Smith recalls a bit of wisdom the industry leader, who died last week, shared at a diamond conference years ago.
Ylang 23 Brings Back ‘The Next Now,’ Right Now
The Dallas jeweler and TrendSeeder have put out a call for emerging jewelry designers to enter the second edition of the competition.

Dallas--Ylang 23 and TrendSeeder are bringing back “The Next Now,” the competition for emerging jewelry designers they launched last year.
The purpose of the competition is to help retailers identify up-and-coming designer jewelry brands that possess both originality and saleability while the same time providing mentorship and a boost for the winning designer.
Kirsty Stone of Retrouvaí was the winner of the inaugural Next Now, which took place last August.
Jewelry designers who have not displayed their collections at numerous trade shows in the past or who have not been sold in Barneys or at Ylang 23 are eligible to enter the contest.
Applications are available now on TheNextNow.us.
The deadline is April 18 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The entrance fee is $99 but that does not guarantee admission into the next round of the competition, the in-person judging.
From those who apply, between 25 and 30 designers will be selected to present their work in front of a panel of judges on April 26 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at Tumblr’s corporate headquarters, 35 E. 21 St. in New York.
This year’s judges are: Ylang 23’s Joanne Teichman; Marina Larroude, the fashion director at Barneys; Gabrielle De Papp, former senior vice president of brand development at Farfetch; David Rees, founder of Ten Thousand Things; jewelry designer Melissa Joy Manning; Sapna Shah, founder of Red Giraffe Advisors; Sam Broekema, the accessories director at InStyle; and TrendSeeder founder Avani Patel.
The winner of the 2017 version of The Next Now will receive a presentation in front of the Barneys jewelry buying team; online presentation, presence and promotion of consigned merchandise on Ylang 23’s website, with the possibility of a purchase order and long-term relationships; a total of 30 mentorship hours from Teichman, Larroude and Rees; and a one-year, tier II membership to TrendSeeder, a company that focuses on mentoring emerging brands in fashion.
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