Kering announces the top four finalists
of its Kering Generation Award X Jewelry
The award is being made in in partnership with the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and with the scientific coordination of Poli.Design - Politecnico di Milano.
MAY 21, 2025
Kering, in partnership with the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and with the scientific coordination of Poli.Design – Politecnico di Milano, ihas announced the four top finalists of its Kering Generation Award x Jewelry, an initiative launched to encourage innovation and advance sustainable practices within the jewelry industry.
For the inaugural edition of the award, participating students and startups were invited to design a piece or collection of jewelry inspired by the theme “Second Chance, First Choice.” In May, shortlisted candidates presented their concepts to the jury, and now four finalists have been selected—two from the student category and two from the startups category.
The finalists will present their final projects to the jury on June 7, 2025, during the JCK Las Vegas Show, one of the world’s largest trade events in the jewelry industry.
The award invited both students and emerging businesses to reimagine waste as a valuable resource, encouraging designs that transform discarded materials into meaningful and desirable jewelry. By challenging traditional perceptions of waste, this first edition of the Kering Generation Award X Jewelry emphasizes the creative and sustainable potential of reuse.
With the strong support of Kering’s jewelry Maisons—Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, and Qeelin—this award underscores Kering’s commitment to driving responsible innovation and sustainability across the jewelry industry.
TOP 4 FINALISTS OF THE 2025 KERING GENERATION AWARD X JEWELRY
Ex Oblivione, France | Startup category
Ex Oblivione is a French brand combining space innovation and fine jewellery by transforming and upcycling decommissioned and unused components from real space missions, like satellite protections, into unique high-end pieces of art.
Ianyan, China | Startup category
Ianyan is a Chinese brand highlighting fractured opals and unusual stones through its collections, often overlooked in conventional jewellery 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 the craftsmanship, and by designing each piece to be repaired, transformed or recomposed.
Lee Min Seo, Korea | Student category
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 | Student category
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 jewellery.