Matt Lauzon Honored in INC's "30 Under 30 List"

I had the honor of getting to know Matt (thru Twitter & email) at the beginning of his journey with what was at that time Paragon Lake.  


Since then he has partnered with some really important people in the Jewelry Industry and what was a vision is now a reality - and a reality that is doing well!


Inc Magazine has listed Matt Lauzon in it's "30 Under 30 List"...an amazing grouping of individuals with such a strong vision at such an early age.  If were this driven in my twenties I would own a Dept. Store by now (I was the Queen of Retail - I could sell anything!), I am so happy that I didn't take that road.


So take a minute to read the article in INC. and get to know Matt Lauzon and his passion Gemvara...





Follow Gemvara on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/gemvara
...and my personal favorite the Gemvara Blog!  http://blog.gemvara.com/

Paragon Lake announced 12 winners of its Inspired Design Contest

As reported by JCK Staff -- JCK Online, 9/23/2009 10:19:00 AM

Paragon Lake announced 12 winners of its Inspired Design Contest.

The contest attracted almost 200 designers who submitted designs from all over the world.

The "Inspired Design Contest" goal was to attract top jewelry designers who would inspire the jewelry design community, retailers and consumers with original earring, ring and pendant designs along with the story of their inspiration. The judging criteria included quality, creativity, manufacturability and the inspiration story behind the one of a kind design.

Judges included Jennifer Heebner, of JCK Magazine, Greg Stopka of JewelSmiths and Jose Hess, Award Winning Designer, and Tony Rodrigues, Paragon Lake.

The winners:

• First place: Jeet Palavwala for his engagement ring design. Inspired by a lotus flower.
  
  Prize: Wacom CintiQ monitor & $1,000 cash

  
• Second place: Dan Christie for his pendant design. Inspired by Brain Warp, a mind challenge game.
  
  Prize: Canon EOS Rebel XSi camera & $500 cash

  
• Randy Dixon for his ring design. Inspired by Greek/Roman architecture
  
  Prize: iPod Touch & $100 cash

  

Honorable mentions:

• Michael Devlin, Randy Dixon, Dave Dorian, Martha Gomez, Claudio Gussini, Lee Krombholz, Elena Nazarova, David Nytch and Rosendo Rosas.

The winning designs will be featured on http://www.paragonlake.com and showcased on Paragon Lake's Virtual Display Case.

Paragon Lake - New Tech For Jewelers...Diamonds Your Way

What Inspires You? New Inspired Design Contest Announced

2009 INSPIRED DESIGN CONTEST

We invite members of the designer community to share their unique, original earring, ring, and pendant designs along with the story of their inspiration.

Show us quality, creative, manufacturable designs and tell us how you were inspired to create them for your chance to win cool prizes and cash.

PRIZES

First Prize:

Wacom CintiQ monitor - Get the best-of-class interactive pen experience, only available on the Wacom CintiQ interactive monitor. The 21.3” TFT screen delivers a highly sensitive pen-on-screen experience and a generous active area for working directly on large images, concepts,

and designs in the most natural way possible -Value: $1999 - plus $1,000 cash

Second Prize:

Canon EOS Rebel XSi camera and macro lens -Capture some incredible shots with the 12.2 Megapixel Canons EOS Rebel XSi Digital SLR camera with point-and-shoot ease,The EOS Rebel XSi brings staggering technological innovation to the masses. Use the Canon Macro Lens for a broader range of photographic applications. Lens specifications: 60 mm - F/2.8 -Value: $1100 - plus $500 cash

Third Prize:

iPod Touch - Get music, movies, games, applications and internet on Apple’s premier Touch-screen iPod. (32 GB) -Value: $399.00 - plus $100 cash

SUBMITTED DESIGNS

The submitting designer will keep all ownership of and copyrights to the designs submitted for the contest. The contributing designer grants Paragon Lake a license to the submitted designs under the Official Contest Rules and the Designer Agreement so that the submitted designs may be included in the Virtual Display Case (VDC) or the Paragon Lake website.

In addition to being considered for the Design Contest, any designs submitted for this contest, that are approved for display and sale on our Virtual Display Case (VDC) will receive a royalty for each piece sold as per our Designer Agreement. For additional details on royalty payments, please refer to the Designer Agreement within the Designer Portal.

The winning designs will also be featured on our website and will be showcased on Paragon Lake’s Virtual Display Case (VDC) as a Paragon Lake Design Contest Winner.

HOW TO ENTER THE DESIGN CONTEST

You must register to be a Paragon Lake designer to enter the Inspired Design Contest. No purchase or payment is required to enter. Entries should be uploaded through the Paragon

Lake Designer Portal.