TOUGH TIMES AND BRILLIANT (no pun intended) PROSPECTS

My mother always told me if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I have taken her advice and not posted a Blog in quite some time. So I do have some good news on Ruff&Cut, socially responsible luxury, and our Glittering Conscience collection. But first, here is reality:

As I sit at my desk in lower Manhattan, I constantly contemplate how this recession is affecting people I know. Several of my friends with professional jobs and steady careers up until now are currently unemployed. Diamond mining has virtually stopped in Sierra Leone (and throughout the world for that matter). Prices on rough diamonds are 75% where they were in October. I have not taken a trip to Africa since last December. By this time last year, I had spent a month in Sierra Leone and I would go two more times before 2008 was over. I can only imagine how bad living conditions have become in Sierra Leone with commodities prices at historical lows and unemployment at historical highs. I have been pondering how to collaborate with of the intellectual firepower currently sitting on the sidelines unemployed. What if they believed in R&C’s mission and could be put to work without draining too much capital?

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS: We have been quite busy putting together a lower price point collection that will be available soon. Fashion and jewelry bloggers continue to write nice things about us. The hits on the www.ruffandcut.com web site are increasing.

Ruff&Cut has been establishing joint ventures for marketing programs and supply of recycled metals colored gemstones and diamonds. One particular joint marketing program involves The Green Bride Guide www.thegreenbrideguide.com. GBG recently added the Ruff&Cut collection to its website. GBG has a philosophy of promoting environmental awareness and social change by offering ideas, facts, pictures and resources for planning a green wedding. Our goal is to help couples lessen their environmental footprint - by decreasing consumption, choosing renewable and sustainable products, composting, recycling and carbon offsetting. The GBG was founded by Kate Harrison, Yale grad and now Yale Graduate school student at the Entrepreneurial Institute. I met Kate at the Connecticut Green Scene Eco-Chic event where both out companies were
featured on Connecticut Public Television. Recently, I was featured on her weekly radio show/podcast for iTunes University. Her show is an interview series with the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, the focus of it being eco-companies/eco-standards. The goal is to build content for her website and to educate the broader community (aka iTunes subscribers) about important environmental and humanitarian issues.

Through joint ventures like this and the improved web site visits, Ruff&Cut has begun to sell rough diamond engagement rings. Below I would like to share two testimonials sent to us.

"I did a lot of searching for a company that could offer me a conflict-free, fair trade diamond and a lot of people told me I had to look to Canada. But I was adamant about supporting the industry in West Africa, an area that receives a lot of aide from our country, but not a lot of business. I was thrilled to work with R&C, where I knew I was getting a diamond that was not only ethically sourced, but also one whose purchase contributed in a small way to the development of a country that desperately needs not just our goodwill, but our business."

~Dave

Dave purchased a beautiful diamond mined in Sierra Leone by Pride Diamonds and polished in the United States. Tracy Matthews designed the ring.

Here is an image sent to us by another customer, Kim.


Kim made a visit to our home office after viewing several designs on our website. She told us she was having a tough time deciding and wanted to see the rings in person. We were more than happy to meet one of our customers face-to-face and watch her face light up when she finally settled on a Candor Ring featuring a 2.64 carat sparkling rough diamond. Kim told us not only was she thrilled to have such a gorgeous ring, but also that she received plenty of compliments on its unique style and ethical sourcing. She wears it proudly everyday!

We are so happy that rough diamond engagement rings are becoming popular. Moreover, an engagement ring epitomizes sustainability. By choosing a ring from Ruff&Cut, the couple will know that in a small way, their ring will indeed help make the lives of those in Sierra Leone a little better. I’m so glad I had some nice things to say, and I hope you enjoyed reading all about it!

Highest regards,

Wade Watson