The winners of the annual Couture Design Awards were announced several days ago to a standing-room-only crowd of 800 retailers and designers at the Wynn Las Vegas. This is the best of the best, when it comes to custom design jewelry. And this year, the bar was raised yet again with some of these stunning pieces:
Shaun Leane took top honors in the Colored Gemstones Above $20,000 category with his “Queen of the Night” collar, featuring more than 15 carats of pear-shaped purple sapphire, 174 carats of sapphire pave, 35 carats of diamond pave and more than 6 carats of ruby pave, all set in 18-karat blackened gold.
Federica Rettore took first place in the Colored Gemstones Below $20,000 category, with her 18-karat gold earrings (below) with rose cut and brilliant cut diamonds, more than 6 carats of multi-colored sapphires, fossil coral and gun-barrel stainless steel. (1st Runner Up: Sutra; 2nd Runner Up: Carelle)
La Reina won first place in the Diamonds Above $20,000 category with her ring with flat and oval diamonds, illustrated in a sketch below. (1st Runner Up: Sally Sohn; 2nd Runner Up: Imperium)
Designer Moritz Glik took first place in the Diamonds Below $20,000 category with his necklace in 18-karat yellow gold and blackened silver (below) with more than 2 carats of rose cut diamonds and more than 4 carats of brilliant cut diamonds. (1st Runner Up: Rodney Rayner; 2nd Runner Up: Yewn)
In the Gold category, Elena Votsi won with her gold ring with brilliant cut diamonds and garnet (below). (1st Runner Up: Roberto Coin; 2nd Runner Up: Paul Morelli)
Sevan Bicakci was recognized with first place in the Pearls category with his octopus ring/cuff (below) made in 24-karat gold and sterling silver with more than 3,000 hand-set multi-colored diamonds, 164 hand-set seed pearls and one South Sea baroque pearl. (1st Runner Up: Mikimoto; 2nd Runner Up: Yael Sonia)
The winner in the Bridal category was Stefan Hafner, with a ring made of white gold and 7.5 carats of rubies and diamonds (below). (1st Runner Up: Michael B; 2nd Runner Up: Jolie B. Ray)
Isabelle Fa took first place in the Platinum category with earrings made in platinum and diamonds. (1st Runner Up: Henrich & Denzel; 2nd Runner Up: Harry Kotlar
The winner in the Silver category was Atelier Zobel, with a cuff made with silver, platinum, onyx and black and champagne-colored diamonds. (1st Runner: Aida Bergsen; 2nd Runner Up: Arman Sarkisyan)
Read more about the other winner at National Jeweler.