This suite of round brilliant demantoid garnets weighing 24.67 total carats won Best of Show in this year’s AGTA Spectrum Awards.

Judging for this year’s Spectrum Awards took place Saturday and Sunday in New York. For the first time the competition was held in the summer rather than the fall. This was the second year in a row that an entry in the 'Cutting Edge' category took best in show. The design contests highest honor was given to a suite of round brilliant Russian demantoid garnets weighing a total of 24.67 carats cut by Ruben Bindra of B&B Fine Gems (see above photo).

This year’s judges were: Gail Brett-Levine of National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, Diane Garmendia of 33 Jewels at El Paseo, Jay Mednikow of J.H. Mednikow & Co., Inc. Victor Velyan of Victor-Christy Studios and Lew Wackler of Lew Wackler Gem Co.

The winners will be receiving their awards during the 2017 AGTA GemFair in Tucson (Jan. 31 to Feb. 5) at the Tucson Convention Center. Winning entries will be displayed during the show and the award winners will be recognized during the Spectrum Awards Gala on Feb 4.

Winners of the 2016 Summer AGTA Spectrum Awards:

Best Of Show And Pairs & Suites

Ruben Bindra, B & B Fine Gems, with this suite of round, brilliant Russian demantoid garnets weighing 24.67 carats

Best Use of Color

Derek Katzenbach of Katzenbach Designs for this 14-karat white gold ring featuring a 4.97-carat bicolored tourmaline accented with tsavorite garnets, tourmalines and diamonds

Best Use of Pearls

Judy Evans, Oliver & Espig Gallery of Fine Arts for this platinum pendant featuring a 13.44 mm golden South Sea cultured pearl accented with diamonds

Best Use of Platinum and Color

Kathy Kinev of Jewel Creations Inc. for this platinum “St. Chapelle” ring featuring rubies, sapphires, tsavorite garnets and blue and white diamonds

Fashion Forward

Lorenzo Chavez of Geogem-USA won for this platinum and 18-karat yellow and rose gold “Gift from the Abyss” pendant featuring a 124.73-carat carved kunzite accented with blue zircons and diamonds

Bridal Wear

Ricardo Basta of E. Eichberg Inc. won First Place and Platinum Honors for this platinum “Royal Blue” ring featuring a 12-carat blue sapphire accented with diamonds. The ring also has a detachable 18-karat yellow gold “Quilt” jacket--creating a ring within a ring--featuring turquoise accented with diamonds and tsavorite garnets.

Business/Day Wear

Ricardo Basta of E. Eichberg Inc. also won First Place in the Business/Day Wear category with this 18-karat yellow gold and platinum “Honey” ring featuring a 13.58-carat Heliodor accented with sapphires and diamonds.

Classical

Niveet Nagpal of Omi Gems won first place in Classical with this 18-karat rose gold ring featuring a 4.01-carat cushion-cut pink spinel accented with spinel and diamond melee and a 0.01-carat alexandrite.

Evening Wear

The first place winner was David Gross of David Gross Group for this platinum necklace featuring 21 unheated Mozambique rubies weighing 29.33 total carats accented with 21.61 carats of diamonds.

Men's Wear

Mark Schneider of Mark Schneider Design won First Place and Platinum honors for this platinum and 18-karat yellow gold ring featuring an 8.76-carat Maw Sit accented with black, white and yellow diamonds and tsavorite garnets.

Carving

Naomi Sarna of Naomi Sarna Designs’ hand-carved ametrine (297 total carats)

Classic Gemstone

Ruben Bindra of B & B Fine Gems for this 10.11-carat Sri Lankan cushion-cut orange sapphire

Innovative Faceting

John Dyer of John Dyer & Co. for this 80.29-carat specialty-cut ametrine

Phenomenal

Gil International for this 5.56-carat untreated alexandrite

All Other Faceted

Jeffrey R. Hapeman of Earth’s Treasury for this 42.47-carat brilliant square cushion specialty cut apatite

“Best of” Category
Best of Show: Ruben Bindra, B & B Fine Gems
Best Use of Color: Derek Katzenbach, Katzenbach Designs
Best Use of Pearls: Judy Evans, Oliver & Espig Gallery of Fine Arts
Best Use of Platinum and Color: Kathy Kinev, Jewel Creations Inc.
Fashion Forward: Lorenzo Chavez, Geogem-USA

Bridal Wear
First Place and Platinum Honors: Ricardo Basta, E. Eichberg Inc.
Second Place: Alexia Connellan, Alexia Connellan Luxury Jewelry
Third Place: Caroline Chartouni, Caroline C
Honorable Mention: Jessica Neiwert, Jessica Nei
Honorable Mention: Samuel Sulimanov, Samuel Sylvio Designs
Manufacturing Honors: Dennis de Jonghe, deJonghe Original Jewelry
Gem Diva Award: Heena Chheda Shah, Real Gems Inc.

Business/Day Wear
First Place: Ricardo Basta, E. Eichberg Inc.
Second Place: T. Foster & Co. Fine Jewelers
Third Place: Zoltan David, Zoltan David LLC
Honorable Mention: Shuang Feng, Fon Shon Jewellery Art & Design
Honorable Mention: Patrick King, Jewelsmith
Manufacturing Honors: Llyn Strong, Llyn Strong Fine Art Jewelry
Platinum Honors: John Ford, Lightning Ridge Collection by John Ford
Entry Platinum Innovation: Jill Maurer, Jill Maurer
Gem Diva Award: Naomi Sarna, Naomi Sarna Designs

Classical
First Place: Niveet Nagpal, Omi Gems Inc.
Second Place: Niveet Nagpal, Omi Gems Inc.
Third Place: Alexia Connellan, Alexia Connellan Luxury Jewelry
Honorable Mention and Entry Platinum Innovation: Lindsay Jane, Lindsay Jane Designs
Honorable Mention and Gem Diva Award: Heena Chheda Shah, Real Gems Inc.
Manufacturing Honors: Dominique Israileff, ASBA USA Inc.
Platinum Honors: Zoltan David, Zoltan David LLC

Evening Wear
First Place: David Gross, David Gross Groups
Second Place: Phillip Dismuke, Jewelsmith
Third Place: Robert Pelliccia, J.R. Dunn Jewelers
Honorable Mention: Erica Courtney, Erica Courtney Inc.
Honorable Mention: Sinork Agdere, Lord Jewelry
Manufacturing Honors: Llyn Strong, Llyn Strong Fine Art Jewelry
Platinum Honors: John Ford, Lightning Ridge Collection by John Ford
Gem Diva Award: Alexia Connellan, Alexia Connellan

Men’s Wear
First Place and Platinum Honors: Mark Schneider, Mark Schneider Design
Second Place: William Travis, William Travis Jewelry
Third Place: Craig Slavens, Studio 247 Fine Jewelry
Honorable Mention and Entry Platinum Innovation: William Travis, William Travis Jewelry

The winners for the Cutting Edge Awards are as follows.

Carving
First Place: Naomi Sarna, Naomi Sarna Designs
Second Place: John Dyer, John Dyer & Co.
Third Place: Meg Berry, Mega Gem
Honorable Mention: Naomi Sarna, Naomi Sarna Designs

Classic Gemstone
First Place: Ruben Bindra, B & B Fine Gems
Second Place: Allen Kleiman, A. Kleiman & Co.
Third Place: Allen Kleiman, A. Kleiman & Co.
Honorable Mention: Ruben Bindra, B & B Fine Gems

Innovative Faceting
First Place: John Dyer, John Dyer & Co.
Second Place: John Dyer, John Dyer & Co.
Third Place: Ryan Joseph Anderson, Ryan Joseph Gems
Honorable Mention: Glenn Wm. Lehrer, Lehrer Designs Inc.

Objects of Art
Honorable Mention: Brenda Smith, Brenda Smith Jewelry
Honorable Mention: Neda Behnam, Samuel B. Collection

Pairs & Suites
First Place and Best of Show: Ruben Bindra, B & B Fine Gems
Second Place: Allen Kleiman, A. Kleiman & Co.
Third Place: Ben Kho, Kho International Ltd.
Honorable Mention: Allen Kleiman, A. Kleiman & Co.

Phenomenal
First Place: Gil International
Second Place: Robert Shapiro, Robert Shapiro
Third Place: Manu Nichani, Blue Moon Ent.
Honorable Mention: Robyn Dufty, DuftyWeis Opals Inc.

All Other Faceted
First Place: Jeffrey R. Hapeman, Earth’s Treasury LLC
Second Place: Mikola Kukharuk, Nomad’s
Third Place: Ambassador Gems
Honorable Mention: Hemant Phophaliya, AG Color Inc.

Hemmerle earrings, amber, patinated bronze, iron, pink gold, red gold: Photo Courtesy of HEMMERLE — Hemmerle earrings, amber, patinated bronze, iron, pink gold, red gold: Photo Courtesy of HEMMERLE

Hemmerle will be participating in Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York from 12 February – 21 August 2016.
The bold, unostentatious creations included in the exhibition demonstrate Hemmerle’s dedication to craftsmanship, exceptional quality and innovative material combinations.

This fifth instalment of the Triennial exhibition series is dedicated to beauty and celebrates design as an endeavour that engages our full senses. Featuring work from over sixty voices in the global design scene, Beauty expands the discourse around the power of aesthetic innovation. The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated publication.

Hemmerle is a fourth generation, family run house at the vanguard of jewellery design. Each jewel is unique and as original as a work of art. Today, Christian Hemmerle runs the business with his wife Yasmin and parents Stefan and Sylveli Hemmerle. The family travel across the world treasure hunting for rare materials from Mughal-era brown diamonds to found materials like ancient carved jade.

Hemmerle’s creativity is driven by materials and the design process begins with a particular stone or object. The family then work around it, impeccably matching gems for colour and building up unusual textures and form. Hemmerle is drawn to experimenting with new materials; in a pair of earrings included in the exhibition, jasper and aquamarines are paired with concrete. Hemmerle worked with cement for days, experimenting to get the perfect shade of grey and a brushed texture on the concrete. In a ring, bright orange topaz has been set in pink gold, the metal corroded with chemicals to create holes in the surface.

Nature is an endless source of inspiration to Hemmerle and included in the exhibition is a eucalyptus brooch from Nature’s Jewels, a nature inspired jewellery collection and accompanying book published in 2014. Exquisitely modelled in brass, bronze and gold, glistening spiky diamonds inventively add to the realism of the eucalyptus. A pair of real shells are used in charming snail brooches, the bodies of the creatures crafted in white gold and yellow-brown diamonds. In another pair of earrings, a bee rests on intricately layered piece of honeycomb made from amber and patinated bronze.

Hemmerle bangle, garnets, white gold, silver: Photo courtesy of hemmerle

Hemmerle earrings, tourmaline, rubellite, spinels, sapphires, white gold, copper: Photo Courtesy of Hemmerle

A dedication to colour has defined Hemmerle’s work over the decades and included in the exhibition is a pair of mismatched earrings; one made from rubellite and pink sapphires and one from tourmaline and orange sapphires. Both are intricately engineered and balanced to contain movement through the copper and white gold framework. An open-ended Harmony Bangle with its seamless closure is made from purple garnets carefully colour-matched. A Harmony Bangle inspired by Egypt joined the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in 2014.

Found materials create a dramatic back drop for rare stones and are worked into a contemporary design. In earrings, two mismatched cameos face each other swinging in white gold frames set with diamonds. A necklace strap is created by knitting hand hewn agate beads in the round over silk and hung with a luxurious piece of ancient carved jade.

With Beauty, Cooper Hewitt shows that aesthetic innovations exist in our experience of an object. The exhibition celebrates objects and practices that are exuberant, ethereal, intricate, or even sublime. Objects of beauty provoke immediate reactions and demand judgment to exalt experience as a living, unfolding exchange between people and things.