JCKstyle - December 14, 2007
Manhattan's elegant Pratt Mansions served as the backdrop Saturday to Suz Andreasen's labor of love—the Couture Awards.
The awards, previously called the Suz Andreasen Design Prize, judged 44 jewelry designers in design, wearability, originality, and use of materials. Two awards were given, for design in gold and silver and design using alternative metals, to Amy Roper Lyons and Pat Pruitt, respectively. The event also included a public sale at the mansion.
Andreasen, a jewelry designer, created the Couture Awards (which have no affiliation with the jewelry show that shares the name) to acknowledge and publicize American jewelry designers. The panel of judges included curators from New York's Museum of Arts & Design, New Jersey's Newark Museum, and Delaware's Winterthur Museum & Country Estate.
The two winners discussed their submissions—Roper Lyons's sea-life collection and Pruitt's innovative men's jewelry—and the inspiration behind them.
While a craftsman of the highest form, Pruitt showed that industry artists also understand the direction of fashion and market demands right now. "I wanted to create a line of men's jewelry because when you go to jewelry shows and you're shopping, there's very little to nothing for men that's really cool," he said
To view interviews from the Couture Awards and the participants' work, click here.
Weekly Gem
A gold and emerald medal, commissioned by George Washington for French leader Marquis de Lafayette in 1824, hit the auction block this week. The piece, featuring a gold eagle silhouette, is known as the Washington-Lafayette Cincinnati Medal and fetched $5.3 million.
