The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) is partnering with the Kering group of luxury brands in the launch of Kering Generation Award X Jewelry. Aiming to support visionary talent whose work demonstrates excellence in sustainable design and practices in jewellery-making, the international contest will be coordinated by Poli.Design, a consortium of Politecnico di Milano, Italy’s leading technical university. It will be an expansion of an award first launched by Kering in 2018, dedicated to advancing innovation and sustainability within the jewellery sector.

Under the theme “Second Chance, First Choice,” the inaugural “Kering Generation Award X Jewelry” will invite students at jewellery design schools and industry start-ups to reimagine waste as a resource, by creating jewellery created from discarded materials. The initiative is intended to challenge the traditional concept of waste by exploring the potential of creative reuse. Participants will encouraged to design a jewel — whether a single piece or a collection — changing the waste into something valuable, and in so doing highlighting the intangible power of creativity.

The first edition of the international contest will involve 10 world-renowned universities and academies that offer courses on jewelry and sustainability, and also start-ups already active in jewelry.

Each school will have to present at least three projects, and the students will be assisted and mentored by local professors to develop the projects that will be presented to the jury. The start-ups will present their own innovations.

Four finalists from among all the projects submitted – two from the students’ category and two from the start-up category – will be presented to the jury in June next year at the 2025 JCK Show in Las Vegas.

“CIBJO is proud to be part of a project that promotes innovation and creativity among jewellers taking their first steps in our industry, and the same time underlines our commitment as an industry to the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular those that aim to protect the health of the environments in which we live,” said Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO’s President. “Kering Generation Award X Jewelry incentivizes responsible practices and circularity not only among members of the industry, but also among jewellery consumers who will come to recognize that the beauty and value of a piece of jewellery is not simply and extension of the precious gemstone or metal of which it is constructed, but possibly more importantly the genius of the individual or individuals who created it.”

“Kering Generation Award X Jewelry” embodies the values of innovation and sustainability that are essential for shaping a future where beauty aligns with ethics. By bringing together young talents from leading academic institutions worldwide and start-ups, we are creating a collaborative platform that celebrates creativity and sustainability. We invite students and start-uppers to join us on this journey, to inspire, to innovate, and to lead together the future of sustainable jewelry.”, stated the Professor Alba Cappellieri, Head of Jewelry at Politecnico di Milano and scientific coordinator of the Awards.

“Extending our Kering Generation Awards to jewelry is a pivotal moment in our commitment to advancing sustainability and innovation in the jewelry industry,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer. “This new edition, which brings together universities, start-ups and future leaders, is designed to recognize and support those pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in sustainable jewelry. At Kering, we believe that fostering new ideas at the intersection of craftsmanship, technology, and environmental consciousness is essential to driving the transformative change the industry needs.”

The story of the Kering Generation Award began in 2017, when as 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 award to support Chinese start-ups 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.