Daria de Koning debuted her eponymous firm in 2007, though her accessory roots extend back much farther. At age 8, she started crafting plastic, wood, and glass-bead pieces, and by age 12 she graduated to CEO of her own barrette company. Her mom encouraged her to take metalsmithing classes, which got her completely hooked on jewelry, and she went on to secure a gemology degree from the GIA after college. She spent two years working for a jeweler before going out on her own. Her signature style: colored gems, cabochon cuts, mixed gemstone assortments, and clusters, mainly in 18k gold, though she offers some in silver. She sketches some ideas but prefers to “go right to the bench and build it in 3-D,” she adds. Everything is made in New York City or Los Angeles, where de Koning divides her time.
Jewelry designer and metalsmith Daria de Koning
Starting retail price: $95 in silver and $500 in 18k gold
Accounts: 7 including Elleard Heffern in St. Louis and Caribou Jewels in Aspen, Colo.
Trade fairs: Events D’Or during Paris Fashion Week in September and the 2015 Art & Antiques fair from the Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla.
Retailer buy-in: $10,000
Contact: Daria de Koning, NYC; 646-543-9020; dariadekoning.com
Czarina 3-Stone rings in 18k yellow gold with (left to right) pink opal and iolite, amethyst and green tourmaline, aquamarine and blue-green tourmaline, and iolite and rhodolite garnet, $1,800 apiece
Czarina chandelier earrings in 18k yellow gold with green tourmaline and iolite, $6,400
One-of-a-kind Larimar and chrome diopside bead necklace with a tourmaline and diamond clasp in 18k yellow gold, $26,000
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