A pink topaz Belle Époque pendant-brooch and a Victorian Egyptian Revival choker were also highlights at a recent Anderson & Garland sale.
And the New Designer of the Year Award Goes To …
Kathleen Sleigh, who created a mirror-centric line of fine jewelry she’s called Darsana.

New York—A passage in a book and a piece of jewelry made for a milestone birthday served as the inspirations for the winner of this year’s Mort Abelson New Designer of the Year Award.
Named in honor of Abelson, the former show director who came up with the idea for having an area for emerging designers, the award is presented annually at the JA New York show to a designer who’s exhibiting at her or his first jewelry trade show.
This year’s winner was Kathleen Sleigh, the woman behind Darsana. The Chicago-area resident beat out the nine other designers exhibiting at the summer show edition of the New Designer Gallery, which is curated by show consultant Liz Kantner, to win the award.
Sleigh officially launched her line in 2014 but the concept behind it had its genesis in 2012 when her eldest daughter, Lucy, was turning 18.
At the time, Sleigh was reading “The Naked Now” by Richard Rohr and was struck by his description of a walking meditation using a mirror medallion as a way of both receiving and reflecting God’s love and beauty.
“I just thought that was such a beautiful concept,” she said an interview at her booth Monday at the jewelry trade show.
The passage gave Sleigh an idea for a special gift she could give to Lucy.
As a longtime interior designer, she had many pieces of antique mirror lying around her Chicago-area home. She took one piece to her local jeweler and had him make a circular pendant stamped with an eye on one side and set with the antique mirror on the other; it was symbolic of both seeing and reflecting love.
And that was that for two years, until she had an idea that the pendant she had made for Lucy could be a larger business, which is how Darsana—a spiritual term that means “the essence of being beheld in love while beholding with love”—came to be.
Sleigh found a goldsmith and, via her interior design connections, a custom-maker of antique reproduction mirrors in Chicago (using actual antique mirrors was out of the question for a number of reasons, including supply availability, their thickness and the fact that many contain mercury).
She started having pendants made according to her specifications, later adding rings and pieces set with thicker chunks of faceted mirror, specially cut by a gentleman in North Carolina.
Price points
She sells her jewelry both online and via a few retail stores but is looking to add more, which is why she is exhibiting at her first jewelry trade show this summer in New York.

Accepting the Mort Abelson New Designer of the Year Award Monday afternoon, Sleigh said it was “completely unexpected” and complimented the nine other designers exhibiting alongside her in the New Designer Gallery.
“I am blown away by the talent,” she said, adding that her fellow exhibitors were “lovely women” who had “beautiful designs.”
The Mort Abelson New Designer of the Year Award is presented annually at the JA New York Summer show. The award is now in its 41st year.
Past winners include Lori Ann Friedman and Alexis Kletjian, who recently opened her own store in Pennsylvania.
The JA New York Summer show wraps up Tuesday at the Javits Center in New York.
The Latest

The event, which will co-locate with the Monterey Bay Jade Festival, will bring education sessions focused on jade to the United States.

The charm is a celebration of springtime as April showers bring May flowers with the piece’s cluster of diamond raindrops.

Bench jewelers spend years honing their skills, Jewelers of America’s Certification validates their talents.

The National Retail Federation expects retail sales growth to return to pre-pandemic levels as consumers continue to face inflation.


The 4-carat, old mine brilliant-cut diamond engagement ring was co-designed by Willis and New York City-based brand Karina Noel.

Rio Tinto unearthed the diamond at its Diavik mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Natural diamonds mean more than lab-grown, but when every cut is ideal, they all look the same. Customers want more—Facets of Fire delivers.

The multisensory experience, open April 8-13, will feature the brand’s silver creations among dream-like scenes of natural landscapes.

The virtual event will take place April 7 at 3 p.m.

The pieces in “Animali Tarallo” portray animals from stingrays to elephants through portraits and interpretations of their patterns.

Parent company Saks Global said the iconic location will be open through the holiday season as it decides what to do with the space.

Ronald Winston, son of Harry Winston, donated the diamonds to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

The independent jeweler first opened its doors in 1888.

The layoffs come amid the TV shopping channel’s efforts to restructure and focus on live shopping through social media.

The roundtable will take place May 17 ahead of the trade show’s welcome dinner.

The “Peanuts x Monica Rich Kosann” collection features the comic strip’s classic vocabulary across 10 bracelet designs.

Three industry experts dive into the complexities of the material often marketed as an “ethical” alternative for metal in jewelry.

Diamonds are not only one of the most prominent gemstones, but the birthstone for those born in April.

The Utah-based company known for making wedding bands has acquired Doubloon Golf.

The longtime luxury executive led one of LVMH’s watch brands, TAG Heuer, for 12 years before taking over Bulgari in 2013.

Authorities said the robbers fled with jewelry and 70 Rolex watches, later taking pictures of themselves posing with big stacks of cash.

Lotus Gemology founder Richard W. Hughes has translated Heinrich Fischer’s 1880 book “Nephrit und Jadeit” from its original German.

The ring's design features contrasting lines influenced by work from architecture-inspired photographer Nikola Olic.

The Conference Board’s index fell as consumers continued to worry about the impact of tariffs, the labor market, and the price of eggs.

However, two medieval jewels surpassed estimates at Noonans Mayfair’s recent jewelry auction in London.

The Oscar-nominated actor debuted in the campaign for the new “Top Time B31” collection, which introduced Breitling’s Caliber B31.