Sriram “Ram” Natarajan is now GIA’s senior vice president of laboratory operations and is based out of the lab’s headquarters in Carlsbad.
Smart Show Canceled for 2017
SmartWork Media said the show has been “postponed” until 2018 and also confirmed that InDesign magazine will cease to exist as a regular standalone publication.
New York--SmartWork Media, the company that runs The Smart Jewelry Show as well as InStore and InDesign magazines, announced Monday that there won’t be a Smart show in 2017 and confirmed that InDesign will cease to exist as a regular standalone publication.
The 2017 Smart show was scheduled to take place in Chicago from April 1 to 3 but has been “postponed” until 2018 due to earlier-than-normal dates and venue scheduling conflicts, SmartWork Media said.
Future dates will be announced as soon as they become available.
In an email to National Jeweler, SmartWork Media CEO Matthijs Braakman said the company is “still vested” in developing events in the jewelry industry but has come to realize that it needs to “reimagine what events can look like.”
“Hopefully, this is only a temporary hiatus from running a ‘trade event,’” he said.
SmartWork Media still will have an educational presence at a few events this fall, including at the 25 in 5 conference taking place on Oct. 17, just after Centurion South Beach; Ack the Deck, the sales and marketing “boot camp” in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Sept. 10 and 11; and at The Edge Retail Academy in Shelton, Conn. on Oct. 16 (email becka@edgeretailacademy.com for more information.).
Braakman also confirmed that InDesign magazine, the sister publication to InStore that focuses on the art of fine jewelry design, will cease to exist as a publication with its own print and editorial schedule.
“We are changing the format of the publication,” he said. “The brand will continue to live on--it may find a section in InStore--the awards will continue, and there may be an issue or two around key events,” he said, noting that plans are still in development.
He declined to provide specifics on any layoffs, stating only that, “We are minimizing the impact on staff as much as possible.”
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