On July 9, 2026, in the midst of Paris Haute Couture Week, Kering\u2019s Paris headquarters hosted the second edition of the Kering Generation Award X Jewelry. Behind this somewhat technocratic name lies a much more concrete question: what will sustainable jewelry look like in ten years, and who\u2014students or startups\u2014will be the first to invent it?<\/p>\n\n
The setting matters. It wasn\u2019t in a startup incubator but at Kering Group headquarters\u2014between two Haute Couture Week events\u2014that forty-four project leaders, students, and startups from ten universities and academies around the world gathered. Launched in China in 2018 to support local startups developing sustainable materials and processes, the Kering Generation Award has since expanded to several regions, including Saudi Arabia and Japan. Since 2024, the Kering Group has chosen to open the competition to the jewelry sector, an industry where issues of traceability and environmental impact remain particularly sensitive.<\/p>\n\n
The jury, chaired by Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering\u2019s Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer, and Gaetano Cavalieri, President of the World Jewelry Confederation (CIBJO), selected two winners with radically different approaches. In the student category, Yang Yuchan from China won the prize with \u201cPerching Willow,\u201d a piece that transforms discarded CDs into fine jewelry using time-honored techniques: traditional Chinese lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay in the style of classical marquetry, recreating the natural iridescence of mother-of-pearl using recycled materials. This approach reconciles electronic waste with centuries-old craftsmanship, without ever coming across as a gimmick.<\/p>\n\n
In the startup category, the French company GeoGems, with its OriGems project, was recognized. Its proposal is less visually spectacular but just as strategic: a scientifically verifiable method for identifying the geographic origin of gemstones, addressing a persistent blind spot in the jewelry supply chain\u2014that of traceability. Two winners, two time frames: one reinvents the artisanal craft, the other provides the tools for scientific proof. Together, they represent the two sides of the same requirement\u2014one that the luxury industry can no longer treat as merely an added touch of soul.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe success of our Kering Generation Award X Jewelry demonstrates just how ready the new generation is to reinvent sustainable jewelry,\u201d Marie-Claire Daveu emphasized following the ceremony, noting that the student winner will receive a six-month internship at Pomellato, the group\u2019s jewelry house, while the winner of the startup category will receive mentorship from experts at the Politecnico di Milano, the competition\u2019s scientific partner. This is a way for a group that already owns Boucheron and Pomellato to secure early access to the ideas\u2014and talent\u2014that will shape the next decade of fine jewelry.<\/p>\n\n
One question remains\u2014less commercial, more cultural: Can this type of award, however well-conceived it may be, truly permeate the workshops of historic fashion houses, or will it remain a virtuous public relations exercise on the fringes of the system? The answer will likely be found in the upcoming collections of the fashion houses in question, rather than in ceremonial speeches.<\/p>\n\n
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