Town&Country Couture Design Awards Celebrate A Wide Variety of Talent

The 13th annual Town&Country Couture Design Awards is a major highlight of the Couture event.

This year the voting system included an online first round of judging that let nearly 5000 people view and vote on the 168 applicants. WOW! Talk about viral marketing.

After the first round online 80 designs were chosen to be displayed onsite at Couture. Show attendees made the final votes during the first 3 days of the show. Winners and finalists were announced at a fab party at Blush on Friday evening hosted by Jim Taylor, publisher of Town&Country.

As Couture's consultant for the designer sector I was particularly pleased (read: out-of-my-mind happy) to see that many awardees were smaller, independant designers. This underscores that  great design is born at Couture and belies any conspiracy theories.

Here is the list of the winners:

Bridal Category Winner: Katherine James
Finalists: Sonya Ooten & Judith Conway

Colored Gemstones Category Winner: Sevan
Finalists: Marco Bicego & Rodney Rayner Ltd.

Diamonds Category Winner: Arunashi
Finalists: Kwiat & La Reina Collection

Gold Category Winner: Pamela Froman
Finalists: H. Stern & Calgaro

Haute Couture Category Winner: Valente Gioiellieri S.P.A.
Finalists: Yossi Harari & Kuwayama

Natural Color Diamonds Category Winner: Todd Reed
Finalists: Shamballa & Roberto Demeglio

Newcomer Category Winner: Blu by Betty Lou Moscot
Finalists: Christofle & Cresber

Pearls Category Winner: The Autore Group
Finalists:  Mikimoto & Roberto Coin

Platinum Category Winner: Erica Courtney
Finalists: Tom Munsteiner & Podicko Diamonds

Silver Category  Winner: Emily Armenta
Finalists: Robert Lee Morris & John Hardy

seen at the party, from left, Erica Courtney, Sonya Ooten and Pamela Froman

Some of the winning jewels: tri-color "crushed" gold cross by Pamela Froman, black diamond ring by Erica Courtney, gold and moonstone ring by Betty Lou Moscot, blackened silver bracelet by Emily Armenta, colored diamond bracelet by Todd Reed and colored stone masterpiece by Sevan.

Comments

[Loretta Fontaine Jewelry]

What a great way to choose the finalists - I hope the Town and Country Couture Design Awards keep the same voting system next year.

I am so happy to see Pamela Froman win in the gold category. She's a fantastic designer and really deserves the honor! Her cross necklace is beautiful!

Loretta