Style & Design | ON: DESIGN Feb 4, 2017
Put the pedal to the metal for Valentine's Day
by Mio Yamada
If you haven't sorted out your loved one's special gift yet, On: Design this month has mined a few new ideas from Japan's metalworking industry.
World / Crime & Legal Jan 19, 2017
A robber brandishing a pistol and a grenade stole diamonds worth €15 million ($16 million) on Wednesday in the French Riviera town of Cannes and calmly escaped on foot, a regional prosecutor said. The man in his 30s, his face uncovered except for a pair ...
Digital | ON: TECH Sep 17, 2016
by Chiho Komoriya
Designing jewelry just for fun Handmade goods are popular in Japan, with online marketplaces such as Etsy and Creema proving successful. But what if you like the idea of designing, but don't have the time or resources to find materials and actually make something? Monomy by ...
World / Science & Health Aug 11, 2016
It may be just a tiny gold bead — 4 mm (1/8 inch) in diameter — but it is an enormous discovery for Bulgarian archaeologists who say they have found Europe's — and probably the world's — oldest gold artifact. The bead, found at a ...
Art May 10, 2016
The Medici loved trinkets of power
by Jeff Michael Hammond
For over three centuries the Medici family dominated Renaissance Florence and much of its economic, political and cultural life. In the arts, the wealthy family is largely remembered for its patronage of painting, sculpture and grand architecture, but a new exhibition at the Tokyo ...
World Nov 19, 2015
Small Canadian firm finds second-biggest gem-quality diamond ever
A small Canadian diamond company has found what it says is the world's second-biggest gem-quality diamond ever recovered, and the largest in more than a century, at its mine in Botswana. Lucara Diamond Corp. said on Wednesday the 1,111-carat stone was found at its Karowe ...
Art / Openings In Tokyo Sep 1, 2015
'The Art of Bvlgari: 130 Years of Italian Masterpieces'
by Daisuke Kikuchi
Sept. 8-Nov. 29 It's been 130 years since the founding of Italian jewelry company Bvlgari and to help it celebrate the Tokyo National Museum is hosting a special exhibition on the history of the luxury brand. The jeweler Sotirios Voulgaris (1857-1932) opened Bvlgari in Rome in ...
Art Aug 4, 2015
Art nouveau's jewels in the crown
by Mio Yamada
As Parisians of the late 19th century reveled in the heady optimism of economic prosperity and enjoyed the innovations spurred by the ongoing Industrial Revolution, Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress and muse of the time, became enamored by two trendsetters: Rene Lalique, then ...
Business Jun 25, 2015
Diamonds not forever as Japanese offload jewels for cash
by Hiromi Horie
Diamonds aren't necessarily forever. At least not in Japan, where jewelry owners are unloading unwanted jewels for cash at a record pace and shipping them off to buyers in China and India. The appeal of gem-encrusted rings and earrings that were part of the luxury ...
Asia Pacific / Social Issues Jun 4, 2015
'Pyonghattan': Unofficial economy brews up bling for North Korea's growing middle class
Nail salons, massage parlors, cafes and other signs of consumerism were unheard of in rigidly controlled North Korea just a few years ago, but they are slowly emerging in one of the world's last bastions of Cold War socialism. North Korea operates a centrally planned ...
Business / Corporate May 28, 2015
Tiffany's sales dive 30% on weakened yen, first stage of tax hike
American luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. said Thursday that sales in Japan in the February to April quarter plummeted 30 percent from a year earlier to $122 million amid a weakening yen and declining consumer spending. In addition to the yen, which has fallen ...
Business May 13, 2015
A Burmese ruby weighing 25.59 carats sold for a world record 28.25 million Swiss francs ($30.42 million) at a Tuesday auction that saw strong demand for colored stones and exceptional natural pearls, auction house Sotheby's said. "The Sunrise Ruby," which has the rare grading of ...