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May 1999 Professional Insider:International Trade Shows Modern Design in BangkokContemporary designs in silver and gold held their own against traditional colored gemstone jewelry styles at the Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair, held in Thailand in March. Here are the major trends from the fair. Designers embedded two or three tiny diamonds (the specialty of local cutters) in wide ring bands of white or yellow gold and silver for a striking size contrast. Invisible settings were popular; rings alternating square colored gems and diamonds for a checkerboard look set in square bezels were popular also. White metals were everywhere, especially silver, for which the city is well-known, plus white gold. Yellow gold jewelry was mostly high- karat (22k and 24k). Much of the jewelry was modern with European cues, styled in youthful, cartoonish motifs such as scalloped flowers, star bursts and spirals. Many silver designs used cubic zirconia and cabochon-cut colored gemstones, with blue and yellow topaz, peridot and dark purple amethyst prevailing. Heart-shaped colored gemstones were popular. The cultured pearls of choice were South Sea – white and golden from Australia and Indonesia, black from Tahiti. In strands, off-rounds were prevalent. Only a few exhibitors carried Chinese freshwater pearls, which are creating such a stir in other markets with their large sizes. For smaller round white strands, pearl dealers and jewelry manufacturers at the fair still preferred Japanese cultured pearls. – by Stacey King
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