Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting
    Celebrate with Gold®
    Tracing Diamond’s Origin
    Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    VAHAN launches 2022 campaign – “A Moment for Me”
    FDIC Economist, Dr. LaVaughn Henry to keynote 2022 ASA International Conference
    Michelle Meltesen joins John Atencio Wholesale team
    Kovel Collection introduces Busy Bee designs
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    Motivating your sales staff
    Keys to Effective Communication – Part IV
    The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails
    The Retailer’s Perspective
    The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan
    10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III
    Kate’s star-studded style. What will the next trend be?
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part II
    Retailing in a post-PC world
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting
    Celebrate with Gold®
    Tracing Diamond’s Origin
    Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    VAHAN launches 2022 campaign – “A Moment for Me”
    FDIC Economist, Dr. LaVaughn Henry to keynote 2022 ASA International Conference
    Michelle Meltesen joins John Atencio Wholesale team
    Kovel Collection introduces Busy Bee designs
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    Motivating your sales staff
    Keys to Effective Communication – Part IV
    The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails
    The Retailer’s Perspective
    The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan
    10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III
    Kate’s star-studded style. What will the next trend be?
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part II
    Retailing in a post-PC world
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured Articles Featured

Fit for Miss Denmark: ‘Project of passion’ is the crowning glory for U.S. team

Liz Pinson by Liz Pinson
November 16, 2016
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Crown Mary
Mary van der Aa, the only female member of the crown making team, is charged, among other things, with making the large, intricate crown wearable.
It takes an American village to make a crown for Miss Denmark.

Mary van der Aa, a jewelry designer from Michigan who works mainly in Tucson, Ariz., is part of a talented team creating the crown – a far cry from the “brass and glass” variety. The crown is made of solid sterling silver with 1,400 handset stones including a 4.50ct umbalite garnet in the center, as well as blue topaz and cubic zirconia for spectacular sparkle. It’s a one-of-a-kind regal masterpiece valued at $25,000, fully assembled by hand.

“It’s probably one of the only pageant crowns made of real metal and stones,” Mary says. “It’s a pretty exciting venture for sure! The process started a year ago in July in Denmark. We have 16 different tiers to individually install, and a headband that was done in four pieces. It’s been crazy.

“The weight of it is a factor. Most beauty pageant queens are not substantial-size women, and she’s going to be wearing a 5-pound crown on her head? It was another thing we had to think of, had to do a little trimming here and there. As we learn, we’re making adjustments along the way. We’re perfecting it now, and we’re excited about getting it out to them.

“We’ve never done anything this big before. Of the 1,400 stones, all set by hand, the smallest ones are 2mm, which is small for a bench jeweler. I’m happy other bench jewelers are doing that part! It takes a long time. But it’s coming.”

Crown mermaid sketch
Paul Vermylen III designed and carved a mermaid sitting on a rock for the front of the crown.
Talented Team

Mary, a GIA-trained, independent designer and bench jeweler, has worked closely with Park Avenue Jewelers and Tucson Todd’s Gems, both in Tucson, for five years. Park Avenue Jewelers landed the project via a relative who lives in Denmark. “He was approached with a contract; he called us and said, ‘Do you want to go in on this?’ We said hell yes! Let’s make a crown! So we went over to Denmark and discussed the design and got things under way.”

Mary was honored to do the design. “I’m the only girl on the team, so I’m the one who’s thinking about how Miss Denmark’s hair is going to look in it, how will she be able to secure it to her head – the little details. With a crown this big, you think how do you put it on your head and get it to stay there? I thought we need to install little components on the inside now so she can attach a bobby pin or something. I’ve never been in a beauty pageant myself, never worn a crown, so we’re winging it as we go along!

“A lot of people wouldn’t know what goes into a crown. They wouldn’t think about the tiers, the details, like the beautiful fishtail design. I’ve done a lot of design work in my life but never a crown. But I like to make things that are one of a kind, and I thought if I can do these other things, I can design a crown. I can’t wait to see it on Miss Denmark one day! It’s really cool, a whole other world.”

Crown sketch
The intricate project will incorporate 1400 stones handset in sterling silver.
Hand-Carved Mermaid

While designing the crown, Mary tried to think of symbolic elements special to Denmark. “A big thing for Denmark is The Little Mermaid (a fairytale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen) and I thought it would be a good idea to put a mermaid on the front of the crown,” Mary says. “It’s very tasteful, don’t get me wrong! Our friend Paul does beautiful hand carving in wax. So he designed and carved this beautiful mermaid sitting on a rock, holding a big gemstone that’s red,” a garnet custom-cut by Todd Wacks Jr. of Tucson Todd’s Gems. “It’s the crowning piece of it.”

Here’s the team, as described by Mary:

  • Alive Design, Roskilde, Denmark, Danish representation
  • Mary van der Aa, “Crown Design”, Port Huron, Mich. Full crown design including sketches, development, research, technical aspects and all intellectual property, www.maryvanderaa.com.
  • Paul Vermylen III- From Gems to Jewelry, “Mermaid”, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Design and creation of mermaid including design, lost wax carving, casting, development and finishing, www.paulvermylen.com.
  • Park Avenue Jewelers, “Production”, Tucson, Ariz. Coordination, manufacturing and finished assembly/completion of crown, stone-setting, major funding, www.parkavenuejewelers.com.
  • Tucson Todd’s Gems, “Gemstones”, Tucson, Ariz. All gemstones including custom-cut 4.50ct umbalite garnet center stone, www.pastelpyrope.com.
Crown tiers Crown tiers 1
The crown will contain 16 tiers individually installed and a headband done in 4 pieces.

 

Crown 1 Crown 2 Crown 3

“We’re all aspiring artists, GIA trained,” Mary says of her team. “We all worked really hard on this; it’s been a project of passion for us. It’s huge. We’re hoping that other pageants may want crowns and maybe we can create a bunch of different ones!

“No money is really being made; it’s just an ambitious endeavor. Hopefully, it will pay off in the future. It’s definitely interesting being our first time doing this, with all of the little challenges that arise. We took a little of everyone’s talents together to make something beautiful!”

Mary says the crown should be ready in time for Miss Denmark to wear in next year’s pageant, and pageants beyond. “The crown will be in Denmark 25 years for the pageant, then it may be donated to a museum or come back to the States for display.”

We can’t wait to see the finished piece.

Crown Mary bench
Mary van der Aa jumped at the chance to be part of the team designing and making the crown.
Crown setting
All members of the crown making team are GIA trained “aspiring artists.”

 

Liz Pinson

Liz Pinson

Liz Pinson has worked in journalism and publishing for more than 35 years, including 10 years as a copy editor, page designer and writer with The Charlotte Observer and 15 years as an associate editor with American Media. Liz holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Marshall University and is currently a freelance writer, editor and graphic designer based in Greensboro. She has enjoyed contributing monthly features to Southern Jewelry News and Mid-America Jewelry News since 2009.

Related Posts

Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting

June 30, 2022

Celebrate with Gold®

June 30, 2022

Tracing Diamond’s Origin

June 30, 2022

Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race

June 30, 2022

Latest News

What's New

VAHAN launches 2022 campaign – “A Moment for Me”

July 6, 2022
Columnists

Keys to Effective Communication – Part IV

July 6, 2022
Industry Events

FDIC Economist, Dr. LaVaughn Henry to keynote 2022 ASA International Conference

July 6, 2022

Other News

Michelle Meltesen joins John Atencio Wholesale team

Kovel Collection introduces Busy Bee designs

GN Diamond shares jewelers’ creative marketing tips

Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas

JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels

GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter

Southern Jewelry News

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2022 Trade Shows
  • Media Kit
  • Contact

Get Social with Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Sponsored Content
  • Latest News
    • What’s New
    • Industry Events
    • Tradeshow News
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Furry Friends
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.