The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) presented its annual Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards, honoring jewelry designers and brands specializing in colored gemstones, last weekend in Dallas.
Top trends in the competition, held at the Omni Frisco Hotel at the Star, included pink and purple gemstones and returning favorites like tourmaline and rubellite, as well as rainbow moonstones, sapphires and garnets, and cameo faces, AGTA reported.
“We tell participants that the Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards offer a ‘lifetime of opportunity,’ and they truly do,” the association’s CEO, John W. Ford Sr., said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome all these talents into the esteemed circle of Spectrum Award winners and can’t wait to see how they reap the many benefits and opportunities that Spectrum creates.”
In the Cutting Edge competition, Oren Nhaissi of EMCO Gem, in collaboration with Yaron Nhaissi, won both Best of Show and first place in the Pairs & Suites category for a 12.91 cts. t.w. suite of emerald-cut, no-oil Colombian emeralds.
Spectrum’s Best of Show was awarded to Somewhere in the Rainbow Gem and Jewelry Collection, in collaboration with Marc Höllmüller, for the 18k yellow gold, platinum, and cocobolo wood Elements bracelet featuring a 14.16 ct. pink tourmaline accented with peridot, spinel, demantoid garnet, and diamonds. The same piece also won first place in Business/Day Wear.
In the Spectrum competition, Elyzian Fine Jewelry received the Alfie Norville Women in Excellence Award in Evening Wear for its Parure d’Aurore necklace, the brand’s high jewelry debut. Designed by Valaree Wahler and finished in Elyzian’s Newport Beach, Calif., atelier, the 18k yellow gold necklace featuring cabochons of pink tourmaline, peridot, aquamarine, and heliodor “captures the dialogue between old-world craftsmanship and the West Coast aesthetic,” Elyzian cofounder Elizabeth Wahler tells JCK.
She notes that the piece is the cornerstone of Elyzian’s Chroma Forme collection, a flagship of the house’s Chroma line, which Wahler describes as a study in color, form, and light.
“We’re honored to see Chroma Forme recognized by AGTA—it represents the bridge between centuries of gemstone artistry and the bold, instinctive spirit of modern California design,” she says.
More than 300 pieces were submitted for consideration for Spectrum and Cutting Edge Awards, said AGTA. The 2025 contest had 32 first-time entrants and six first-time winners, according to the group.
Judges this year included designer Erica Courtney, Donald Janson of Walters & Hogsett Jewelers, Blaine Lewis of the New Approach School for Jewelers, Craig Underwood of Underwood’s Jewelers, and Clay Zava of Zava Mastercuts. Kevin Reilly of Platinum Guild International served as judge for the Platinum Honors awards.
Spectrum Best of Show winner Somewhere in the Rainbow Gem and Jewelry Collection also received the first-place Cutting Edge Award in Carving, in collaboration with Gabi Klein, for “Sunny Boy,” an 11.8 cm dark gray obsidian elephant with rhodonite tongue, cacholong tusks, and black onyx eyes.
Additionally, Somewhere in the Rainbow won first place in North American Mined Gemstones, in collaboration with Brad Payne and lapidarist Jay Medici, for a 19.34 ct. rhodochrosite named Rocky Mountain Jolly Rancher, and third place in Spectrum’s Business/Day Wear category, in collaboration with Jutta Munsteiner (designer) and Phillip Munsteiner (gem cutter), for the Rise of the Phoenix ring in 18k gold with a 27.34 ct. custom-cut fire opal.
Other first-place winners of Spectrum Awards were Nikki Swift of Nicole Mera, in Engagement Rings, for the Love Struck ring in platinum with a 1.74 ct. unheated Mozambique heart-shape ruby accented with baguette diamonds, round diamonds, and rubies; Randy Coffin, Coffin & Trout Fine Jewellers, in Classical, for the 18k yellow gold and platinum Face in the Mirror pendant with a removable bail featuring a hand-carved banded agate cameo accented with a custom-cut mirror quartz, diamonds, spessartite garnets, and orange spinel; and Craig Slavens of Luxe Fine Jewelry, in collaboration with Larry Rice, in Menswear, for the Rock Star ring in platinum with a 24.62 ct. bezel-set unheated Sri Lankan star ruby cabochon and diamonds (pictured at top).
For a full list of Spectrum and Cutting Edge winners, visit the AGTA website. Winning pieces will be on display at the AGTA GemFair in Tucson next February.
(Photos courtesy of AGTA)
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