Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Father’s wisdom takes NM jeweler to fourth generation
    Young Jewelers, a mainstay in downtown Jasper, Alabama for 75 years.
    75 years Young: Strong women always innovating
    An Ocean Full of Diamonds
    RDI Diamonds provides business solutions for independent jewelers
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    jewelers Security Alliance logo
    JSA offers recommendations for what to do in a robbery
    Ethical Metalsmiths announces launch of Grantorship Program
    Jewelers Mutual® Group celebrates 110 years
    Twenty-Four Karat Club New York hosts 120th Annual Banquet
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: Just Say No! If You Can
    The Story Behind the Stone: The Wonder of it All
    Is the customer always right?
    Successful Custom: Stressing the bench jeweler
    The Story Behind the Stone: Diamonds on Pins and Needles
    Jewelry Marketing Survival Guide
    The Story Behind the Stone: Out of the Blue
    What’s Hot Now!: Latest Designer Trends 2023
    A Winning Strategy: How SEO and buying intent can skyrocket your sales
  • 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
    Father’s wisdom takes NM jeweler to fourth generation
    Young Jewelers, a mainstay in downtown Jasper, Alabama for 75 years.
    75 years Young: Strong women always innovating
    An Ocean Full of Diamonds
    RDI Diamonds provides business solutions for independent jewelers
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    jewelers Security Alliance logo
    JSA offers recommendations for what to do in a robbery
    Ethical Metalsmiths announces launch of Grantorship Program
    Jewelers Mutual® Group celebrates 110 years
    Twenty-Four Karat Club New York hosts 120th Annual Banquet
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: Just Say No! If You Can
    The Story Behind the Stone: The Wonder of it All
    Is the customer always right?
    Successful Custom: Stressing the bench jeweler
    The Story Behind the Stone: Diamonds on Pins and Needles
    Jewelry Marketing Survival Guide
    The Story Behind the Stone: Out of the Blue
    What’s Hot Now!: Latest Designer Trends 2023
    A Winning Strategy: How SEO and buying intent can skyrocket your sales
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Latest News Industry Events

MJSA, Columbia Gem House partner on jewelry auction to aid Navajo relief

Online auction will feature this year’s entries in the MJSA Responsible Design Challenge

October 20, 2021
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Reading Time: 5 minutes

MJSA, the trade alliance dedicated to professional excellence in jewelry making and design, and Columbia Gem House, a renowned U.S. supplier of responsibly sourced colored gems, are partnering on a live online auction Nov. 1-7 to benefit the Navajo Nation Community. The auction will feature the custom-designed jewelry entered into this year’s MJSA Responsible Design Challenge (which Columbia Gem House sponsors), and all funds raised will go toward Navajo Nation replenishment following the hardships it experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Held annually, the Challenge has traditionally asked participating designers to render a piece of custom jewelry based on a fictional scenario and featuring select gemstones provided by Columbia Gem House. All entries are showcased on MJSA.org and opened to online voting in October; the winner is announced in the December MJSA Journal, the alliance’s monthly trade publication.

This year’s Challenge story focused on a wedding gift for a Native American woman dedicated to issues affecting indigenous people worldwide. It also had a new twist: Rather than just submitting renderings for the online voting, the designers also created the pieces to then be auctioned. The participating designers are:

Jennifer Dewey of J Dewey Designs in Ridgway, Colorado, whose pin was inspired by the totems that figure so much into Native American culture.
Navajo Dewey

Betty Padilla of Santa Clara, New Mexico. A Navajo, she submitted a sterling necklace with a crescent-shaped “naja” pendant featuring a hogan, the traditional Navajo home.
Navajo Padilla

Helen Chantler of Reflective Jewelry in Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose pendant features a bear and a hummingbird – a symbolic marriage of strength and joy.
Navajo Chantler

Dana Bronfman of New York City, whose pendant arranges the gems in a kaleidoscopic pattern that, she says, is appreciative of Navajo culture.
Navajo Bronfman

Dominique Larson of DAL Art LLC in Chicago, whose necklace incorporates the gems in a way that alludes to the four mountains of the Navajo land and arrowheads.
Navajo Larson

Donna Distefano Thomas of Donna Distefano Ltd. in New York City, who created a necklace with a hanging pendant inspired by the geometric shapes found in Navajo woven blankets.
Navajo Thomas

Columbia Gem House will preview finished pieces, designer spotlights, and host Instagram LIVE events with some of the designers leading up to the auction, beginning Monday, November 1st. To find more information, you can visit www.columbiagemhouse.com and MJSA.org.

Columbia Gem House President Eric Braunwart said: “After years of working together, I have become both personally and professionally invested in our Navajo Nation partners, and the community as a whole. When COVID-19 first hit, we wanted to support any way we could and were thrilled when MJSA was interested in extending the Responsible Design Competition into a fundraising auction for Navajo Nation. This is the first of many we see in the future.”

“We were delighted when Columbia Gem House generously offered to donate the stones for this year’s challenge so that the designers could bring their designs to life and the resulting pieces could be auctioned off to raise money for the Navajo Nation,” says Shawna Kulpa, MJSA’s editorial director. “As an industry, it’s important that we continue finding ways to give back to the communities where we source so many of our materials.”

The auction page can be found at https://columbiagemhouse.com/pages/navajo-relief-auction.

For more information about the MJSA Responsible Design Challenge, visit MJSA.org.

Related Posts

jewelers Security Alliance logo

JSA offers recommendations for what to do in a robbery

March 29, 2023

Ethical Metalsmiths announces launch of Grantorship Program

March 29, 2023

Twenty-Four Karat Club New York hosts 120th Annual Banquet

March 29, 2023

GN Diamond offering creative marketing images

March 29, 2023

Latest News

Featured

Father’s wisdom takes NM jeweler to fourth generation

March 31, 2023
Featured

75 years Young: Strong women always innovating

March 31, 2023
Featured

An Ocean Full of Diamonds

March 31, 2023

Other News

RDI Diamonds provides business solutions for independent jewelers

The Retailer’s Perspective: Just Say No! If You Can

The Story Behind the Stone: The Wonder of it All

JSA offers recommendations for what to do in a robbery

Ethical Metalsmiths announces launch of Grantorship Program

Jewelers Mutual® Group celebrates 110 years

Southern Jewelry News

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2023 Jewelry Trade Shows & Events
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Sitemap
  • Newsletter Signup

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
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.