Richard Melancon was awarded top Louisiana Jewelry Designer for his creation of “The Phoenix.”

The award was presented at the Jewelers of Louisiana 64th annual convention recently in Baton Rouge.

Jewelers, wholesalers and lectures from across the state and around the nation annually meet to share ideas, attend seminars and compete in the coveted Custom Jewelry Design Contest.

All entries have to be custom made in the jewelers own shop within the last 18 months out of gold, silver or platinum with genuine gemstones and/or diamonds.

There are three categories that all jewelers competed, segregated according to price. Melancon not only won his category but was awarded the Overall Winner for Custom Jewelry Design for Louisiana.

“The Phoenix” started with the center stone, an unusual kite-shaped yellow canary diamond Melancon acquired at a gem show over the summer.
According to Melancon, there was something in the way it was faceted and the rich yellow of the canary diamond that made it stand out.

The actual design of “The Phoenix” starts with a blueprint or sketch of how the piece should look from the top and sides when completed.

Numerous pages of drawings were made. Melancon said it was hard to pick, but the winner was the inverted open shank, centered with tapering diamonds from one side to the other. Hovering above is the yellow kite diamond, outlined by small pave diamonds.

There are two main ways to build a design, according to Melancon, casting and hand fabrication (sometimes a combination of the two).

During casting, the jeweler carves an exact pattern in wax and casts it using the “lost wax casting process” in whatever precious metal wanted.

“The Phoenix” was hand fabricated out of strips of 14-karat white gold and 22-karat yellow gold, along with tiny heads to set the smaller diamonds.

The center of the design was crafted in 22-karat yellow gold to accent the rich yellow of the kite diamond.

The top was manufactured first and then the bottom was done. Carefully, the two were fused together to complete this custom-made piece.

The concept and most initial gold work was done by Melancon.

That work was followed by Goldsmith Kenneth R. Hardy who assembled, set all the diamonds and did all the finishing work.

This is a crucial step to make everything set correctly and look like a masterpiece. Even though the yellow kite diamond was purchased early in the summer, construction did not start till seven days before the contest.
That week was dedicated to its construction, with more than 90 hours of work.

Richard Melancon opened Melancon Jewelers in 1981 in Kaplan after managing a number of Lafayette jewelry stores. In 1984 he opened his second location in Abbeville.

The team of designers and craftsmen at Melancon Jewelers have won more awards for Custom Design Jewelry than any jeweler in the state, Melancon said, something they are very proud of.

At Melancon Jewleers, custom designing is a team effort in many ways.
This team effort is also evident when it comes to the craftsmanship of Kenneth Hardy, Melancon Jeweler’s master jeweler.

Many of the design winners for the past 20 years have been recorded in a book, “The Art of Custom Jewelry Design,” by Melancon Jewelers. It can be previewed here.

“The Phoenix” will represent Louisiana this spring in a national contest promoted by Jewelers of America, which is the national trade association representing 11,000 jewelry stores.

Melancon said, “ I am honored to be selected to represent Louisiana.”

- Original Article Published in the Abbeville Meridional on October 17th, 2009