Evelyn Huang of US-based Evelyn H Jewelry was named ‘Champagne Visionary’ at Rio Tinto Diamond’s inaugural champagne diamond design competition.
Huang won the esteemed title for her ‘Bulles de Champagne Collier (Champagne Bubbles Necklace)’ – “a modern piece that captures the elation, joy and spirit of champagne diamonds inspired by the French period of Rococo design”.
The Award’s second place honour of ‘Champagne Wishes’ was awarded to designer Joana Miranda for her ‘Champagne Tango Earrings’, which were inspired by her “love of movement and tango”.
The third place winner was designer Graham Edney who created butterfly drop earrings. featuring a marquis diamond back cut peridot with a clip in the form of diamond-set champagne grapes.
Fourth place was awarded to Vincent Bisazza from Charles Koll Jewellers for his ‘Flute’ brooch which was “designed to whimsically interpret the playful movement of champagne bubbles in a champagne flute”.
Rebecca Foerster, manager of Rio Tinto Diamonds’ US Representative Office said the company was delighted with the level of interest in the competition from all sectors of the diamond industry.
“We look forward to working with the winning designers to showcase their creativity,” she said.
Rio Tinto Diamonds launched The Champagne Diamond Design Competition earlier this year “to demonstrate the beauty of champagne diamonds”.
Rio Tinto has been marketing champagne diamonds from its Argyle mine since the early 1990s.
According to Jean-Marc Lieberherr, general manager for the sales and marketing of all diamonds from Rio Tinto’s mines, the contest is a natural extension of the company’s market development for champagne diamonds in the US.
“The Argyle mine has fuelled the growth of champagne diamond jewellery around the globe and we are now looking to the next generation of new design talent to inspire retailers and consumers alike.”