Couture’s Design Atelier is a curated section of up-and-coming jewelry designers who may exhibit there for up to three years. Pictured here, from left to right, are Itä’s “Aguaviva” tassel pendant ($2,850), Ashaha’s “Anzar” cuff ($27,500), and Cultus Artem’s “Quetzal” ring ($24,850)
Las Vegas—At this year’s Las Vegas Jewelry Market Week, the new exhibitors in Couture’s Design Atelier are bringing their best.
The Design Atelier is a curated section of up-and-coming jewelry designers who have been in the business for two to eight years.
It is located in the sun-filled corridor just outside the main ballroom.
Emerging designers can exhibit in this section for up to three years before graduating to the salons or villas.
There are 17 brands new to the Design Atelier this year.
They are: Ashaha, Ashna Mehta, Baetyl Fine Jewelry, Camille Beinhorn, Clara Chehab, Cultus Artem, Daniel Yu Jewelry, Dorothee Potocka, Itä, Jack Ferrero, Juliana Xerez Fine Jewelry, Orly Marcel, Pen Mané, Shola Branson, U Los Angeles, Yé Brand, and 12th House.
Here is an introduction to this year’s newcomers.
Ashaha’s “Anzar” cuff featuring a white opal and diamonds set in 18-karat yellow gold over plexiglass ($27,500)
Ashaha is a brand rooted in creating pieces with a bold identity that combines traditional craftsmanship with unexpected materials and contemporary design.
It was founded in Paris four years ago by designer Oumaima Benharbit, who exhibited in a multi-brand showroom at Couture in 2024 and took home a Couture Design Award for the “Shiraz” choker.
However, this will be the brand’s first year in the Design Atelier.
Benharbit draws inspiration from Amazigh culture of North Africa, vintage jewelry from the ‘70s, and bold feminine energy, blending heritage with contemporary and artistic designs.
“Architecture, body movement, symbolism, and unexpected contrasts between materials also play an important role in the creative process,” added Benharbit.
The brand will be showcasing its “Shiraz,” “Unzi,” “Plexiglass,” “Ashams,” and “Amazigh” collections at Couture, with an emphasis on its “Anzar” plexiglass cuff that embodies Ashaha’s vision of innovation and craftsmanship.
Ashna Mehta’s “Gilded Bloom” haute bag bijoux features a 36.89-carat fancy intense yellow diamond surrounded by kite- and rose-cut diamonds in 18-karat white gold (price upon request). It can be worn as a high jewelry brooch, pendant, or bag charm.
Founder Ashna Mehta officially launched her eponymous brand in 2022, the same year she created her “Barbie” pendant, which was later displayed at the American Museum of Natural History’s 2024 exhibition, “Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry.”
While the brand is based in Dubai, Mehta grew up in the United States and spent a significant amount of time in Europe and India, which influences her work with a blend of cultures, aesthetics, and experiences.
Mehta started her brand with the task of redefining the landscape of modern jewelry, she said, and has rooted her work in exceptional stones, uncompromising craftsmanship, and a sense of playfulness in design.
Working alongside her sister Aria, the designer’s pieces start as designs they would want to wear and are imbued with expressions of identity, memory, and individuality.
The brand’s innovation can be seen through the high jewelry “Bag Bijoux” collection of pieces that transform into a brooch, pendant, or bag charm.
“Showcasing at Couture feels like performing at Coachella for the jewelry world,” said Mehta.
Baetyl Fine Jewelry’s earrings from the “Linear” collection showcasing 2.76 carats of green tourmaline accented by diamonds in 14-karat white gold ($7,000)
Generational jeweler Lorien Yonker began creating jewelry in 2020 after not being able to find stud-cut designs on the market.
In 2024, Yonker founded Baetyl Fine Jewelry in Chicago and named the brand after the ancient word for sacred stones, as colored gemstones are at the heart of her designs.
With a background in fine art, Yonker’s jewelry uses the same principles of color, light, and movement that define an artistic masterpiece.
Yonker describes her work as “punk rock Audrey Hepburn,” as it leans edgy while retaining a timeless elegance.
At Couture, Baetyl Fine Jewelry will showcase everyday pieces like its signets and stud-cut cigar bands as well as statement pieces, like its 136-carat grass-green peridot rivière and the new “Linear” collection of vivid colored gemstone pieces that are a modern take on old Hollywood glamour.
Camille Beinhorn’s “Infiniti” ring showcasing a 4.09-carat lilac grey spinel accented by 2.76 carats of antique old mine-cut champagne diamonds in 22-karat yellow gold ($24,000)
Camille Beinhorn launched her eponymous brand in Los Angeles in 2023, drawing from ancient goldsmithing techniques to create her hand-fabricated 22-karat gold offerings.
“I’m more interested in the space between what feels old-world and what feels immediate—I want to create work that’s aware of history but also has a distinct point of view in the present,” said Beinhorn.
Inspired by gemstones, her designs often start with material, as she’s drawn to color, optical phenomena, and the way stones interact with light.
From her brand, you can expect distinctive gemstones, antique diamonds, and unique pearls.
Beinhorn recently launched a bridal collection that will be exhibited at Couture, alongside one-of-a-kind pieces and her latest collection, which is slated to debut at the show.
This new collection expands on core styles and silhouettes, like her handwoven chains and “Rani” earrings, with a palette of gemstones and techniques like Rawa granulation explored in new ways.
Clara Chehab’s “Liberté” rectangular hooked chain in 18-karat yellow gold with diamonds styled with a medium “Liberté” rope charm featuring a rough green tourmaline and diamonds in 18-karat yellow gold (left) and a small “Liberté” charm showcasing pink tourmaline and diamonds in 18-karat yellow gold (price upon request)
If you’re looking for a brand rooted in the use of colored gemstones, Clara Chehab is for you.
Based in Beirut, Chehab launched her eponymous brand at Paris Fashion Week in 2023.
Her sculptural pieces balance playfulness with sophistication and are timeless yet personal as they are meant to be worn, loved, and passed on.
Chehab’s draws inspiration from every stage of life and the emotions that come with it, as well as Mother Earth, she said, which is reflected in the raw beauty, texture, and depth of the gems she works with.
Most often, she’s drawn to asymmetrical and imperfect stones for their individuality, inclusion, and quiet strength.
“To me, every stone feels alive, each creation becomes a modern heirloom shaped by emotion, instinct, and craftsmanship,” said Chehab.
The new “Liberté” collection is slated to debut at Couture, a charm collection featuring cabochons, tumbled stones, half-moon silhouettes, and threads of 18-karat gold set with pavé diamonds.
The collection captures a softer, more expressive side of the brand while still reflecting its signature use of colored gemstones, movement, and craftsmanship.
Cultus Artem’s “Quetzal” ring featuring tsavorite garnet, indicolite tourmalines, marquise-cut rubies, and blue-green color-change garnets in 18-karat yellow gold ($24,850)
Holly Tupper first established her company in Singapore in the 1990s after taking classes at Ed Ng’s School of Jewelry Arts, but it wasn’t until she moved to San Antonio, Texas, in 2015 that she rebranded it to Cultus Artem.
In addition to art-forward, independent fine jewelry, the brand also offers luxury fragrance and skincare.
“Cultus Artem exists within a broader philosophy—one where the rituals of scent, touch, and adornment come together as a complete sensory experience,” said Tupper.
Through jewelry, she seeks to reveal the beauty and unique character of gems and present them in a new light, which can be seen in the interplay of color, texture, and form.
Tupper will be exhibiting the brand’s three core collections, “Through Paradox,” “The Flats,” and “The Essentials.” In all three, she showcases how traditional, time-intensive techniques transform rare and precious metals into distinctive sensorial compositions.
She’s looking forward to showing the “Quetzal” ring (seen above), which references the Central American Quetzal bird with iridescent blue-green plumage and a crimson breast through richly hued gemstones.
Daniel Yu Jewelry’s “Guardian Dragon” ring featuring sapphires and diamonds in 18-karat white gold ($12,000)
Founder Daniel Yu launched Daniel Yu Jewelry in 2023 after transitioning from architecture to jewelry design, but the former greatly influences his work.
“I think of jewelry as architecture at an intimate scale—a building holds the body, a jewel holds the inner world,” explained Yu.
Yu’s work is also shaped by his time living between China and the U.S., not as a fusion of East and West, he said, but the tension of belonging to both and neither.
His sculptural pieces are imbued with memory, protection, movement, and belonging.
At Couture, Daniel Yu Jewelry will be showcasing four collections, “Stream,” “Guardian,” “Momentum,” and “Orbit,” which represent flow, protection, velocity, and gravity, respectively.
Stop by the brand’s booth to see the piece Yu is most excited to showcase, the “Guardian Dragon” ring which positions the mythological figure as a protective structure built around the body.
Dorothée Potocka’s one-of-a-kind “Step Into A Fairy Tale” bracelet depicting a forest in 18-karat yellow and white gold with 1.76 carats of diamonds (price upon request)
Dorothée Potocka founded her namesake brand in Paris in 2019.
Her work is rooted in a personal search for what remains true beneath the constantly changing structures of society, culture, and time, with jewelry as the language to explore the meeting point between matter and consciousness.
Potocka draws inspiration from materials themselves and the worlds that contain them—geological time, mythology, spirituality, craftsmanship, memory, and human projection across centuries.
Ancient cultures, antiquity, and the Renaissance also inspire her work as moments where humanity attempted to bring itself closer to something fundamental and universal through creation.
Rather than work in traditional collections, her brand creates organically through dialogue, she said, dialogues between the object and the person, memory and matter, craftsmanship and transmission.
She uses a range of materials, primarily working in 18- or 22-karat yellow gold combined with diamond, hard stones, and colored gemstones like lapis lazuli, turquoise, coral, pearls, wood, chrysoprase, emeralds, and sapphires.
These precious materials are also often used alongside historical savoir-faire, including Pietra dura, cameos, lace, miniature paintings, and hand carvings.
For Couture, Potocka said she hopes to “continue building a space where jewelry can be approached not only as luxury or ornament, but as something capable of reminding us of deeper truths, and our relationship to something greater than ourselves.”
Related stories will be right here …
Itä’s “Aguaviva” tassel pendant features strands of raw rubies hanging from 14-karat yellow gold holder engraved with a “Caona” pattern and a diamond pavè bale ($2,850)
Itä is a brand shaped by friendship, travel, storytelling, and the exchange of cultures, realized through pieces that feel joyful, playful, and colorful.
Co-founded by friends Inés Capó and Afet Burcu Salargil in 2019, the brand bridges their heritages, as it is based in San Juan and Istanbul.
Their designs draw heavily from their respective cultures and heritage, with inspiration coming from artifacts, nature, and history.
This can be seen through the use of motifs including the Taíno spirit Atabey, Puerto Rico’s coquí frog, and its “Txirimiri” design referencing Caribbean and Turkish pottery.
“You can expect pieces with a strong point of view, rich narrative, and thoughtful craftsmanship—jewelry that feels personal, distinctive, and meant to be discovered over time,” said Capó and Salargil.
At Couture, Itä will display its new capsule collection.
However, Capó and Salargil are most excited for attendees to try on the two new versions of their “Yarí Whirl” ring.
Jack Ferrero’s “Pomegranate of the Sacred Garden” ring in 18-karat yellow gold with hand-painted hot enamel and 3 carats of vivid rubies ($45,000)
For the second time at Couture, but first time in the Design Atelier, Jack Ferrero is showcasing its bold, artistic offerings that blend fine jewelry and art objects.
Founder and head designer Arman Agekyan is inspired by art, architecture, mythology, nature, ancient symbolism, and human emotion. His pieces are objects that carry meaning and history.
“Every piece begins with a story or symbol and evolves into a collectible jewel through color, texture, enamel, and gemstone composition,” said Agekyan.
The Los Angeles-based brand was founded in 2020, and earlier this month, it won a CASE Award for its “Pomegranate of the Sacred Garden” ring.
The ring symbolizes abundance, life, and sacred feminine energy, which reflects the brand’s emotional storytelling and craftsmanship.
Also at Couture, the brand will showcase a selection of its one-of-a-kind high jewelry pieces from its storytelling collections and highlights of its signature miniature wearable works of art that use hand-painted hot enamel, sculptural gold, and gemstones.
Orly Marcel’s one-of-a-kind “Bliss” cocktail ring showcasing a 14.4-carat citrine accented by 0.40 carats of orange sapphire and 0.30 carats of diamonds in 18-karat yellow gold (price upon request)
Based in Denver, Colorado, Orly Marcel is the culmination of founder and designer Orly Eisbart’s work throughout her life and is always evolving, although she officially launched the brand about five years ago.
This will be the brand’s second time at Couture but first time in the Design Atelier.
For her designs, Eisbart is inspired by travel, art, architecture, nature, and her spiritual practice.
She grew up around design and jewelry, which left a profound influence on her and led to the name of her brand, as her father, Marcel, was also a jewelry designer.
“There will always be a deeper meaning and intention behind each collection—something rooted in connection, symbolism, and emotion,” said Eisbart.
Eisbart will be debuting her new “Dome” collection at Couture alongside Orly Marcel’s bestselling pieces like the “Bliss” cocktail ring (seen above) that embodies the color, texture, and spirit of the “Bliss” collection.
If you’re looking for sculptural forms and hand-cut stone inlay, stop by Orly Marcel’s booth.
Pen Mané’s “Crash Flottée” bangle featuring diamonds in rhodium-plated 18-karat gold (price upon request)
Pen Mané is the culmination of a 14-year shared journey between co-founder Calvin Wang and creative designer Vincent Guy-Raffin. They founded their brand last year.
The brand has a dual presence, with its studio and operations based in Hong Kong while its creative soul and artistic heartbeat is deeply rooted in France, it said.
Its designs are organic and somewhat asymmetrical with intentional matte finishes that are designed to be naturally polished by the wearer’s skin over time, so every piece has a truly unique patina.
“Beneath this organic exterior, we bring the rigorous engineering of high jewelry into fine jewelry,” said Guy-Raffin.
His inspiration comes from the brand’s namesake, the house of Pen Mané—a family home on the Bretagne coast of France that was Guy-Raffin’s childhood “happy place.” It serves as a constant, emotional anchor for his designs, from the architecture to the nature surrounding it.
At Couture, Pen Mané will be debuting its first 18-karat gold collection, “The Wild Coast,” that looks to the rugged sea cliffs of Bretagne and is a tribute to the power of resilience.
However, Guy-Raffin is most excited to showcase the “Crash Flottée” bangle (seen above) for its unique design engineered to make the center diamond appear to be floating between golden cracks.
U Los Angeles’ “The Sunset Core” band in 18-karat yellow gold with diamonds totaling 1.55 carats ($8,000)
Garen Yessayan founded U Los Angeles in late 2021 and, as one might suspect from the brand’s name, it is based in Los Angeles.
Yessayan’s designs take inspiration from the city’s culture and individuality, which transform into pieces that can be worn from day to night.
For the brand’s second time at Couture, but first time in the Design Atelier, he will be showcasing the “Signature U” collection. It is divided into the “U Stone” and “U Baguette” collections centering on hardstones like onyx, turquoise, malachite, coral, and lapis and white diamonds, respectively.
Yessayan said he is most excited for attendees to explore the new “Sunset” collection at the show, since it will be the first time it is seen in person.
The collection looks to the energy and vibrancy of Sunset Boulevard, and like all of U Los Angeles’ offerings, it features modern designs that feel expressive, wearable, and rooted in quality craftsmanship.
Born and raised in New York City, designer Mona Ye officially launched Yé Brand in 2023 with the city ingrained in its DNA.
Her designs are guided by intuition and the study of pure and free-flowing shapes, as she looks to nature and art for inspiration.
“I gravitate towards exploring the quiet intimacy between the two concepts and discovering different ideas and perspectives that, in turn, bring an element of history and legitimacy to our pieces,” said Ye.
The “Flourish & Flair” collection is slated to debut at Couture, with the “Flair” earrings being Ye’s favorite piece, alongside new additions to the brand’s “Drift” and “Contour” collections.
For sculptural pieces that are classic yet display modern elements, stop by Yé Brand’s booth.
Ye said, “It’s always been a dream of mine to debut and become part of this amazing group of people who really are masters of their professions.”
12th House’s “Wishkeeper” pendulum vessel is a sculptural locket crafted in 18-karat yellow gold with diamond accents (price upon request)
Designer Kelly Lannen is a classically trained artist who worked as a professional sculptor before founding 12th House in New York City in 2020.
12th House is irreverently magical, intimate, bold, and kinetic, said Lannen. It evokes intention and desire, inspiring beauty and collecting meaning over time.
Since Lannen started as a trained artist, she is inspired by the tradition of fine arts, the visual symbols that repeat over time, and the place art comes from within the artist, as they are all connected to the subconscious.
“I think about color, form, and weight when I’m creating—and I’m particularly drawn to the symbolic language of spiritual paintings,” said Lannen.
At Couture, her brand will be showcasing the “Pendulum Vessel” collection of sculptural lockets that feature a secret chamber created to hold something personal. This includes the piece Lannen is most excited to show, her “Wishkeeper” pendulum vessel (seen above), designed to hold a fragrance, a wish, or a spark of magic.
It will also show the “Midheaven” collection featuring the brand’s signature motif and its new “Midheaven” chains, as well as its “Ouroboros” amulets set with one-of-a-kind gemstones.
