Meet the Winners of COUTURE 2024
The Creative Geniuses of Couture
The excitement was palpable at this year’s Couture Design Awards ceremony. As it should be, since designers have been hard at work creating some of the most innovative and astonishingly beautiful jewels over the last year.
It couldn’t have been easy for the judges to choose the winners with such talent on hand, but, Alexandra Lipin from Elysse Walker, Amy Lane from Bergdorf Goodman, jewelry curator and journalist, Archana Thani, Tracey Ellison, The Diamonds Girl, and designer Marco Bicego made their choices and the results were announced with welcoming cheers.
Like last year, there were plenty of repeat winners, but it was the super niche brands and first-time exhibitors that stole the show (both ceremony and tradeshow).
Best in Below $10k: Ashaha
Oumaima Benharbit founded her Paris-based brand Ashaha in 2022. It’s a brand that infuses “innovation and tradition” in each of its designs with the Amazigh Berber tribe as a major inspiration. Vintage references mixed with modern geometric lines are what create the brand's covetable pieces, whether they feature vibrant multi-color stones or delicate diamonds.
Best in Below $10k: Ashaha
Best in Bridal: Vanessa Fernandez Studio
Designer Vanessa Fernandez made her Couture debut this year and walked away with the Best in Bridal award! Fernandez handcrafts each of her creations herself in her Miami studio and has steadily gained clients and fans over the last few years. Her showstopper rings are a favorite, so it’s no wonder her diamond engagement ring won everyone’s hearts, including ours in the recent Bold & Beautiful story.
Best in Bridal: Vanessa Fernandez Studio
Best in Colored Gemstones Below $40K: Renna
Renna Brown-Taher is the founder and creative director of the New York-based brand Renna. She grew up in Pacific Palisades, California, and her love of jewelry can be pinpointed to a very young age when she and her mother found two coffee bean shells on a beach, followed by her mother creating the original shell jewels. Fast forward to multiple degrees, including being a certified Graduate Gemologist, and “Renna's mission is simple, to create jewels of exquisite quality for the modern woman.” Many possess delicate, refined, and/or dreamy-colored gemstones.
Best in Colored Gemstones Above $40K: Tabayer
Tabayer’s modern and minimalist designs were first created by designer Nigora Tokhtabayeva in 2021. “Oera” is the first collection still referenced in each design. It “took its cue from Inanna’s Knot, an ancient Mesopotamian symbol of fertility and protection.” Previous collections were gold-heavy, followed by diamonds and now their ethically sourced materials include showstopper creations with exquisite-colored gemstones.
Best in Colored Gemstones Above $40K: Tabayer
The Editor’s Choice: Silvia Furmanovich
Designer Silvia Furmanovich is on a roll when it comes to Couture awards. Her Best in Innovative and People’s Choice Awards in 2022 have now been followed up with an Editor’s Choice 2024 award. The São Paulo-based designer travels the world searching for unique craftsmanship to feature in her collections, including one of her most recently launched collection (Which includes these earrings) that’s made in Chile by weaving horse mane and agave fibers together.
Best in Diamonds Below $40K: ONDYN
Ask anyone if movement is an important part of showcasing diamonds to the utmost degree and they will say yes. One person who will surely agree with that statement is multi-award-winning designer Tara Maria Famiglietti of ONDYN. She is “inspired by the power of movement”, and, uses it in each of her articulated diamond bezel-setting creations, which allows each piece to catch the light perfectly for a fluid shimmering spectacle of lights (or diamonds to be exact).
Best in Diamonds Above $40K: Gismondi 1754
Massimo Gismondi is a seventh-generation jewelry designer of the Italian house Gismondi 1754. The brand has grown in popularity in recent years with this year marking their 3rd Couture award (People’s Choice in 2019 and Best in Diamonds Above $20K in 2023). They are also the exclusive “in-house jeweler” to the Baglioni Hotels & Resorts. Needless to say, their preservation of traditional jewelry-making by master goldsmiths is worth noting.
Best in Gold: Rainbow K
Kelly Souied and Kelia Toledano’s shared love and passion for jewelry is what ultimately led them to launch Rainbow K. The Parisian-based brand creates modern designs with a nod to vintage and Art Deco aesthetics with an overall timeless look. Each piece from every collection stands out on its own or works perfectly together when piled on.
Best in Innovative: Sorellina
New York-based brand Sorellina was founded by sisters Nicole and Kim Carosella. Feminine and fun are two words that best describe the brand. Last year they were recognized with the Best in Platinum award and this year for their eclectic creativity with Best in Innovative. The collections are often strong on themes and with the launch of “Play List,” it was fitting to create a luxe throwback 18k yellow gold cassette pendant that has moving diamonds when you rewind or fast-forward with the gold pencil charm.
Best in Innovative: Sorellina
Best in Platinum: Eva Fehren
Eva Fehren is a New York City-based brand founded by designer and artist Eva Zuckerman and her business partner Ann Gorga. The brand is inspired by New York City and its “geometric urban patterns and architectural elements”. Each piece is handcrafted with fine materials and more eclectic shaped and colored stones; custom-cut geometric white diamonds, grey diamonds, and opaque sapphires, unique pieces that stand out, just like this winning number.
Best in Platinum: Eva Fehren
Best in Haute Couture: Sevan Bicakci
Sevan Bicakci started his illustrious career at the tender age of 12 as an apprentice at the historic Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The rich history and culture along with his imagination helped inspire his handcrafted creations. Each piece tells its own story, whether it’s a mythological being, a nature scene, or a portrait. He has won multiple Couture awards (including this year for his “Immortal Love” necklace) as well as exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.
Best in Haute Couture: Sevan Bicakci
Best in Pearls: Autore Pearls
Autore Pearls is a Sydney-based brand that distributes loose pearls around the world to some of the most prestigious brands. In 2001 they established the Autore Jewellery Design Division as a design entity to the brand. Since then, the team has created both “innovative and contemporary pearl jewelry” that features hand-selected pearls alongside precious and semi-precious gems. “The Enchantress” necklace from “The Ophidia Collection” is a multi-award winning design featuring pink and white diamonds, Keshi South Sea pearls, black diamonds and moonstone eyes set in 18k rose gold.
Best in Pearls: Autore Pearls
Best in Debuting: Francesca Villa
Designer Francesca Villa was born in Liguria, Italy and now resides in Solonghello, near her workshop where she creates jewelry with her Objets Trouvé. Her travels and vintage objects (be it a vintage button or Venetian glass beads) often spark inspiration in creating whimsical and innovative pieces of wearable art. This reversible bracelet showcases cameos on one side and hand-painted enamel scenes on the other.
Best in Debuting: Francesca Villa
The People’s Choice: Richard Wu
Richard Wu’s background is a mix of creating and studying many forms of the art of jewelry making. From founding the jewelry brand “Liu Guangjia” in 2005, setting up a jade carving studio in 2012 to going to Italy to learn wax carving, metalworking, gold carving, and inlay in 2015. Each of his handcrafted pieces is a work of art that reflects a mix of Orient and Western aesthetics. This “Black Veil” mask is a perfect example of his craftsmanship and influences.
The People’s Choice: Richard Wu
Editor/Wordsmith: Johannah Masters & Jason Reuben
Every item featured is personally selected by our writers and editors (read: we're totally into it). Please know that when you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission (read: we get to keep doing what we love).
