Saul Bell Award Winners

By Carrie Soucy, Senior Editor -- JCK Online, 8/1/2003 2:00:00 AM

Winners of the third annual Saul Bell Design Award competition showed varying styles, but a similar penchant for the big, bold pieces that characterize current fashion tastes.

The contest, sponsored by Rio Grande and named for company founder Saul Bell, honors nine designers in four categories: gold/platinum, precious metal clay (PMC), beads, and silver. This year, 3M joined Rio Grande in sponsoring a hollowware award as part of the Saul Bell contest.

The grand prize winner was Apichart Warrachart, Catskill, N.Y., who was awarded a $10,000 Rio Grande gift certificate for her 18k yellow and white gold brooch with mother-of-pearl, pearls, and diamond melee. Other winners included Ruben Zyhitnik of Robin's Jewelry, Mayfield Heights, Ohio; Marie Scarpa of Petaluma, Calif.; Chihiro Makio of 314 Studio in Jamaica Plain, Mass.; Barbra Eriksdotter Gendell of Eriksdotter Design, Springfield, Va.; Candice Wakumoto of Mililani, Hawaii; Heidi Kummli of Free Spirit in Nederland, Colo.; Patricia Madeja of West Islip, N.Y.; and Jeffrey Clancy of San Diego, Calif.