Light Right

Emphasize the beauty of your colored gemstones with the proper lighting.

With colored gemstones getting some of the best margins these days, you want to show them off in the best light. Jewelers of America’s Counter Points: Communicating Color: Selling the Value And Beauty of Colored Gemstones, published in The J Report, advises retailers that a stone may look beautiful under one type of light, dull under another.

When highlighting specific product details, like gemstones, it’s important to have the appropriate accent lighting, make sure you consider the Color Rendering Index (CRI) and Color Temperature (measured in Kelvins) when choosing your lighting fixtures.

Here are a few guidelines:

• To illuminate warmer gemstones, choose lamps that have a warm color temperature (2700-3000 Kelvins), these will flatter warmer shades of the spectrum, such as red, orange and yellow.
  
• To illuminate cooler shades like blue, green and violet, use lamps with cool color temperatures (3600-5500K).
  
• Not sure which is best for your display? In general, when lighting diamond and gemstone jewelry, you can play it safe with a cooler color temperature (around 3500K), as it highlights their sparkle and depth of color.
• Find Your Fixture: Many lamps -- Fluorescents, Halogens, etc. -- come in a range of color temperatures, so use what is best suited for your store's design. However, incandescent lights are warmer fixtures.

Left: The yellow natural diamond ring, a 2007 JA Design Competition winner
by Gerard Faini, Faini Designs Jewelry Studio, will shine in warm lighting.
Right: This blue topaz pendant, a 2008 JA Design Competition winner
by Joel Wiland of J. David Jewelry, would sparkle best in cool lighting.

Other Ideas to Thrive in Lighting Jewelry:

• Be Natural: Choose lamps that make colors appear as natural as possible. This is measured by the Color Rendering Index (CRI) on the lamp’s packaging or catalogue. For retail, select lamps with a CRI of 80 or above.
• Let It All Hang Out: Pendant lights are single lights that hang on a wire, and work well for showcasing jewelry at the display counter. These are popular for accent lighting because you can illuminate displays while creatively differentiating your style from competing stores. 
• Get Rid of Glare: For accent lighting, spotlights, like Halogen PARs or low-voltage MR-16s, and recessed lamps help to avoid glare in displays, so customers can focus on your beautiful product.

Warner Co. Jewelers store interior with pendant and accent lighting

Take the Tip:

• For more information on retail lighting, check out Design Lights retail guide and Lighting Design Lab's articles on lighting design.
• JA Members can read more Counter Points at our Publication archive page in the Members Only section.