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Sustainability quite literally took center stage at the JCK Las Vegas show in June when luxury group Kering used the event to launch its inaugural Kering Generation Award X Jewelry — a new initiative spotlighting creativity and environmental responsibility in the jewelry industry.
Aiming to inspire a new wave of innovators, the award challenged young talents and start-ups to reimagine waste as a starting point for beauty, under the theme of “Second Chance, First Choice.” The JCK ceremony was the culmination of a global competition that Kering — the parent company of brands such as Boucheron, Gucci, Pomellato, and Qeelin — launched this past November in collaboration with the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and Italian design school Poli.Design at Politecnico di Milano. Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault led the judging panel, which brought together a formidable list of industry leaders, including Kering chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer Marie-Claire Daveu, Boucheron CEO Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, Pomellato CEO Sabina Belli, Qeelin CEO Christophe Artaux, CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri, and Watch & Jewellery Initiative (WJI) 2030 executive director Iris Van der Veken.
Submissions came from two sources: students at 10 universities across the world, and 22 start-up jewelry companies. The judges selected a winner from each category to receive the prize.
In the student category, Lee Min Seo of Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea, won over the jury with Rhythm Reborn, a jewelry collection she crafted out of discarded leather from traditional Korean janggu drums. The designs, rich with cultural meaning, offer a poetic commentary on sustainability and heritage, fusing music, memory, and material reuse into a powerful narrative. As part of her prize, the aspiring designer will undertake an internship with one of Kering’s jewelry maisons.
The winner of the start-up category was Ianyan, a Chinese jewelry brand that uses fractured opals and other “imperfect” gemstones that conventional designers might overlook. Being mindful of the luxury life cycle, Ianyan creates pieces that can be disassembled, repaired or transformed in the future. Thanks to the award, the brand will receive mentoring from experts at Politecnico di Milano to expand on its vision.
Other shortlisted designers presented their concepts at the JCK ceremony as well. Among them was Tony Favorito, an American student from the Rochester Institute of Technology who used offcuts of stone and marble from home renovations to make geometric rings. Another was French start-up Ex Oblivione, which collaborates with the European Space Agency (ESA) and France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) to turn components of decommissioned spacecraft into jewels.
“With the Kering Generation Award X Jewelry, we aim to empower a new wave of talents who are reshaping the jewelry industry through creativity and responsibility,” said Daveu. “The inspiring work of Lee Min Seo and Ianyan demonstrates that sustainable innovation is not only possible, but already taking shape.”
Main image: Judges, winners and shortlisted designers gather for the Kering X Jewelry presentation at JCK Las Vegas 2025. (JCK)
