Our Pieces of the Week honor the 2026 nominees for the Gem Award for Jewelry Design, Silvia Furmanovich, Cece Fein-Hughes, and Catherine Sarr.
Responsible Jewelry Conf. Returning to Chicago This Fall
The event is slated for Oct. 19 and 20 at Columbia College Chicago’s Film Row Cinema.
Chicago--The Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference is returning this fall with a new schedule of speakers.
The event is slated for Oct. 19 and 20 at Columbia College Chicago’s Film Row Cinema on Wabash Avenue.
This year’s event aims to attract attendees and feature speakers across various sectors of the industry, from large corporations to NGOs, miners, gem cutters, gem and diamond dealers, designers, retailers, consultants and more.
It will be emceed by Andrea Hill of Hill Management Group.
The keynote speaker will be Mark Hanna, CMO of the Richline Group. He will share developments regarding Trust Chain, the cross-industry blockchain initiative on which Richline has partnered.
The closing speaker will be gemstone sector veteran Yianna Melas, a pioneer in the responsible sourcing arena who held a hunger strike in Geneva last year to help raise awareness around Angolan mining.
Other participants include Eric Braunwart of Columbia Gem House, Cristina Villegas of NGO PactWorld, the GIA’s Robert Weldon and Dorothee Gizenga of the Diamond Development Initiative.
Jewelry designer Susan Wheeler is the founder of The Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference. Ethical Metalsmiths is a partner in the conference.
For more information or to register for the event, visit ChiResponsibleJewelryConference.com.
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