London Jewellery Week

Last week Coutts London Jewellery Week officially launched at the OXO Tower in London. Taking place from 11-15 June this year, the London Jewellery Week will be the first time that the jewellery industry has united to showcase the UK's status as one of the leading centres of jewellery. The Week has been designed to be an industry-wide celebration of all things jewellery, bringing together leading names and cutting edge designers, ultimately conveying the allure and diversity of British jewellery and creating a legacy for our talent. From Hatton Garden to Knightsbridge, Bond Street to Green Street, the event will offer established designers and undiscovered talent exhibiting across the capital.

The jewellery fair feature catwalk shows, exhibitions, evening events, behind the scenes moments, seminars, promotions, product launches, awards ceremonies and graduate shows. Over 200 jewellers are expected to be taking part, ranging from the high profile brands such as Michael Wainwright of Boodles, Theo Fennell, Stephen Webster and Shaun Leane through to up-and-coming designers such as Hannah Martin.

Based on work commissioned by the City Fringe Partnership, the organisation behind the event, with funding from the London Development Agency (LDA) Coutts London Jewellery Week has been established in light of significant demand from both consumers and the jewellery industry itself. The UK is an important global centre of the jewellery industry, and is home to some of the world's top designers.

The UK jewellery industry is currently worth over £3 billion and is outstripping rival European and global markets with an annual growth in sales of 28% versus 6% globally. Furthermore, KPMG recently predicted that the global jewellery market was worth $146 billion in 2005 and could be worth as much as $280 billion by 2015 with the opportunity for a major part of this growth benefiting the UK economy.

Image: Michael Wainwright of Boodles