Richard Melancon Wins National Award

Richard Melancon of Melancon Jewelers won a National contest “The Torch Award” presented by the Southern Jewelry Travelers Association (SJTA)

This annual design competition showcases and recognizes the design talents of bench jewelers/designers across the country. This competition invites all state jewelers associations to submit winners of their own individual previous years’ design contests to compete nationally.

Competition for the Torch Award was by invitation only. You must compete in the Jewelers of Louisiana design contest and win the 2010 Custom Jewelry Design of the year to qualify. This years design was a beautiful 2 carat total weight diamond cross Croix du Soleil- french for Cross of the Sun.

“Many of the state and regional jewelry associations host design competitions to recognize the amazing talents and skills of their members – often showcasing the winning designs at state conventions. We wanted to find a way to share these beautiful designs with an even broader industry audience. The Atlanta Jewelry Show venue truly sets the stage for the exposure a national competition can offer to the winners, as well as the state associations,” explains Carol Young, executive director of the SJTA, producers/managers of the Atlanta Jewelry Show.

Design winners were voted based on skill in execution of design, technical merit of design, and wearability. Each entrant will receive rights-free, professional photography of their submitted piece that they will then be able to use in their own promotional efforts. The Torch Award winners will receive a cash prize and be featured in Southern Jewelry News and Mid-America Jewelry News.

Richard Melancon entered this beautiful 2 carat total weight diamond cross which exemplifies his love for jewelry that is exquisite as well as multifunctional. As a cross it is a showpiece but with a simply rotationit can be worn 3 additional ways, each spectacular. Each piece of this creation was hand crafted by Richard himself and his Master goldsmith, Kenneth Ray Hardy.

This collaboration of design, gold and two shades of natural diamonds produce a magnificent custom design. It all started with a parcel of natural fancy yellow diamonds that Richard purchased on one of his buying trips. The very best diamonds were hand picked to make a design, but what? A ring, pendant, bracelet or a broach. After a number of sketches, the cross rose to the top of the list. “I had never entered a cross and always wanted to.” Richard said. As in many things the first basic sketch was tweaked into the design that you see today. The actual drawing was replicated in 14 karat white gold with each piece interlocking with each other. The yellow diamonds were set in 18 karat yellow gold mountings to provide an interesting contrast with the white gold and accent the color of the yellow diamonds.

The original design called for a emerald cut yellow diamond in the middle but at the last minute the design was further elevated by placing a very white 0.77 Radiant Cut Diamond in the center. This catapulted the design into a new level of elegance with the fancy yellow of the canary diamonds contrasting to the pristine white of the sculptured cross and the Radiant diamond. Richard commented, “Much to my surprise, near its completion it was discovered that when the cross was positioned upside down or positioned sideways (both ways) it created a beautiful design independent of the cross.” From concept to completion it took approximately 60 hours of work to complete this design. As a tradition, the designers at Melancon Jewelers typically name their designs. The formulation of names come in a number of ways; dedication to a particular person, the look or most often the piece just name themselves. This year Richard could not come up with an inspiration for a name so he opened it up as a contest. Name the design? $100 gift certificate was awarded for the name “Croix du Soleil”- french for Cross of the Sun.

The collaboration of Richard Melancon and Kenneth Ray Hardy is an very important part of what makes Melancon Jewelers special. The love of design and the art of a master goldsmith produced a number of custom design through the years. A small fraction of these designs have been submitted to state and national contest always being a constant winner. In Louisiana they have won more awards for custom jewelry design than any jeweler in the state. They have also won several national contest. A collection of pictures and paraphernalia through out the years has been assembled into a photo book entitled “The Art of Custom Jewelry Design” It showcases most of the design pieces entered into contests since they started competing. A snippet of it can be previewed on their website at Mjewelers.com or in person at Melancon Jewelers.

This year Melancon Jewelers will be celebrating their 30th Anniversary. However between Richard, LaNell and Kenneth they have over 100 years of Design Experience. They have a celebrated past of being voted “Jeweler of the Year” three times by the Jewelers Louisiana Association and locally being voted as “The Best Jewelry Store.”