Heard on the Street: Video Series Captures What’s Really Happening in the Market

Heard on the Street, a video show about the diamond and jewelry industry, debuts today, featuring industry experts discussing the most pressing consumer and trade issues.

Brought to you by Rapaport and TV shopping channel Shop LC, the first episode tackles the natural-diamond sector’s need to differentiate from synthetics and the importance of consumer education.

Structured as a panel debate, the show — available on Rapaport.com — also addresses common misconceptions among shoppers.

“People don’t realize when you buy a natural diamond, you’re helping so many countries in Africa, so many [people] in India,” said Ari Jain, CEO at New York-based wholesaler House of Diamonds, on the show. “99% of [natural diamonds] are ethical.”

The program offers lively debate on the latest topics in the trade. On the first episode, released today, the panelists discussed how tariffs had impacted them as US-based dealers and retailers.

The experts pondered why 2-carat and larger diamonds were having a moment and why De Beers had recently increased prices of its bigger rough despite making sharp cuts in smaller sizes.

Tariff debate

They disagreed about the impact of US tariffs on the market — a conversation that underlined how the import duties had helped the large American suppliers but had hindered those who shipped from India.

“You can’t just bring everything overnight, so people tend to buy from people here in America,” according to speaker Jeff Angel, director of diamond procurement at RDI Diamonds. “So for us it’s been positive.”

Jain echoed this view, arguing that “natural diamonds are rarer than ever before, because [a very small] percentage of the world’s diamonds are in the US.”

However, tariffs have created extra challenges in an already difficult market, the two other panelists observed.

“It’s created a lot of disruption in an already disrupted industry,” said Olivia Landau, cofounder and CEO of online natural-diamond retailer The Clear Cut. “A lot of companies have had to overnight set up new ways of getting diamonds here.”

Senil Lakhani, president of Kiran Gems USA, also felt tariffs were only good news for American companies. “Being an Indian manufacturer, it also [hurt] the industry a lot” because of the slump in exports.

The participants did, however, agree that supply delays resulting from tariffs had deterred consumers. “Time kills all deals,” said Landau.

Promoting natural

The natural-diamond industry has “a lot of catching up on reeducating the consumer,” said Landau. “The natural-diamond industry stayed silent for a little bit while the lab-grown industry had extensive marketing and information.”

Mining nations such as Botswana have lost out because of lab-grown, having built their economies on precious stones, the panelists argued.

“People have not bought natural diamonds as much, and the people of Botswana are suffering,” added Jain.

The group also discussed diamond marketing, De Beers’ relationship with sightholders, and how the miner’s production cuts had created shortages of sought-after large goods.

Shop LC cohost Cheryl Ells is the moderator for the first two episodes of Heard on the Street, which were recorded on March 20 in Rapaport’s New York office. They feature three permanent panelists — Jain, Angel and Lakhani — as well as Landau, who appears in the first two installments.

This edition also contains interviews with Jay Mehta, principal at New York-based wholesaler Disons Gems, and Kerri Lavine, cofounder of Diamanti NYC, also known as the “Godmother of Diamonds.”

Image (left to right): Jeff Angel, Senil Lakhani, Cheryl Ells, Ari Jain and Olivia Landau.