Coin Partners with AIDS Foundation

By Carrie Soucy, Senior Editor -- JCK Online, 1/1/2004 2:00:00 AM

Roberto Coin and diamond powerhouse Rosy Blue, who partnered to create Coin's Cento Collection in 2003, have launched a national fund-raising program to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. For the program, Coin has designed a diamond pendant known at "Ariel's Heart of Hope." The pendant—and the national campaign—launched in December, when the designer presented the necklace to celebrities on both coasts.

Julie Bowen, star of the television show Ed, and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt were the celebrities receiving the Ariel's Heart of Hope pendant at in-store events at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and Neiman Marcus in Los Angeles, respectively.

The pendant, in yellow gold with diamonds set in white gold, comprises a ruby-red mother-of-pearl outer section and mandarin orange center section—the signature colors of the foundation's logo designed by Ariel Glaser, daughter of actor Paul Glaser and his wife Elizabeth. Ariel contracted the AIDS virus in utero; her mother had been infected years earlier via a blood transfusion. Ariel died at the age of 5 in 1988; Elizabeth passed away in 1994.

The pendants will be available through Coin at Saks and Neiman Marcus, along with independent jewelers across the country. The retail price is $1,250, and Coin will donate $250 from every purchase to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. The designer hopes to raise $125,000 for the foundation.

For more information on Ariel's Heart of Hope, visit www.robertocoin.com; for information on the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, visit www.pedaids.org.