It was a 30-hour flight from Japan. Although there were some troubles along the way, such as missing a connecting flight, we finally arrived in Brazil, the place we had longed for!
And now, it is Rio de Janeiro!
Rio de Janeiro, the city of Samba Carnival, the Copacabana coast, the Ipanema coast, the host city of the 2016 Olympics, the setting of the beautiful Black Orfe, the city that never ceases to fascinate! (In Brazil, it is pronounced in Portuguese, Hioji Janeiro. It means "January River.")
Rio, the main purpose of my stay is the beautiful Brazilian bikini girls on the Copacabana beach!
Not, one of the main purposes of this business trip, Brazil's most famous jewelry brand,Head office in H.Sern (Echistan, Agastan in Portuguese)visited the
http://www.hstern.net/hsterninrio/
H. Stern is a high jewelry brand that has not yet entered Japan, and we have not had a chance to see their bold designs with large stones, using Brazilian gemstones, although we have been eyeing them for some time.
With the anticipation and excitement of finally seeing the real thing, we headed to the main store in the upscale boutique district of Ipanema Beach!
The main store is located in an upscale shopping zone by the sea with an atmosphere similar to that of Rodeo Drive in ↑Los Angeles.
The entrance was manned by staff who spoke every language to accommodate the multinational guests.
Inside the H. Stern main store is a museum that explains the process from polishing the stone to the finished product. (This is mainly for tourists.)
First, a panel explaining gemstones from Brazil.
You can actually see the gemstones being polished.
It was the first time for me to see a proper equipment polishing operation, so it was a new experience for me.
Designers were also actually working on the project.
It seems hard to work while being watched.
This is a view of the workshop. Watching the production process is most intimate.
Basically, we worked with European tools, but we also had the latest equipment, such as laser welding machines.
After seeing the work process, we went to the stone exhibition space.
Inside the ostentatious vault-like door was a slightly fantastic display of typical stones from Brazil.
The most impressive of all was the collection of Brazilian tourmalines.
The president's private collection includes about 800 different types of tourmalines, all in different colors!
As a tourmaline lover, I was very excited.
There were so many different colors of tourmalines, and each stone was very attractive.
After viewing the exhibits, we went to the customer service area as usual.
There was a Japanese-speaking staff member who pretended to buy me a souvenir and showed me various products,
The collection with realistic prices (since they don't show you the products unless you are only willing to buy them) was a bit disappointing, as there was nothing that attracted me that much, and it was in the category of common sense design.
Although I was not able to experience the bold designs using large Brazilian stones, it was very inspiring to get a glimpse of a jewelry brand from Brazil!
