Retailers Crown Vanessa Fernández’s Gold Curva Necklace JCK Grand Prize

Retailers crowned Vanessa Fernández’s Curva necklace the grand prize winner in JCK’s 2026 Jewelers’ Choice Awards, putting a hand-crafted gold statement piece with 32.14 carats of lemon-yellow chrysoberyls at the top of the market’s retail-voted design list. Fernández builds each piece at her bench in Miami, and that maker-driven approach helped the necklace stand out to the retailer, editor, and influencer judges.

The win points to a clear commercial bias: jewelers are still rewarding pieces that read as sculptural and luxurious, but not so ornate that they lose a sales-floor audience. Victoria Gomelsky, JCK’s editor-in-chief, summed up the pattern bluntly: “The brands that consistently win the JCAs have one thing in common: They’re not afraid to take risks.” In practice, that risk is showing up in saturated color, strong silhouettes, and enough gold presence to make the piece feel substantial in a showcase and on a client’s neck.

JCK said the 2026 competition ran from September 2, 2025, through November 2, 2025, with ballots due by February 8, 2026. The judging panel included JCK editors Amy Elliott, Karen Dybis, Brittany Siminitz, Melissa Rose Bernardo, and Victoria Gomelsky, alongside influencer judges Severine Ferrari, Bebe Bakhshi, Agata Jankowiak, and Grant Mobley. That mix matters: the winners are not just editorial favorites, but the designs a retail cohort thinks can move.

The rest of the winners reinforced that read. Pompos took Best Colored Stone Jewelry over $30,000, while Rahaminov’s Alexandra necklace won Best Statement Piece over $50,000 at $725,000, a price that puts it firmly in trophy territory. Still, the recurring thread is not restraint. It is impact, from opal color to oversized necklace formats that can anchor a collection and photograph cleanly online.

The pattern has been building. Norman Silverman took the 2025 grand prize for a yellow diamond collar, and Rahaminov won the 2024 grand prize with its Celestial Diamond lariat, featuring more than 40 carats of white and yellow pear-shape diamonds. Taken together, the recent winners suggest retailers are betting on jewelry that delivers bold color, visible craftsmanship, and immediate visual payoff. In a crowded market, that combination is proving easier to sell than quiet minimalism.