TRADE SHOWS

Buoyed by the enthusiastic response to its first edition in 2017, the CARAT+ show returns to Antwerp for another three-day run, from May 6 to through May 8. MID House of Diamonds, which exhibited at the trade fair’s premiere showing, will be present once again, displaying hundreds of the company’s signature high-quality polished diamonds and diamond-set jewelry.

Organized by EasyFairs, which also manages the show venue, the Antwerp Expo, at the southern the entrance to the Belgian city, CARAT+ is a unique phenomenon on the 2018 trade show calendar, in that it is only event that focuses almost exclusively on diamonds, including loose goods, diamond jewelry and diamond-industry related services.

The 2017 show attracted 130 exhibitors from 13 countries, and 3,000 visitors from 33 markets, confounding the skeptics  who had wondered whether the industry needed a trade fair that focused entirely on diamonds. The CARAT+ founder and event director, Filip Van Laere, was undeterred. “The diamond business has been through a lot of challenges and changes over the past 15 years, and it is my belief that the sector needs an innovative, exciting and attractive focal point to express itself with confidence and pride. After all, diamonds are still the most glamorous luxury item in the world,” he stated.

There will be a number of new features at the 2018 event, including a curated Colored Gemstones Sector, and a dedicated China Guest Land, which will bringing leading Chinese manufacturers and professionals from the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) to the heart of Europe. That will culminate in a CARAT+ China Night evening event on May 8, at Antwerp’s iconic Havenhuis, designed by the famed British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.

The highlight of the 2017 show was the CARAT+ Night evening event, which attracted more than 1,800 industry professionals, and was opened by the Italian model and actress Caterina Murino, who since she has appeared in the 2006 film Casino Royle has been a member of the exclusive Bond Girl Club. The organizers plan to repeat that success this year, with the star of the event being Elizabeth Hurley, who for 23 years has represented Estée Lauder as a spokesmodel. And while not a member of Bond Girl Club, she has the distinction of having played the love interest of Britain’s other favorite spy, in the 1997 movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.