The portal site of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI) www.israelidiamond.co.il is launching a special project “Diamond and Gemstones of the Month (DGM)” to feature diamond jewelry that is based on the stones that correspond to the months of the year. The portal is inviting jewelry designers from around the world to design a set of jewelry pieces that combines the gemstone of the month with diamonds. Each month the IDI portal will feature three sets of jewelry adorned with the gemstone of that month.

The IDI portal site is one of the Internet’s most popular diamond and jewelry sites, with close to 130,000 entries per month and 1,200,000 pages read. The portal, which appears in English, Hebrew, Chinese and Russian, has a devoted following amongst the diamond and gemstone industry, including jewelry producers, buyers and collectors. By publishing their designs on the IDI portal, participating designers will receive free international publicity for their original jewelry designs.

The designers are invited to submit designs that are colorful, innovative and original, that are rendered either by hand or by computer. The pieces are not to be produced, only designed, and high resolution photos of the designs must be submitted. The designer’s rights will remain the sole property of the designer. If interest in the design is submitted to the portal, IDI will forward contact details to the designer for further direct connection. IDI will not use the designs in any commercial way except publishing them on the portal and related articles in magazines and publications.

The project is a joint effort by the IDI portal and the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum (HODM) in Ramat Gan, and is being coordinated by Yehuda Kassif – Art Director and Curator of the museum.

Yehuda Kassif said, “We have found that gemstones of the month or birthstones are very popular in diamond, gem and jewelry websites. Indeed, birthstones have been popular in Europe since the mid 15th century. The IDI portal wishes to take a different approach to this subject, and rather than just publishing information about gemstones of the month has added a creative twist. We believe that this will encourage jewelry designs that incorporate the gemstones and diamonds, and that it will bring increased traffic to the portal site.”

At the end of the year the Gemstone of the Month project will be culminated with an exhibition of posters of all of the designs at the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum.

The Gemstones of the Month stipulated by IDI are as follows:

• January Garnet
• February Amethyst
• March Aquamarine or Bloodstone
• April Diamond or Sapphire
• May Emerald or Agate
• June Moonstone of Alexandrite
• July Ruby or Onyx
• August Peridot or Carnelian
• September Sapphire or Zircon
• October Opal or Tourmaline
• November Topaz or Citrine
• December Turquoise, Blue Topaz or Tanzanite.