Jeweller - August Issue 2018

COME SEE US AT STAND F17
NEWS
Safety pendant wins prize
LEAF WEARABLES’
SAFER PENDANT
A wearables company that designed a
pendant has won a US$1 million prize for its
contribution to improving women’s safety.
Leaf Wearables has won the US$1 million
Women’s Safety XPRIZE for developing a
wearable to improve women’s safety.
The Women’s Safety XPRIZE competition,
funded by husband and wife entrepreneurs
Anu and Naveen Jain, aimed to encourage
tech developers to produce a wearable
device that would retail at under US$40 and
could “autonomously and inconspicuously
trigger an emergency alert while
transmitting information to a network of
community responders, all within
90 seconds.”
Leaf Wearables won the large cash prize for
its Safer pendant, which connects through
Bluetooth to the wearer’s smartphone.
When the user presses the button on the
pendant twice, an automated message
is sent to their emergency contacts and
pinpoints the wearer’s location.
The pendant also records audio during
a distress signal, which Leaf Wearables
believes could be useful in providing
evidence and deterring harrassers.
“Safety is a fundamental human right
and shouldn’t be considered a luxury
for women. It is the foundation in
achieving gender equality,” Anu Jain
stated at the announcement.
“Having the capability to record audio
after sending the alert was one of the main
differentiators for Leaf Wearables.
Their chip design and software was
also easy to be integrated into
other accessories.”
Lightbox factory gets green light
De Beers has commenced construction on
the factory that will manufacture its Lightbox
Jewelry synthetic diamonds.
The Element Six facility will have the capacity
to produce over 500,000 carats of synthetic
diamonds once its construction in Oregon,
North America, is completed in 2019.
Spanning 60,000 sq ft and costing the
company US$94 million (AU$125.5 m),
the factory will be De Beers’ second
partnership with Element Six, which is
currently headquartered in Maidenhead,
United Kingdom.
While the facility will not be in operation until
at least August next year, De Beers’ Lightbox
Jewelry is touting a launch this September,
with its range initially available online through
its website before being trialled in select
bricks-and-mortar stores.
The first collection will feature white, pink
and pastel blue synthetic diamonds, with
Lightbox Jewelry general manager Steve Coe
stating they will explore other colour options
in the future. The diamonds will not be sold
loose, nor will they be graded.
“We will introduce more designs and colours
as the range evolves,” Coe said in May during
the announcement of the brand’s launch at
JCK Las Vegas.
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+ MORE BREAKING NEWS
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Unique pink synthetic diamond
A New York-based synthetic diamond
laboratory claims to have produced the
largest pink synthetic diamond in the world.
Unique Lab Grown Diamond created a
square, radiant-shaped pinkish-orange
diamond, which has the synthetic equivalent
of SI clarity. The diamond was created using
chemical vapour deposition (CVD).
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
graded the 5-carat diamond last month and
reported the diamond displayed “outstanding
gemmological features”. It added that the
combination of size, colour and clarity “make
this the most remarkable CVD synthetic
diamond the GIA has tested so far.”
Another US synthetic diamond company,
WD Lab Grown Diamonds broke the record
for the largest synthetic clear diamond
back in May with a 9-carat round-brilliant
gemstone. The VS2-clarity diamond broke the
record previously held by the same producer.
The gemstone with the record beforehand
was 6 carats.