Jeweler Chose Wilkerson

Mark Lauer is the owner of Mark Michael Diamond Designs, the Minnesota-based jewelry gallery known for exceptional and uniquely designed diamond jewelry. Though he loved creating the beautiful jewelry his business was known for, retirement was an exciting alternative to the 60+ hours a week he’d spent building it up. He called Wilkerson to help with a retirement sale. “I did talk to two other companies, but I just didn’t feel they offered the same services that Wilkerson did,” he says. “I knew Wilkerson had the expertise to follow through and give me the service and results that I wanted. They’re the number one rock stars in this industry.”