Kering, in collaboration with CIBJO – the World Jewellery Confederation – and with scientific coordination by Poli.Design at Politecnico di Milano, has announced the winners of the Kering Generation Award x Jewelry. The initiative was launched to promote innovation and support sustainable practices in the jewelry sector.

Centered around the theme “Second Chance, First Choice,” the competition invited students from 10 world-renowned universities and academies specializing in jewelry and sustainability, as well as established startups, both students and startups to rethink waste as a resource, encouraging the transformation of discarded materials into meaningful and desirable jewelry.

This inaugural edition underscores the creative and sustainable potential of reuse in redefining the future of the industry. Among the jury members: Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault, Marie-Claire Daveu, and the three CEOs of Kering jewelry houses (Boucheron, Pomellato, Qeelin).

The Winners:

Student Prize: Lee Min Seo, Hongik University, Korea
Lee Min Seo made a collection from discarded leather of a traditional Korean percussion instrument, the jang-gu (drum), to promote cultural preservation. Lee Min Seo will be the voice of Hongik University, showing her reimagination of Korean music with her project, Rhythm Reborn.

Start-up Prize: Lanyan, China
Lanyan is a Chinese brand highlighting fractured opals and unusual stones through its collections, often overlooked in conventional jewelry for their raw beauty. The brand promotes a circular economy by choosing imperfect gems to revive traditional values and give new life to materials through craftsmanship and by designing each piece to be repaired, transformed, or recomposed.

Photo: Lee Min Seo