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Doha: The 19th DJWE will begin today and will run until February 25 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC). Organisers have announced that over 500 globally admired jewellery and watch brands will participate in the exhibition.
The edition also sees the return of Qatar Tourism’s Qatari Designers initiative. This has historically provided some of the country’s most recognised contemporary jewellery and watch brands with a springboard to help elevate their developing businesses.
Organisers expect more than 30,000 visitors to patronise the exhibition. While Damas Jewellery will make its DJWE debut revealing their Alif collection, a selection of exceptional high-end pieces and unique jewellery creations, Louis Vuitton would showcase their “Fantasy necklace,” a must-see 2.56-carat Monogram flower-cut diamond, for the first time in the event. Turkish and Indian pavilions will also be present with designs that celebrate their unique heritage and culture.
Visitors can also look forward to the IDT Gemological Laboratories facilitated by a new partnership under Al Darwish Jewellery. Customers can have their jewellery examined and certified by an internationally accredited institute.
Meanwhile, Education Above All (EAA), in collaboration with the House of Valentino, will launch a unique collection by Valentino during the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition today under the ‘Designing with Purpose’ initiative. Parts of the proceeds from this partnership would be given to EAA’s education project.
Speaking about EAA’s partnership with valentine, Parintaj Ankleshvria, Director of Private Sector Partnerships at EAA, said Valentino would launch 30 limited edition collections for the initiative – the collection will also be available at Valentino stores. Ankleshvria added that EAA had previously worked on the same project with top brands.
“They’re (Valentino) creating three design accessories with the Child Program logo, one of the programmes that work globally for education. So far, EAA has projects in over 50 countries, and we have helped about 14.4 million children and youth to access quality education,” Ankleshvria said.
She revealed that Valentino’s designs include the classic collection, the V collection, and the V logo collection, which would carry a special EAC logo (Educate A Child).
“In the past, we did something very similar with Chopard and Richard Mille and Hermes, and these collections were very successful. These partnerships not only help raise funding for a project, but they create awareness for those 60 million children who still need support in getting access to quality education,” she stressed.
Ankleshvria said EAA works in many private sector partnerships, which has impacted millions of children worldwide. She disclosed that the investment cost for putting one child through primary education is around $125.
“Imagine being able to educate one child for five years at the cost of $125,” Ankleshvria said. “That’s the impact you can have if you work with as many partnerships as we do. This is the role partners like Valentino and the private sector play along with the government sector and our other implementing partners and the funding that comes in through everybody.” Speaking of funding for its programmes, Ankleshvria said EAA works with the private sector, ODAs, governments of different countries, and multilateral banks like the Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank.
“So, our partnerships are extensive. We can only drive down the cost of its investment to $125 if you’ve got large partnerships supporting them. So, it’s different elements that come into the funding, and this is how we work. We work on the model of impact funding,” she added.
