My favorite Vegas appointments

I’d say this year was a pretty great Las Vegas market week, wouldn’t you? The mood seemed cheerful wherever I went, and the designs I saw were on point. I love that we can see that fine jewelry is taking more risks and embracing the truly unique and innovative. Not to mention getting to spend a few days in Sin City with the amazing people in this industry; it’s just the cherry on top of it all. Here are just a few of the appointments and meetings I liked best from our time there.

Brecken Branstrator brecken.branstrator@nationaljeweler.com

Tacori’s new Love Letters collection and Monterey Roadster men’s collection

My meeting at Tacori was one of my favorites in part because I felt like I got to see so many different categories.

We started in bridal where I was, unsurprisingly, dazzled by their great diamonds and got to see the new Ribbon collection. We then moved on to a new fashion collection Tacori has that uses amethyst and sky blue topaz, as well as the new Love Letters signet collections, which is perfectly positioned for gifting.

Since I don’t get to see that much in the way of men’s jewelry and accessories, I also loved viewing how Tacori was expanding theirs with the new Monterey Roadster Collection, inspired by vintage cars.

Jane Taylor

I stopped by the Jane Taylor booth once on my own and came back again later with Michelle Graff (our editor-in-chief) and thoroughly enjoyed myself both times I was there. Not only is the team awesome, but the amount of color that Jane has in her pieces was perfect for a color hound like myself. Stacking, baguettes, large stones--all the best trends were there in pieces that were still so classic and wearable.

Nada G

I’ve been a fan of Nada G’s from afar since she popped up on our radar a while ago, but I couldn’t wait to meet her in person this year.

Not only was she super-passionate as she walked me through her new pieces, but her jewelry collections are showstoppers. Colored stone pave on asymmetrical earrings, collars and skinny bangles? Sign me up.

From left, Lito, Delfina Delettrez and Lynn Ban at Valery Demure Showroom

Stepping into the Valery Demure Showroom villa at Couture was full of a lot of great surprises for me.

I already was familiar with (and already love) Fernando Jorge but also got to see these amazing ear jackets and other great pieces from Greek brand Lito, the edgy and awesome jewelry from Lynn Ban, and the trendy open rings from Delfina Delettrez, to name just a few.

Lauren Harper

Lauren Harper offered a new take on the geode trend that I really liked--rather than actually using geodes, since she thought there are getting to be too many of those in the market, Harper was inspired to create a similar look using colored stone pave in gradients.

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Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.