In The Ultimate Design Contest, contestants will all have the same design challenge but will be judged in four separate categories — one for each available stone set.
Designs will be eliminated through "Top Chef"-style competitive process. Eight selected semifinalists will take the design from rendering to a finished piece of jewelry. From that group, four finalists will have their pieces displayed during The SMART Jewelry Show for final judging and a popular vote by show attendees.
Competitors will design and fabricate a women’s engagement ring containing a choice of center and accent stones provided by Stuller.
Finalists Selected!
Stone Set 1Deric Metzger of DeMer Jewelry in Oceanside, CA. 
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Stone Set 2Tom Linenberger of Goldworks in Fort Collins, CO. 
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Stone Set 3Charlie Herner of Green Lake Jewelry Works in Seattle, WA. 
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Stone Set 4Deric Metzger of DeMer Jewelry in Oceanside, CA. 
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What's next
Completion of Judging – The SMART Jewelry Show
Show attendees will be asked to cast a vote for the overall winner. Votes will also determine a winner in each of the categories. The Overall Champion is determined by a combination of the judges’ pre-show selection of finalists and the show-attendee vote.Completion: Contest winner will be announced at 1 PM, Monday, April 23, 2012, the final day of The SMART Jewelry Show.
Trophies will be provided for:
- First place: Stone Set 1
- First place: Stone Set 2
- First place: Stone Set 3
- First place: Stone Set 4
- Overall Champion
Completed items are property of the designer at the conclusion of The SMART Jewelry Show.
The Overall Champion will have their winning design featured on a future cover of INSTORE magazine.
Judges
Joel McFadden
Joel McFadden DesignsJoel McFadden is a third-generation jeweler, born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. He learned to be a bench jeweler under the tutelage of his grandfather and the other old-time jewelers in Charleston and from there began working as a journeyman throughout the South. Since then, he has operated his own trade shop, a large-scale retail jewelry store, and more recently, a custom-design jewelry boutique in Red Bank, NJ. He has written a monthly bench tip column for INSTORE magazine, and regularly teaches at the Bench Jewelers' Conference.
Brett Northcutt
StullerWith more than 29 years of experience in jewelry manufacturing, Brett Northcutt serves as Stuller’s Director of CAM Services Manufacturing. A believer in the importance of CAD/CAM technology and its influence in the jewelry industry, Brett leads a team of talented professionals that provide custom jewelry manufacturing from CAD designs.
Brett has been involved in the jewelry industry since his high school days when an art teacher first introduced him to jewelry making. He attended Paris Junior College and studied in the Jewelry Arts Program. During that time, he worked as a custom bench jeweler until joining Stuller in 1991.
Prior to joining Stuller’s CAD/CAM division, Brett started as the company’s first stone setter where he developed the department to support Stuller Studio—a web-based jewelry customization tool developed by the manufacturer in 1995. Now in Stuller’s CAM Services Department, Brett enjoys the challenge of transforming CAD designs into beautiful, finished works of art.
Norman M. Miller
Martha Stewart Living OmnimediaNorman M. Miller is Integrated Sales Director at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. His jewelry industry affiliation dates back to 1980 when he began his career as an editorial intern at National Jeweler Magazine.
Making the switch to advertising sales for National Jeweler in 1985 (he decided the ad folks dressed better), Miller went on to hold positions at Vogue, GQ, W, Gourmet, The New Yorker, Playbill, Marie Claire and at Hearst Integrated Media.
No matter what the job, it always circled back and revolved around his passion for jewelry, watches and the people in the industry he considers himself lucky enough to have worked with through the years.
Miller lives in Manhattan and Wallkill, NY, with his husband Lee.
