Latest news with #jewellery
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kim Kardashian 'grandpa robber', 69, dies a month after his conviction
's 'grandpa robber' has died a month after he was convicted of stealing jewellery worth $10million from the reality television star. Didier Dubreucq, 69, was diagnosed with lung cancer during pre-trial detention and had been undergoing chemotherapy. He was among ten suspects to be tried earlier this year for stealing jewels from the star, including a huge diamond ring from her now ex-husband, rapper Kanye West. Dubreucq, who police nicknamed 'Blue Eyes' due to his piercing gaze, was accused of being the second person who stormed into Kim's hotel room on October 2, 2016, but he denied the charges. A Paris court last month sentenced him to seven years in jail, including five suspended, for the robbery. He was absent for the ruling as he was undergoing chemotherapy, and did not return to jail as he had already served his two years in pre-trial detention. In April, he had however turned up in court after a chemotherapy session to say he had 'nothing to do' with the theft. He said he did not like to be labelled an 'armed robber' despite having served a 23-year sentence for past armed robberies. He rejection suggestions that he is a 'thug' and said: 'I'm a good guy.' Since becoming a father at the age of 50, Dubreucq added that he had put an end to his 'big mistakes' of the past. None of the eight people convicted last month returned to jail, including 69-year-old ringleader Aomar Ait Khedache, because of the time they had spent behind bars while awaiting trial. A few hours after the verdict, Dubreucq addressed the court in a letter read by his lawyer. He wrote: 'I never participated in this jewelry theft. You don't condemn a man on the altar of suspicion and doubt.' Dubreucq even addressed a few words Kim, who was held captive and gagged during the robbery, as well as to Abderrahmane Ouatiki, a receptionist at the hotel where the star was staying at the time of the events. He said: 'The ordeal they endured deeply disturbed them, and I felt the trauma they are experiencing today in their voices. It did not leave me indifferent. I dare to hope that in time they will find the path to healing.' The audacious early hours raid in October 2016 took place at the height of Paris Fashion Week, and at the height of the socialite's fame. Kim was alone in the penthouse apartment of her hotel, dozing on the bed in a silk nightgown, when two men disguised as policemen burst into the room and held a gun to her head. The celebrity was bound and gagged, 'like a sausage' and dumped in the bath of her ensuite bathroom while robbers spent 49 minutes snatching millions of pounds worth of gems and watches including her 18.88 carat diamond engagement ring. As they fled, one robber dropped a platinum cross adorned with diamonds that was recovered the following morning. A visibly traumatised Kim fled the country by private jet after giving a brief statement to French detectives and was consoled by then husband Kanye who halted a concert, telling fans he had a 'family emergency'. In the intervening years, the mother told how she feared for her life and cried: 'Don't kill me, I have babies!' Kim has been denied justice for years, with delays on bringing the case to court blamed on the priority of high-profile terrorist trials. There were also fears that the publicity of this trial would destroy Paris' reputation as a high-class tourist destination ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games. But last month the reality TV star re-lived her terrifying ordeal that occurred almost nine years ago when she gave evidence in the trial. A career criminal known as 'Old Omar' was accused of masterminding the heist that was France's highest value robbery in a decade. Omar's 79-year-old mistress Christiane 'Cathy' Glotin was also said to be involved. Old Omar denied being the mastermind of the heist. He instead said another man, who he refused to name, presented the opportunity to him. He claimed this man presented detailed plans, including layouts of the hotel building and pictures of Kim wearing the prized jewellery.
Khaleej Times
11 hours ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Why are luxury European jewellery brands flocking to Dubai?
From luxury designers to schools and production facilities, Dubai is fast becoming a jewellery hub with a growing number of European brands relocating or expanding to the city in a movement that is cementing the emirate's position in the luxury market as a crossroads of East meets West. Panos Melekkis is one of those names. The Cypriot fine jewellery designer has been part of a family business spanning generations, but he tells KT LUXE that Dubai was the ideal choice for his bespoke design studio, embodying 'the spirit of modern luxury and artistic innovation'. 'The city attracts a global clientele who appreciate exclusivity and craftsmanship, making it the perfect environment to showcase my creations,' he said. 'My atelier in Dubai Design District (D3) is a place where artistry and craftsmanship converge, where clients can immerse themselves in the creative process and witness the transformation of raw materials into masterpieces.' He says that with its ease of doing business, Dubai offers unparalleled opportunities for growth and creativity, and D3, in particular, has become a hub for luxury and innovation. 'In Dubai, I have access to a global market of high-net-worth individuals who seek exclusive, personalised creations,' he explained. 'The city's vibrant luxury scene and advanced manufacturing capabilities allow me to experiment with cutting-edge techniques and source the rarest gemstones. This creative freedom, combined with the ability to cater to a diverse, international clientele, is what sets my Dubai operations apart from my roots in Cyprus.' He says that in the Dubai market, his family's bespoke designs, high-value diamond pieces, and rare coloured gemstones, are particularly popular, with clients seeking out exclusivity and personalisation, and valuing pieces that reflect their individual tastes and tell a personal story. But, he admits, Dubai has also played an influential role in his evolving direction and style. 'Cyprus, with its rich history and Mediterranean influences, gave me a deep respect for heritage and the timeless allure of classic design. Dubai, on the other hand, has exposed me to a world of bold, contemporary luxury, pushing the boundaries of innovation and redefining opulence. Together, these influences have shaped my aesthetic, blending the timeless elegance of European artistry with the dynamic energy of the modern Middle East.' Sophie Claudel, director of L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewellery Arts, which already has campuses in Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai, says that the school's recent expansion to Dubai is 'the natural next step'. 'We felt that Dubai combines a diverse melting pot of cultures, it merges tradition and modernity, and has a deep and strong history with jewellery, so it makes perfect sense for L'ÉCOLE to be here,' she told KT LUXE. The move coincides with last year's founding of The Dubai Business Group for Gold and Jewellery Designers, a Dubai Chamber initiative recognising the city's growing design community and that aims to help develop local talent beyond the city's famous gold and diamond markets, promoting Dubai as a global jewellery design hub. The school, which has classes for children and adults, has seen interest not only from the community but also, being a rare addition to the country's educational landscape, has attracted professionals from the industry, with programmes centred on art history, gemology, and craftsmanship. 'Dubai is in full expansion mode and attracts so many talents from all over the world. It is becoming a significant cultural hub in the region with a growing status as a centre for design and the arts.' She said this is having a major influence on the industry. 'This appreciation is appealing to jewellers from around the world to open their doors and share their craftsmanship and expertise. 'We are witnessing many Maisons recognising this and creating immersive experiences for the community of Dubai, showcasing their exceptional history and unique jewellery creations. For institutions like L'ÉCOLE Middle East, this environment enables meaningful contributions to the regional creative economy and supports the long-term development of the jewellery sector.' We are witnessing many Maisons recognising this and creating immersive experiences for the community of Dubai, showcasing their exceptional history and unique jewellery creations" Sophie Claudel, Director Of L'éCole Italian firm GDM Precious Metal Refining Recovery and Recycling has also recently come to the UAE, becoming the country's first end-to-end recovery and refining plant of precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. Emanuele Esposito, director general of Gold Metal DMCC, said that for the company, there are huge benefits of the expansion. 'Dubai enables a level of integration that's structurally difficult elsewhere. Here, recovery, refining, secure storage, and precious metals trading co-exist within a unified operational framework — streamlined, compliant, and future-ready. 'As a refinery operating across industrial waste disposal, electronic recovery, and investment-grade bullion production, we benefit from the UAE's regulatory clarity and logistical efficiency. We're able to deliver outcomes with speed and precision that would be far more restricted in other jurisdictions.' As a luxury destination and a destination for small business, Dubai offers the perfect second home. 'Dubai is a global benchmark for luxury, trust, and innovation. Our presence here places the company at the heart of a thriving ecosystem, trusted by investors, private clients, and artisans alike,' Esposito said. 'In Italy and across Europe, Dubai is regarded as the epicentre of modern luxury [and] … aligning with Dubai is a strategic move. It communicates that we operate to international benchmarks in a market that values both sustainability and precision. It reinforces our identity not only as a refinery but also as a long-term partner in the global precious metals value chain.'
Irish Times
19 hours ago
- General
- Irish Times
Brianna Parkins: Maybe people who won't think for themselves will start to bother AI and not us
As anyone who has ever worked in a shop frequented by the general public will tell you, people hate using their brains. They will avoid using mental energy if they can help it in any way possible. For example, during my time as a shop assistant I was asked on more than one occasion where the socks were while standing in front of a wall of socks. Under a big sign hanging from the ceiling, which said 'Socks'. Instead of the only socially acceptable response of laughing and going, 'What am I like, they would have bitten me ... etc,' one woman sighed impatiently and said, 'But where are the size 5-7s?!' As if I was the one slow on the uptake, when she was standing in front of a sign that read 'Sizes 5-7' in 72-point font. These people were not vision impaired. They did not need to harangue a teenage girl stressed with the Sisyphean task of trying to pair up a mound of identical black leather lace-up shoes during the Back-to-School sale. If they had taken five minutes to give even the most cursory glance around, I wouldn't have minded. At least they would have attempted to figure it out on their own. But no, they'd march straight up to the nearest worker, even if they were 10 customers deep, to demand where to find something. No danger of using up any brain cells there. When I sold jewellery, more than one man asked me if they should buy their future spouse's engagement ring in gold or silver. As if I, the strange woman they had just met for the first time, would know more about the preferences of the woman they shared a bed with every night. The woman they were hoping to spend the rest of their life with. 'How am I supposed to know that?' one shrugged as if this type of esoteric knowledge was lost forever when the Library of Alexandria burned. READ MORE Instead, because it was the early days of social media, I had to scour her grainy Facebook photos taken on a 1-megapixel camera to see if her chunky heart locket was a silver or a gold looking blur. If only there was a simpler way. Like checking her jewellery box or using his eyes before he left the house to buy the most important piece of metal he would ever give to someone. I remember wrapping up the white-gold ring and wondering if I should have slipped in a note, warning her against saying 'yes' to his proposal. I imagined her future: a lifetime of him bellowing that he could not find something in the cupboard and her having to stop what she was doing, pad into the kitchen and hiss, 'Here!' while grabbing the item that was right in front of his face. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not anti-help. I like helping people. I'll always stop and bother to give a tourist decent directions. I've gladly lifted the front of many a pushchair to help a mum carry it down busy train station stairs. I will never begrudge help where it is needed. It is those who refuse to use even the smallest bit of brain power to help themselves that annoy me. In the many Facebook groups I belong to, this is on full display. The wanton wasting of other people's time and attention by asking questions that should have been a private Google search . For example, in a group for Irish people moving to Australia it would be fine to ask, 'Which suburbs are great to live in with small children?' and, 'Can I call the police to remove a spider from the kitchen ... what if very big?' Those are things you can only really know from experience. The village should be stepping up to help out with their collective knowledge. I would love to tell you when it's Irish week at Aldi here in Sydney, and cans of Club Orange are in the middle aisle. [ Moving to Ireland helped me understand my mother, her peculiarities and weird secrecy Opens in new window ] It is the anonymous members firing, 'Do I need a visa to work in Australia?' into the group that really annoys me. There are entire websites funded by taxpayers to tell you this information. Just look it up. Use some critical thinking , I beg you. 'Does anyone know why they won't accept my Irish prescription at the pharmacy?' Yes, I do. You've answered your own question with the word 'Irish'. Perhaps the only good thing about artificial intelligence is that all the annoying people who refuse to think for themselves will start to bother it and not us with their questions. Maybe that's how we stop it from taking our jobs and becoming our robot overlords. It will get tired of spitting out personal training plans and simple emails for head wrecks that they could have just as easily looked up themselves, and simply choose to self-destruct.
Times
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Francesca Amfitheatrof's golden summer
It has been only a matter of weeks since Francesca Amfitheatrof parted ways with Louis Vuitton by mutual agreement, after seven years as artistic director of jewellery and watches. But when we speak over Zoom she could not appear to be more relaxed. Perhaps it's where she is based — Il Pellicano in Tuscany for a celebration of the hotel's 60th anniversary. She's joined on the call by the CEO and creative director of the Pellicano Hotel Group, Marie-Louise Sciò, to discuss their jewellery collaboration marking 'the Pelli's' six decades. 'I'm very happy,' says Amfitheatrof, 'it's perfect timing in life.' The women were both brought up in Rome (Amfitheatrof is half Italian) and their mothers, they discovered recently, are also friends. Amfitheatrof is a loyal guest of Il Pellicano hotels; Sciò is effusive in her praise of the jeweller. 'I love what she does, it's fantastic to have something designed by her.' The idea to collaborate started over a swim on Ischia last July. 'It just happened really naturally,' she says. Their completed creation is a medallion pendant crafted in silver or gold; a gnarly, textured take on the ancient Roman mask Bocca della Verità, or Mouth of Truth, which can be found outside the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Once the design was agreed, Amfitheatrof took the idea to one of the factories she knows from her time at Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. 'I know all the factories and makers in Italy. I walked into one and it was all HardWear, the collection I did for Tiffany — the whole factory! I have very good relationships with them so they agreed to make it and we made a wax model.' From this the medallion was cast. Sciò describes the pendant as having 'a timeless quality and also a 1970s and 1980s vibe' — something that reminds her of her childhood and summers spent at Il Pellicano. Her father, Roberto Sciò, bought the property in 1979. 'I used to hide behind the bushes because I wasn't supposed to be downstairs — it wasn't kid friendly. All the women guests wore jewellery to go the beach. They had medallions and rings and earrings; they were covered in gold.' Amfitheatrof was inspired by the past when creating it: 'I had this fabulous aunt, she was Californian and she arrived in Rome and always had medallions that would jingle-jangle. I immediately thought of her when we were discussing it. The surface of the gold is unpolished — it needs that patina so it feels like it's been in your jewellery box and on your body for a long time. Nothing is highly polished, nothing is super shiny.' 'Like the Pelli,' Sciò interjects, 'it doesn't scream and yell.' Amfitheatrof: 'Exactly. The hotel exudes an elegance that isn't obvious; there's this incredible ease — you know, when things are settled? It breathes that.' Amfitheatrof hopes to see men and women wearing the medallion 'super glamorous, down by the pool, martini in your hand'. It's certainly an enticing image. Launching on June 26, €1,700 in 925 silver, €5,000 in 18ct gold;
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Antiques Roadshow guest's jaw drops in shock as she learns eye-watering value of 'exquisite' watch - despite swipe from BBC expert
An Antiques Roadshow guest's jaw dropped in shock as she learnt the eye-watering value of her 'exquisite' watch - despite a swipe from a BBC expert. A recently repeated 2004 episode of the BBC show, which sees specialist appraisers value heirlooms and heritage items, went to Hampton Court Palace in London. Expert Richard Price met with a woman who had brought in a gorgeous Swiss ball watch she had inherited after a 'very dear friend' passed away. She explained their relationship: 'I actually used to work for her and her husband was a buyer at one time in Harrods, a jewellery buyer for Harrods.' The antiques specialist asked if her friend wore it often, to which she replied: 'Yes, she used to wear it nearly every day on her suit lapel.' Richard was touched - and impressed: 'That's a lovely story and I'll tell you something, it is in absolutely exquisite condition. 'There's not a chip out of that enamel anywhere.' He tried out the mechanism, winding the unusual spherical watch using the bezel and testing the clock hands, before saying it 'does everything it should do'. The antiques expert showed off its inner workings to the camera, dubbing the delicate metal work 'absolutely typically Swiss'. 'It is an exquisite thing. Wonderful quality', he exclaimed. But it was not an entirely positive assessment, as the expert took a swipe at the watch's bezel: 'But there's just one thing I'm not entirely happy with. 'The little rose diamonds around the bezel of this watch just don't have quite the same style and class, if I can use that word, of these brilliant cut ones here.' He asked, as the guest nodded in agreement: 'Do you see how that's just a little bit nicer than the watch itself?' Richard also had a problem with the chain used to hang the watch: 'I'm not sure that the pendant actually went on with the watch when new.' But it was not an entirely positive assessment, as the expert took a swipe at the watch's bezel: 'But there's just one thing I'm not entirely happy with' 'The little rose diamonds around the bezel of this watch [left] just don't have quite the same style and class, if I can use that word, of these brilliant cut ones here [right]' But the appraiser was willing to move past that: 'The colours are so good that it doesn't really matter. 'It blends extremely well because this is an unusual quality of enamel and it's an unusual colour because you've got the dark reds and you've got these lovely almost coral-y petals.' The guest was not sure what period the watch was from - but Richard used his expertise to identify it: 'Well, these flowers, the petals, leaves, the enamel, it's very sort of art nouveau in style, isn't it?' 'And just looking at the general shape and size of the piece, I'm quite happy to say it's about 1905 to 1910.' Then came the moment the guest had been waiting for - the valuation. Richard said: 'Well, you're never going to replace it because you'll never need to. 'But if you went to look for one, I think that's going to cost you an absolute minimum of £6,000 to £7,000.' The guest was absolutely amazed, with her jaw dropping in shock: 'Oh goodness! Oh goodness me! Thank you, that's wonderful.' Richard said, laughing: 'Next time somebody takes you out for a lovely dinner, pop it on.' The woman chuckled, looking towards her partner off camera: 'I'll tell him!' It comes after an Antiques Roadshow guest was left wide-eyed as an expert gasped 'I need time to come down from this' in response to the 'trickiest item she's ever had to value'. A repeat episode of the BBC show went to Belton House near the town of Grantham, Lincolnshire. Expert Hilary Kay met with a woman who had brought in a unique item - the funeral standard of 17th-century English statesman Oliver Cromwell. He led parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars in the mid-1600s against King Charles I, helping to overthrow him before his execution in 1649. The soldier and politician then led the Commonwealth of England that was quickly established, serving as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. Hilary began the segment: 'Sheltering from a passing shower and sheltering with an object which is, I feel, almost radioactive with power. 'It's a very interesting phenomenon to be this close to something that is really quite important.' The woman explained how such an incredible object came into her possession: 'It was in a collection about seven years ago. My father actually bought the collection of militaria. 'We now own it as a family. It's actually kept in one of our spare rooms and as you say, it's one of those objects that make you tingle.' With anticipation built up, about an item with such historical value, the valuation could not come sooner - and it did not disappoint. Hilary said: 'This is about the trickiest thing I've ever had to value. 'It is certain to fetch £25,000 but how much more would it go for?' The wide-eyed guest was rendered absolutely speechless, with Hilary saying: 'It's going to take me a little while to come down from this. 'It'll take a couple of bars of chocolate and a cup of tea but this has been a really special moment with a really extraordinary object, don't you agree?'
