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PASSION HAS NEVER BEEN THIS COLORFUL
2009 ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements PASSION TOPAZ DESIGN COMPETITION: INSPIRING THE DESIRE TO DESIGN
Talented jewellery designers and emerging eyewear designers from all over the world took part in an exciting competition to bring glamour to everyday occasions and avant-garde elegance to luxury in the ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements PASSION TOPAZ DESIGN COMPETITION. Participants were invited to submit their designs online, incorporating the use of ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements Passion Topaz® genuine gemstone collection as key elements in their creations.
The response was amazing. Over 3,000 design entries were submitted and nearly 25,000 responses were exchanged by enthusiastic online community members. The winners of the competition will be presented at BASELWORLD, the largest jewellery and watch fair in the world, held in Basel, Switzerland from March 26 to April 2, 2009. Also on display will be several stunning examples of jewellery featuring Passion Topaz® designed by some of the most sought-after designer names in Hollywood.
Passion Topaz® luxurious creations for all occasions
The creative challenge involved two distinctive design directions. Basic Passion encompassed fine jewellery designed with enduring style - made all the more enticing for everyday occasions, from the office to a night out on the town. Passion DeLuxe encouraged designers to be much more experimental, expressing elegant opulence with more extravagant proposals for when luxury is an imperative.
Prospective designers were invited to join the online platform www.enlightened-jewellery-design-competition.com and to upload their own jewellery and/or bejewelled eyewear designs, or to use an online toolkit to virtually configure a pendant based on existing models using the ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements genuine Passion Topaz® stone assortment.
ENLIGHTENED™ Passion Topaz® colours ignite passion in jewellery design
Participants were treated to a sensational spectrum of shades and hues from the ENLIGHTENED™ Passion Topaz® gemstone collection: virgin White, floating Aqua Blue, chilling Ice Blue, bright Turquoise Blue, vivid Paraiba, hot Blazing Red, cheerful Poppy, romantic Pink, earthy Khaki, sweet Honey, delicate Baby Pink and tropical Rainforest. Precision cut especially for the luxury market, these brilliant coloured stones are a result of a patented permanent colour process that transforms genuine white topaz into an assortment of colours - and all carried out using an irradiation-free procedure.
And the winners are…
In the Basic Passion category, top honours went to French designer Isabelle Lopes, a resident of China, who also took third place in the Passion DeLuxe division. Second place went to Ni Lu of China, with the third place shared between Reka Nyilas of Hungary and Devindh Baburam of the UK. In the Passion DeLuxe category, first prize went to Thailand’s Jittrakarn Bunterngpiboon, while second place went to India’s Jodhka Puneet.
Expert Jury of design luminaries
The jury was comprised of highly esteemed individuals from the international design community, including key jewellery industry figure Patrick Mauboussin, Nathalie Colin, Creative Director for Swarovski Consumer Goods Business, luxury media specialist Yaffa Assouline, noted jewellery designer Lesley Vik Waddell, Russian-born design student Eugen Dirksen, the winner of the ENLIGHTENED™ Watch Design Contest and Birgit Rieder, Head of Gem Creative for ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements. Together they evaluated all the design submissions according to creativity and the innovative use of ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements genuine Passion Topaz® assortment. As the entries were so imaginative, it was impossible to choose just one. Instead the jury decided to increase the prize in each of the two categories up to €1,500, €1,000 and €500 for each of the top three places.
Hollywood designer using ENLIGHTENED™ Passion Topaz® showcased at BASELWORLD
Numerous jewellery designers have been seduced by the appeal of ENLIGHTENED™ Passion Topaz® such as Christian Tse, an internationally acclaimed designer whose pieces have been worn by Oscar-winning actresses and have appeared in TV series such as Sex in the City and The Sopranos. Several showpieces of Tse’s outstanding work will be on view at BASELWORLD, including a bracelet capturing his own exquisite filigree style of precious metal interwoven and enhanced by the brilliance of Passion Topaz® stones. Tse’s exquisite piece, an absolute expression of understated elegance and the art of jewellery design, mirrors the connection he makes between modern art and architecture.
Jewellery doyen Patrick Mauboussin and Shaun Leane are among the other renowned designers of exquisite jewellery who have discovered the variety, vibrancy and innovative appeal of not just the Passion Topaz® collection, but also the myriad of other genuine and created gemstones by ENLIGHTENED™ – Swarovski Elements.
