Valentine’s Day Delights
With Valentine’s Day approaching, now is the perfect time to stock up giftable items for sweethearts (if you haven’t already placed orders). Hearts are an obvious jewelry motif for Valentine’s Day, but they’re certainly not the only symbol of love to gift. Others include angels, wings, initials, infinity symbols, birthstones, love knots, and more.
Shefi Diamonds offers nearly every item mentioned above, with the addition of charms and stackable designs. To make pieces more attainable, the brand has a selection of lighter-weight gold styles like hoops and bangles that retail between $250 and $500.
And just because hearts are a predictable design choice doesn’t mean they’re dull! Executed in modern silhouettes, they’re as covetable as any other trend. In fact, hearts have been riding a wave of popularity among high-end jewelry designers for about six years now, and consumers’ affinity for them shows no sign of stopping.
Perhaps this is why Shefi offers lightweight karat gold heart-silhouette hoops, and the Royal Chain Group offers puffy heart motifs on bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Polished textures make Royal Chain’s hearts look “playful,” according to Phillip Gabriel Maroof, vice president of marketing and design.
“We’ve also introduced a new series of Phillip Gavriel 18-inch pendants featuring colorful gemstones for Valentine’s Day under the Popcorn collection,” he adds. “For the new ‘Puffed Hearts,’ we’re offering these styles in both all sterling silver and 14k-gold-plated silver to provide more options for our retailers and to create luxurious, trendy products at more accessible price points for customers.”
Roger Forman, one of the owners of Marathon Company, insists that his brand’s heart-shape locket is its most iconic piece of jewelry for Valentines Day and other special occasions. In fact, Marathon even has an online tool called Locket Studio that makes it easy to insert perfectly sized photos into them.
“The locket collection includes hand-engraved, embossed, diamond- and gemstone-accented and engravable styles in round, heart, and oval shapes,” says Forman. “These can hold two to four images and are offered in all metal types—14k gold, sterling silver, and 14k gold fill to meet all customers’ budgets.”
Marathon says that while lockets have been cherished through the ages for holding a loved one’s image close to the heart, locket-wearing today is a growing trend among younger generations.
“Not only as a look—lockets are classic, versatile, and nostalgically romantic—but they have been adopted as aspirational pieces, too,” he notes.
Marathon’s Locket Studio is a free tool that customers can use to create their own special design to place inside their locket. Once clients make their locket purchase in store, they are given a Marathon code to enter on the site. Alternatively, they can also search shapes and sizes online to find the one they purchased or desire.
“Upload an image, crop it or rotate it as needed, and Locket Studio presents five images on a 4-inch by 6-inch page that is ready to print on photographic paper and cut to fit,” adds Forman.