Gold: Trends, Techniques, and Transparency

IAC’s 5th Precious Substances Conference
April 9 – 10, 2015

The Graduate Center, The City University of New York

Initiatives in Art and Culture took a wide-ranging look at gold in its fifth annual international conference devoted to this precious metal. With a focus on jewelry, we explored the underpinnings of gold’s abiding emotional power, allure, and enduring value. The use of gold in creating marks of achievement—trophies, bespoke jewels, wreaths, crowns, and medals—attests to the metal’s social significance from the ancient Egyptians to the present. Gold’s importance remained undiminished, and we looked to the future with a panel focusing on the next generation of jewelers, the education of customers, and the retail industry.

We explored techniques and cutting-edge technologies central to the jeweler’s art, focusing as well on those who used them to create objects of desire and repositories of value. Means used to attract consumers, in particular millennials and “Baby Boomers,” generation were also considered. Topics ranged from demographics to social media and other means that build on and celebrate gold’s centrality and allure, including trends and trend forecasting, and developments in the marketplace that resonate with the dominant cultural mood and thus consumer inclinations. We also addressed ways that consumers could be confident that their purchases were not only aesthetically and emotionally pleasing but ethically sourced, with discussions of how the industry could build trust through transparent reporting and the journey toward responsible mining.

Richline was the Leadership Sponsor. Signet was a sponsor at the Patron Level. Hoover & Strong was a sponsor at the Donor Level. The Gemological Institute of America and WYS Jewelry were sponsors at the Supporter Level. The organizers expressed deep gratitude for the support of Aaron Faber Gallery and Doyle & Doyle. Freeman’s was a media sponsor.

Program agenda