Kering Opens Applications for Second Jewelry-Focused Generation Award, Keeping “Second Chance, First Choice” Theme

DAAS2R
Feb 8
2 min read

After testing the format in 2024, Kering is bringing back its jewelry-focused Generation Award—again positioning sustainability and circular thinking as the brief, and again splitting the competition between students and early-stage ventures.

$After testing the format in 2024, Kering is bringing back its jewelry-focused Generation Award—again positioning sustainability and circular thinking as the brief, and again splitting the competition between students and early-stage ventures. Kering on Friday announced a second edition of its Generation Award x Jewelry, a design competition centered on sustainability and innovation in the jewelry sector. “The success of the inaugural edition showed us just how many emerging leaders are eager to drive change and redefine sustainable jewelry,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer. The contest, launched in November 2024, is run in partnership with the World Jewelry Confederation (CIBJO) and with scientific coordination by Poli.design at Politecnico di Milano. It is open to start-ups and students from 10 universities and institutions worldwide offering courses focused on jewelry and sustainability. The award is designed to identify projects that reduce the jewelry industry’s environmental impact—across products, processes, services, and technology. Submissions can span areas such as materials, packaging, retail-focused technologies, and the use of artificial intelligence. This second edition continues the theme used in the first: “Second Chance, First Choice.” Students are invited to create jewelry that reimagines waste as a resource, while start-ups are encouraged to submit an existing jewelry-sector product, technology, or service aligned with that theme. Finalists will present their projects to a jury during Paris Couture Week in July. The winning start-up will receive mentorship from Poli.design, while the student-category winner will be offered an internship opportunity at one of Kering’s jewelry houses: Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, or Qeelin. The first edition’s winners were announced last June during the JCK Las Vegas trade show: Lee Min Seo, a student at Hongik University in South Korea, and Chinese brand Ianyan, whose collections highlight fractured opals and other unusual stones.$

A sculpted thistle at Boucheron, made in 3D printed biosourced resin, a material new to high jewelry. Bieke Depoorter for Magnum/Courtesy of Boucheron

Kering on Friday announced a second edition of its Generation Award x Jewelry, a design competition centered on sustainability and innovation in the jewelry sector.

“The success of the inaugural edition showed us just how many emerging leaders are eager to drive change and redefine sustainable jewelry,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer.

The contest, launched in November 2024, is run in partnership with the World Jewelry Confederation (CIBJO) and with scientific coordination by Poli.design at Politecnico di Milano. It is open to start-ups and students from 10 universities and institutions worldwide offering courses focused on jewelry and sustainability.

The award is designed to identify projects that reduce the jewelry industry’s environmental impact—across products, processes, services, and technology. Submissions can span areas such as materials, packaging, retail-focused technologies, and the use of artificial intelligence.

This second edition continues the theme used in the first: “Second Chance, First Choice.” Students are invited to create jewelry that reimagines waste as a resource, while start-ups are encouraged to submit an existing jewelry-sector product, technology, or service aligned with that theme.

Finalists will present their projects to a jury during Paris Couture Week in July. The winning start-up will receive mentorship from Poli.design, while the student-category winner will be offered an internship opportunity at one of Kering’s jewelry houses: Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, or Qeelin.

The first edition’s winners were announced last June during the JCK Las Vegas trade show: Lee Min Seo, a student at Hongik University in South Korea, and Chinese brand Ianyan, whose collections highlight fractured opals and other unusual stones.