The great jewelry and watch fair, Baselworld, behind the scenes. With some bad mood, a fair amount of satisfaction and a lot of curiosity. From the point of view of the trend for jewelry, great rediscovery of enamel, confirmation of maxi sizes, search for oriental taste, therefore with a very elaborate workmanship, sometimes with some excess.
The market: Baselworld reflects the state of the world economy. In Basel it is a concentration of buyers, curious, luxury enthusiasts. The first certain fact is that the market is not in crisis. Both watches and jewelry are still selling. It’s just that they are not selling exactly as they were before the great crisis of the world economy, even if they are doing better than a couple of years ago. The big question, instead, is the stability of the Asian market, an outlet for many companies in the sector. Hong Kong (which in Basel has an entire pavilion dedicated to local producers) has decreased purchases, as has the Chinese market. However, decreasing does not mean zero, but that the number of pieces is decreasing compared to the boom of previous years. On the other hand, there were many Asian operators at Baselworld at the stands, where they were eagerly awaited by the companies. “There is no shortage of appointments, fortunately,” says Silvia Prandoni, marketing manager of Italian Design, “Baselworld remains one of the points of reference for the sector, like the event in Las Vegas.” Not everything, however, went smoothly. “The fair works, but it is incredible that they make us pay for the wi-fi connection, which is also limited to five users,” protests an operator, who asks to remain anonymous. “With what it costs to be present here, they could have included the internet connection in the price.” For the rest, the large building designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron, inaugurated last year, works well.
Impressions collected in two days of marathon among the stands: great success for some, for example Pesavento or Palmiero, desolately empty for others. But, on average, we gathered a fair amount of satisfaction. Certainly, for journalists the organization of Baselworld is impeccable and it would be nice if other trade fair organizations imitated it: material available, reserved area with wi-fi connection (to the envy of exhibitors), free refreshments continuously, abundance of information. For journalists the most admired jewel was the media center.
