Letter from Christopher Slowinski:

Dear Valued Retailer,

Today, more than ever, bridal customers aspire to a larger and more important looking engagement ring. This is underscored by research from Conde Nast (BRIDES Magazine) that shows that the size of a center diamond continues to get larger and that the average purchase price of an engagement ring has been pushed up by 14% in the past couple of years. You are in a unique and coveted position! While other retailers are diminishing margin, fighting to make a sale on price point, your decision to carry Christopher Designs gives you the ability to fulfill that consumer desire for a larger looking, more brilliant diamond, while maintaining your profit margins! Additionally, to keep up with consumer desire we continually add to our proprietary shapes and increase the silhouette size of our existing cuts even further, thereby increasing the perceived value of our diamonds and exciting the bridal consumer even further.
In fact, by technologically tailoring a few of the proportions of our L’Amour Crisscut Oval, we were able to enhance the shape and increase the silhouette size to provide a 35% larger look compared to the same weight generic oval shape and still ensure no bowtie effect.
It’s an exciting time at Christopher Designs! We’ve made a number of improvements over the past year and we’ve seen some incredible results:

These are just a few of the ways that we are evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of our industry and help you differentiate, remain profitable and fulfill the desires of your customers. I hope you’ll make an appointment and let us show you how we can help. 

Sincerely, Chris

In case you have not been keeping up with the exciting changes at Christopher Designs, our sales force has been strengthened with the addition of some wonderful industry veterans. Of course, our core representatives are still calling on many of you. Here, for your convenience, is the newest breakdown of your daily contacts:
Paul Pilla: paul@christopherdesigns.com is still handling the Midwest region, which encompasses the states of MN, WI, MI, IA, IL, IN, OH, KS, MO, KY.

Lindsay Priest: lindsay@christopherdesigns.com has taken over the East Coast region, consisting of the states of ME, NH, RI, CT, VT, MA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, WV, NC.

Mary Marr Belcher: mary@christopherdesigns.com has taken over the Southern States, which comprise SC, TN, MS, AL, GA, FL.

Leigh-Anne Brown: labrown@christopherdesigns.com continues with the Mid-South region, made up of AR, LA, OK, TX, NM, CO, UT, AZ.

Ann Kim: ann@christopherdesigns.com will now cover the West Coast Region, which includes CA, NV, OR, ID, WA, as well as Canada and AK.

Remember to contact your sales rep with any questions or concerns and to make an appointment during the Luxury/JCK Shows to see our newest pieces.

Not only will you be treated to our newest creations, cuts and retailer programs at the Luxury/JCK show this year, you’ll be treated to a new Christopher Designs environment, within which to do business.   During the Luxury and JCK shows in Las Vegas, we have expanded our booth and changed locations to

LUX-31049.

Our new booth, designed by Tri-O International, provides a “spring wedding feeling” and is an open, welcoming design that beautifully showcases our iconic watercolor graphic and also includes uncluttered and well-lit workstations for you to meet with your sales representative.  Each station is equipped with electricity and USB ports so that you can recharge your electronics during your meeting. Please drop by!

The quest of a designer’s mind is to always find ways to make things more aesthetically pleasing. As a designer and engineer, I’m constantly seeking ways to technically improve my patented diamond cuts, optimizing the light performance, making them burst with even more fire and brilliance, and at the same time, augmenting the silhouette to give them a larger, broader look.

Our newly augmented L’Amour Crisscut Oval has an improved shape and softer contoured edge. Like our original oval, it eliminates the bowtie effect experienced with generic ovals and now provides you with a silhouette size of up to 35% larger than the generic cut.

Our goal this year was to expand our bridal-focused advertising and our social media community to reach over 72,000,000 targeted consumers and expose couples to our brand approximately 14 times during their purchasing decision window. We are happy to say that as of the end of the first quarter we are well on our way! Our print advertising has been seen consistently in the country’s top bridal publications and has garnered approximately 6,000,000 targeted consumer impressions. The publications are continuing to drive significant numbers of consumers to the Christopher Designs website and then to you via our store locator function.

In addition, our significantly expanded online presence has garnered well over 11,000,000 targeted consumer impressions.
More importantly, our consumer engagement and click-through-rates for our online advertising in these publications is continually ranking 33% - 80% higher than benchmark averages.
This fall, we will debut an updated ad creative. While the advertising will still drive consumer recognition of the brand across platforms, using our signature watercolor graphic, product images will be updated to include more wedding/anniversary band styling, showcase all 4 of the shapes of L’Amour Crisscut and show breadth of styling, which is of primary importance to the consumer.

We are also happy to also report that our social media community is growing at an impressive triple-digit rate and that we have partnered with Engagement 101 on their Propose 2 initiative that empowers women to pop the question to their boyfriend or to propose back to them.

At Luxury/JCK 2018 at the Christopher Designs booth, a drawing was held for an original oil painting “Blended Sensibility”, by Christopher Slowinski. The painting, won by Stephanie Elbe of Christopher’s Fine Jewelry in Des Moines, IA, created a lot of buzz and excitement at the show. Many retailers expressed disappointment when they realized that theirs was not the winning name drawn. Therefore, this year we will have another draw for a new painting by Christopher Slowinski. “New York State Of Mind” is an oil on canvas measuring 30” x 30”. The painting depicts many elements of the New York skyline, home of Christopher Designs, including the Brooklyn Bridge.

To enter to win the painting, retailers are asked to make and attend an appointment by calling their sales rep or contacting Margaret Becker, Vice President of Global Sales at (212) 381-1013 ext. 1522 or send her an email at margo@christopherdesigns.com. The draw will take place in the afternoon of Sunday, June 2 at the Christopher Designs Booth LUX-31049.