MJSA Announces 2013 Vision Award Winners

MJSA recently announced the 2013 winners of its Vision Awards competition, which annually recognizes creativity and technical excellence in jewelry making and design. Adam Neeley of Adam Neeley Fine Art Jewelry in Laguna Beach, California, took first place in the Professional Excellence category for his hand-fabricated Spectra earrings (right, top), which transition seamlessly through seven gold colors (from rich yellow to white) and feature the adularescence of rainbow moonstones. The earrings also took top honors in the competition’s Gold Distinction category.

Mark Schneider of Mark Schneider Design in Long Beach, California, took second place in Professional Excellence for an 18k white gold pendant with a marquise-shaped, bubble-cut white quartz (right, bottom). The piece is accented with white diamonds as well as three cabochon moonstones.

Besides Professional Excellence and Gold Distinction, the competition included four additional Distinction categories—Palladium, Platinum, Laser, and Custom Design—as well as a "Future of the Industry" award, which recognizes students enrolled in jewelry making and design programs.

“This year’s MJSA Vision Awards illustrate an impressive commitment to jewelry making and design in the 21st century,” said MJSA President & CEO David W. Cochran. “The winners’ authoritative command of metals, gems, and contemporary materials is matched by the imagination they demonstrated in creating their pieces.”

The other winning entries include:

• Gold Distinction, Second Place: Ezra Satok-Wolman of Atelier Hg & Co. Inc. in Ontario, Canada, for an 18k white gold torus brooch created through anticlastic raising.

Platinum Distincton,
First Place: Mark Schneider

• Platinum Distincton, First Place: Mark Schneider for earrings featuring two pear-shaped tanzanites, accented with tsavorite garnets, yellow diamonds, and white diamonds.

• Platinum Distinction, Second Place: Susan Drake of Spectrum Art & Jewelry in Wilmington, North Carolina, for a ring inspired by the vivid hues and dramatic ruffled wings of the large and colorful tropical sea mollusk called “Spanish Dancer.”

• Palladium Distinction, First Place (tie): Susan Drake for her “Glacial” ring, which features a 15.91 carat trillion-cut aquamarine and a flowing “glacial melt stream” of natural colored sapphires, white diamonds, and green tsavorite garnets; and Ezra Satok-Wolman for his “Mandarin” ring, forged in 950 palladium and 18k green gold and featuring a 3.16 carat fancy-cut mandarin garnet and a pistachio-colored Tahitian pearl.

 Nghi Nguyen of NGHI Design in Brooklyn,
New York, for his “Hephaestus” ring. 

 • Laser Distinction, First Place: Nghi Nguyen of NGHI Design in Brooklyn, New York, for his “Hephaestus” ring. Created to honor the Greek god of manufacturing and metalsmithing, it features a bezel-set, 150-carat rock crystal (representing an anvil) hovering above a bed of reverse-set diamonds that radiate out on an arc (to represent tongs).

• Laser Distinction, Second Place: David Alvarado of Irthly Jewelled Adornments in Los Angeles, for his “Cycles” pendant, in which rose gold and diamonds are inlaid in vegetable ivory and hung on a 16-inch rose gold chain.

• Custom Design Distinction, First Place (tie): Andrea Carnahan-Koenig of Annie K Jewelry in Louisville, Kentucky, for the “Navaho Bug Collection” necklace, which features a customer’s collection of 21 varied antique sterling Navaho Indian bugs; and Patricia Daunis-Dunning of Daunis Fine Jewelry in Portland, Maine, for a “Gold Egg” presented as a retirement gift to a CEO.

• Custom Design Distinction, Second Place: Patricia Daunis-Dunning for an anniversary neckpiece crafted from the shards old 33 1/3 vinyl LPs— a gift for his wife on their 33 1/3 anniversary.

Jiarui Lu, Savannah College of Art and Design, 

Savannah, Georgia - "Auspicious Cloud" Brooch

• Future of the Industry, First Place winner: Jiarui Lu of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, for the “Auspicious Cloud” brooch, which honors the traditional ivory carving and kingfisher feather inlay that were popular in China’s Ming and Qing dynasties.

• Future of the Industry, Second Place: Jinbee Park of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, for “Persistence of Unity”—a three-pendant set marrying fine and sterling silver, shibuichi, copper, garnet, citrine, and diamonds

The judges of this year’s Vision Awards competition were Chris Ploof, Chris Ploof Designs; Michael Coan, Fashion Institute of Technology; Cindy Edelstein, Jeweler’s Resource Bureau; Sarah Graham, Sarah Graham Metalsmithing; Marlene Richey, consultant; and Tina Snyder, MJSA Journal editor in chief.

The sponsors of the awards were: general sponsor, Rio Grande; Gold Distinction sponsor, Hoover & Strong; Platinum Distinction sponsor, Platinum Guild International; Palladium Distinction sponsor, Palladium Alliance International; Laser Distinction sponsor, LaserStar Technologies; Custom Design Distinction sponsor, TechForm Advanced Casting Technology; and media sponsors, Instore and Metalsmith magazines. The MJSA Education Foundation sponsored the Future of the Industry awards.