MJSA honors designers with vision

Leon Mege’s custom-made platinum and rose gold ring set with blue moonstone was the winning design in MJSA’s Vision Awards Professional Design Excellence category for a designer who has been in business for four years or more.Attleboro Falls, Mass.--MJSA has announced the winners of its annual Vision Awards, which celebrate outstanding talent in jewelry design and “represent the future of the jewelry manufacturing industry.”

A panel of jewelry designers, manufacturers and editors judged the submitted designs based on originality, presentation quality, effective use of materials, wearability and the design’s perceived manufacturing and marketing potential.

There were three new categories in the awards this year, for use of a laser in creating jewelry, use of CAD/CAM and digital marketing.

The winning entries will be showcased at MJSA Expo New York, scheduled to take place in March 2015 at the Hilton New York, and also will be mentioned in the MJSA Journal and on the organization’s website, and in ads in InStore and Metalsmith magazines.

The winners in each category are as follows.

--Professional Design Excellence (1-3 years in business): Evan deJonghe of Evan Maxwell Design, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

This category honors designs that exhibit exceptional creativity, craftsmanship and marketability by jewelers who have been in business for one to three years.

--Professional Design Excellence (4-plus years in business): Leon Mege of Leon Mege Inc., New York

This category honors designs that exhibit exceptional creativity, craftsmanship and marketability by jewelers who have been in business for four years or longer.

--Custom Design Distinction: Chelsea Knights of Mark Schneider Design, Long Beach, Calif.

Sponsored by TechForm Advanced Casting, this category recognizes designs that met a client’s request as well as the challenges encountered during the design process and how they were overcome.

--Laser Distinction: Ryan Roberts of Ryan Roberts Ltd., Santa Fe, N.M.

This award honors entries in which the design relied upon the use of a laser, and takes into consideration any technical challenges that were overcome to take the piece from concept to completion. LaserStar Technologies sponsored this category, which is new for 2014.

--CAD/CAM Distinction: Robin Waynee of Ryan Roberts Ltd., Chimayo, N.M.

New for 2014, this category recognizes designs that were created with the use of CAD/CAM technologies and the challenges that were overcome to take the piece from concept to completion.

--Digital Marketing Distinction: Danielle Ginsberg of Mark Schneider Design

Also new for 2014,