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“Over 23 years ago, the Gem Awards were created as a platform to celebrate talent in various areas of fine jewelry. The goal has remained the same to this day, while the facets of the Gem’s have continued to be polished to reflect the evolving jewelry world,” said jewelry historian, author and this year’s Gem Award’s chair and emcee Marion Fasel, kicking off the ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street Friday night.
While the Jewelers of America led event was once again sold out, it felt like an intimate family reunion for the designers, executives, media and creatives who attend year after year to connect, celebrate and cheer each other on throughout the night.
Fasel began the night announcing two changes. “One looks to the future and the other embraces our past,” she said. Next year The David Yurman Gem Awards Grant will be added to the event. Conceived with and supported by David, Sybil and Evan Yurman, the program will provide a $50,000 grant and mentorship to an emerging fine jewelry designer “who shows the potential to make a unique contribution to the field,” the emcee shared. For the 2025 awards, a second change, expanding the voting body beyond the awards committee to include honorees, winners and nominees from the past five years. “This voting body is an assemblage of extraordinary talent,” Fasel said of the new change.
Kicking off the evening was the award High Jewelry Excellence Award bestowed to Chanel’s “Haute Joaillerie Sport” collection. “Chanel has always been a house of reinvention, a place where heritage and modernity dance together in perfect harmony,” remarked interior designer and founder of lifestyle website EyeSwoon Athena Calderone, who gave the award to Olivier Kessler-Gay, Chanel’s new U.S. general manager for watches and fine jewelry. “The House of Chanel have an audacious legacy of revolutionizing not only fashion but also the way we think, dress and live — the sport collection perfectly embodies that spirit,” Kessler-Gay said.
This year’s Media Excellence nominees were Robb Report‘s Paige Reddinger, Instore’s Trace Shelton and Only Natural Diamond‘s Sam Broekema. “I’ve not been this nervous since my wedding vows and I knew their outcome,” joked Broekema, who won the award to cheers from the audience. He went on to express his gratitude for his team for all their hard work bringing their issues to life, promoting even more cheers from the room.
One of the most anticipated moments of the evening, the Jewelry Design Award, nominees Sophie Bille Brahe, Selim Mouzannar — both who came from overseas — and American Beth Hutchens of FoundRae, were recognized for their “individual codes of expression that stand out in today’s landscape.” Hutchens took home the big win, expressing that “if we can inspire people, if we can nourish people then that is a day well spent.” 2024 was a big year for the brand, opening three new stores in the U.S., one in Miami, one in Los Angeles and a second store in New York City.
Of the other awards of the night, John Green of Lux Bond & Green received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Puerto Rico’s Reinhold Jewelers won the Retail Innovation award.
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