Dear Readers,
This year has definitely taken us all by surprise and turned just about everything we are accustomed to upside down for an indefinite time to come.
We knew that there was a virus spreading out there when the latest issue of the Baltic Jewellery News was released at the opening of “Amber Trip”, but we were not aware of the impact it would have on our daily lives and livelihoods yet.
“Amber Trip” started out in a very good and optimistic fashion with a good number of visitors despite of some news of cancelled fairs in Europe. The threat of closing was in the air during the second day and we started hearing reports from other countries about borders being closed. Finally, it was inevitable that the corona crisis would eventually reach us in a very concrete way. The fair had to be closed and many of the exhibitors saw their commercial aspirations for the rest of the spring vanish into uncertainty about the future. Totally unexpectedly we had to deal with new challenges of how to conduct our everyday business in a time where fairs and exhibitions were closed and people were confined to their homes.
How have we been able to deal with this? There are as many stories as there are companies and there are differences in how each nation has been able to support their entrepreneurs to overcome this period of isolation. We have also seen an overwhelming wave of innovative ideas to overcome the isolation. Digital events and marketing have taken a giant step during this time and I am confident that, as bad as it seems, it will bring something new as we go back to what we today call “the new normal”.
From the historical point of view jewellery has always had its place in every time and culture. Peoples’ need of jewellery has survived wars and crises and I think and hope that we are taking a step towards a new era in the jewellery business during this crisis.
Henrik Kihlman