Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design


Gianmaria Buccellati hand sketching a jewelry design on paper.

The Gianmaria Buccellati Award for Excellence in Design was established in partnership with the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation in 2018 to recognize outstanding talent in design among GIA students globally. Every year over 200 students’ work is reviewed and recognized by peers, faculty, and ultimately by a panel of distinguished judges to determine an awardee. A student exhibition of finalists will be organized and displayed in Tucson and New York. 

How to Qualify for the Award

The annual competition is open to all students who successfully complete the GIA Jewelry Design course within the same calendar year. All submissions are original hand-rendered works painted according to GIA’s Jewelry Design curriculum and completed during the course.

To learn more about the GIA Jewelry Design course, contact us.

Past Winners

<strong>2022 Winner</strong> Design by Sara Guergova, a graduate of the GIA Jewelry Design course in London, UK – “Swans represent togetherness and loyalty, and during the time of designing this bracelet, I felt those themes needed to shown the most.”. The bracelet design features gold, diamond, ruby, sapphire, tourmaline, onyx and enamel.

Watch the interview with 2020 award winner, Belle Sin Ting Wong.

About the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation

The Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2008 that aims to conserve and celebrate the extraordinary artistic and cultural legacy of Gianmaria Buccellati and his father Mario. Gianmaria’s work has been honored with major awards from both the Italian and the French governments. He has been featured in exhibitions around the world including at the Smithsonian, the San Francisco Academy of Science, the Royal Ontario Museum and many others.  His work is also in the permanent collections of The Pitti Palace, The Smithsonian and the Kremlin museums. The foundation, in addition to supporting young aspiring designers and goldsmiths, also publishes books and continues to present exhibitions of Gianmaria’s work around the world.