Jamie Dunton and Gabriella Botelho are the first graduates of the program, created by the WJA Foundation and Julius Klein Diamonds.
Guy Bedarida leaves John Hardy
The designer and creative director has parted ways with the Bali-based luxury brand he has worked with since 1998.
New York--Guy Bedarida, designer and creative director of John Hardy since 1998, has left the company.
The move comes as part of a mutual agreement between Bedarida and the brand, which was acquired by private equity firm Catterton last year, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
Bedarida stayed on with the company in Bali after the deal to help with the transition, but now Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti, founder of Vivre magazine, will help “execute John Hardy product for the next few seasons” until they name a new creative director, WWD reports. Jeanbart-Lorenzotti was brought into the fold last October, collaborating with Bedarida on the last two collections.
National Jeweler was not able to get confirmation on the details of the departure before press time.
Bedarida reportedly will be turning his design focus to high-end gemstone jewelry, and he told WWD that he currently is working on a new, undisclosed project that will keep him in the U.S. more often than before.
He has been with John Hardy for 16 years, joining the company when its namesake founder was still in charge.
Before he started at John Hardy, Bedarida worked with a number of other well-known fine jewelry companies, including Van Cleef & Arpels and Boucheron.
In 2007, Hardy sold his business to Bedarida and Damien Dernoncourt, who was the CEO. The two shared ownership of the brand with another private equity firm, 3i.
After the Catterton purchase, Dernoncourt remained on board as non-executive chairman, while Catterton brought in former American Eagle chief Robert Hanson as the new CEO.
John Hardy jewelry is sold in more than 600 retail locations worldwide, in department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, and by independent jewelers.
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