Kering announces the top four finalists of its Kering Generation Award X Jewelry
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Kering announces the top four finalists of its Kering Generation Award X Jewelry
Kering, in partnership with CIBJO - the World Jewellery Confederation – and with the scientific coordination of Poli.Design - Politecnico di Milano, is proud to reveal the four leading finalists of its Kering Generation Award x Jewelry, an initiative launched to encourage innovation and advance sustainable practices within the jewelry industry.
Centered around the theme “Second Chance, First Choice,” the competition invited both students and startups to design a piece or a collection of jewelry. Out of a diverse pool of applicants—from 10 world-renowned universities and academies specializing in jewelry and sustainability, as well as established startups—four finalists were selected by the jury: two students and two startups.
These four finalists will present their final projects on Saturday, June 7th, at the JCK Las Vegas Show, one of the leading global trade events in the jewelry sector.
The Kering Generation Award X Jewelry called on the next generation of talent to rethink waste as a resource, encouraging the transformation of discarded materials into meaningful and desirable jewelry. This inaugural edition underscores the creative and sustainable potential of reuse in redefining the future of the industry.
With the support of Kering’s jewelry Maisons—Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, and Qeelin—the award reaffirms the Group’s commitment to responsible innovation and sustainability in the jewelry sector.
The startups selected:
Ex Oblivione
France
Ex Oblivione is a French brand combining space innovation and fine jewelry by transforming and upcycling decommissioned and unused components from real space missions, like satellite protections, into unique high-end pieces of art.
Ianyan
China
Ianyan is a Chinese brand highlighting fractured opals and unusual stones through its collections, often overlooked in conventional jewelry for their raw beauty. The brand promotes a circular economy by choosing imperfect gems to revive traditional values and give new life to materials through craftsmanship and by designing each piece to be repaired, transformed, or recomposed.
The students selected:
Lee Min Seo
Korea
Lee Min Seo made a collection from discarded leather of a traditional Korean percussion instrument, the jang-gu (drum), to promote cultural preservation. Lee Min Seo will be the voice of the Hongik University, showing her reimagination of Korean music with her project, Rhythm Reborn.
Tony Favorito
USA
Tony Favorito is restoring emotional value to materials destined for the landfill by creating modular rings made with fragments of stones or marble from home renovation work. With his project named Memory Fragment, Tony Favorito will be representing the Rochester Institute of Technology, showing how floor or wall covering can be turned into jewelry.
About the Kering Generation Award
In 2017, as part of its Sustainability strategy, Kering joined the "Plug and Play - Fashion for Good" accelerator to identify more sustainable and innovative materials and processes in Europe. In 2018, in partnership with Plug and Play China, Kering launched the first edition of the "Kering Generation Award" to support Chinese startups with a positive environmental and social impact. Since then, the "Kering Generation Award" has been launched in Japan and then in Saudi Arabia with the support of the Fashion Commission.
About CIBJO
The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) is the international jewellery confederation of national trade organisations. CIBJO's purpose is to encourage harmonisation, promote international cooperation in the jewellery industry, and consider issues which concern the trade worldwide. CIBJO's chief mission is to protect consumer confidence in the industry. The World Jewellery Confederation is the sole jewellery industry organisation to have Special Consultative Status with the United Nations' Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) and is a member of the UN Global Compact.
About Poli.Design - Politecnico di Milano
Poli.Design is a consortium of Politecnico di Milano, Italy’s leading technical university, which ranks among the top engineering, architecture, and design schools globally. Known for its emphasis on innovation, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration, the university plays a leading role in advancing sustainable practices and fostering talent in fields that shape the future. Through partnerships with industry leaders like Kering, Poli.Design supports the next generation of designers and engineers dedicated to developing solutions that contribute to a more sustainable world.
About JCK
Considered the most important jewelry exhibition in the world, the award-winning JCK show provides the global jewelry trade community the optimal stage for business growth by uniting the industry to buy, sell, network, learn, and discover. A one-stop destination with the most diverse selection of professionals and products, JCK is jewelry’s most important gathering. Having been a launchpad for jewelry trends, products, and brands for three decades, JCK offers unrivaled access to quality buyers and sellers with 18,000 attendees and over 1,900 exhibitors annually. This is where the jewelry industry and its media partners unite to do business, make vital connections, and get inspired during multiple days of product discovery and exceptional experiences.
Press contact
Emmanuelle Picard-Deyme - emmanuelle.picard-deyme@kering.com
