The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) recently awarded the seventh Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design. The award, created with the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation in 2018, was presented during the annual GIA Alumni Collective celebration in Tucson, AZ, to Suhan Wang, a graduate of the GIA school in Taipei.

“On behalf of the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation and Rosa Maria Buccellati, we want to congratulate Ms. Suhan Wang, this year’s award winner, plus all the other designers whose work has honoured this competition,” said Larry French, Chief Officer for North American strategies at the foundation. “We appreciate the talented GIA design instructors whose skill and efforts helped the students on their journey to celebrate the art of jewellery design in the highest way, an art that meant so much to our founder Gianmaria Buccellati.”

The judges for this year’s competition were Nanz Aalund, jewellery designer, goldsmith, and educator; Cathy Calhoun, owner of Calhoun Jewelers; Victoria Gomelsky; editor-in-chief of JCK; Charles Lewton-Brain; jewellery artist and co-founder of the Ganoksin Project; Remy Rotenier, fine jewellery designer and design teacher; and Shelly Sergent, collections manager of Somewhere In the Rainbow Gemstone and Jewelry Collection.

“The inspiration came from the mellow and delicate fruits in the dense jungle. It took only a few minutes for the sketch of this design to be completed, but it took dozens of hours to refine details and finish rendering,” said Wang, the winner of this year’s competition. “Attending GIA was a rewarding experience for zero-to-one growth, and it certainly gives me higher expectations of myself, which motivates me in my career.”