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• wisepowder jack

  

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  December 27, 2021 5:06 AM EET

  Colorado Springs jewelry designer accepted into Natural Diamond Council program

   

  After Ruben Manuel's seventh layoff in the tech industry in 2005, he threw a cocktail party as a celebration of endurance.During the festivities, a friend posed a question that unraveled his life: "What would you do if you could?"To get more news about best jewelry designers, you can visit jewelryhunt.net official website.

  "I said I thought I could always be a designer of some kind, but so does every gay man I know," said Manuel, while sitting in his exquisitely decorated backyard, visible proof of his flair for design. "I never really thought of that as much of a career. My background didn't support that at all."Being as he had no day job to worry about, along with a severance package to fall back on, Manuel decided to try his hand at designing fine, high-end jewelry for men and women. His intuition was spot on - design was definitely in his blood, and now it's been further confirmed. Manuel, founder of Ruben Manuel Designs, was recently selected by the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) to be one of six U.S. jewelry designers in its two-year Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative program.
  
  The opportunity offers up-and-coming Black, Indigenous and people of color jewelry designers access to industry education and resources; it comes with marketing and promotional help, including a mentor, and $20,000 in loans to diamond dealers. This allows designers, who typically purchase their stones up front, to use a line of revolving credit to buy stones for their creations.

  "Ruben Manuel's custom designs are both sophisticated and daring, and sure to bring a smile with their undeniably fun and joyful elements," an NDC press release said.

  With this recognition, a whole new audience will feast its collective eyes upon Manuel's work, including national retailers, celebrities and other well-to-do folks across the country. His greatest hope is to find a steady revenue stream so he's free to do what he loves best - make custom works for clients. One avenue might be having a design line picked up for the mass market. He has an idea, titled "Read Between the Lines." It involves a gold or silver pendant studded with diamonds in such a way that reads "I love you."
  Beyoncé would be a really good one," Manuel said. "Eva Longoria would be a great ambassador for my stuff."

  His work is simple, but bold. The more color, the better. Favorite stones include citrine, in yellow, brown and orange colors; topaz, notably red topaz; amethyst; tsavorite garnets; sapphires and rubies. And he focuses on working in silver due to his Hispanic and Native American background, with the hopes of elevating the perception of the metal, he said.And yes, he dabbles in diamonds, especially now, due to his new alliance with the NDC, which recommends only conflict-free diamond suppliers to its designers. But instead of the usual transparent diamonds most of us are accustomed to, Manuel will use colored diamonds. They develop similarly to regular diamonds, but with the presence of minerals and particulates, including nitrogen, sulphur and boron, during the crystallization process, beautiful shades of red, pink, yellow, orange, green and blue can result.

  I do very colorful, showy pieces," he said. "My customers don't mind being the center of attention, and sometimes they crave it. The pieces fit in line with that."

  Mari Sinton-Martinez first met Manuel and his pieces at a show he hosted in his home 15 years ago. Since then, he's custom-designed about 10 pieces for her, her favorite of which was a full set of turquoise and citrine earrings, necklace and ring.

  "A lot of his pieces are so unique that they are a statement piece," Sinton-Martinez said. "They're not something you'd see at any other jewelry store, and not like hundreds made on the assembly line."