THE COMPETITION FOR ALL BUDDING TALENT
Motto 2025: “The magic of tourmaline – a gemstone at the heart of creation”
Of course, our young talent competition will also be a highlight in 2025:
THE GOLDEN NOVA has been offering participants a fantastic opportunity for years to showcase their creations to a broad trade audience and to make a successful entry into the industry. The competition also offers high-quality advertising opportunities and numerous industry contacts.
Young designers, students, apprentices and graduates, start-ups, newcomers and career changers as well as all other up-and-coming talent were once again cordially invited to apply for the GOLDEN NOVA 2025.
Our high-caliber jury of experts will nominate 10 creations from all entries, which will be presented in a special area during the INOVA COLLECTION from 29 – 31 August 2025. The top three winners will be selected on-site by our jury and can look forward to receiving high-quality cash and material prizes from our sponsoring partners.
In addition to the jury awards, our trade audience will vote for their favorite during the INOVA COLLECTION. The winner of the Audience Award will have the opportunity to present their work in a complimentary exhibition space at the INOVA COLLECTION 2026.
From March 2025, all participants can register for the GOLDEN NOVA 2025 via our online form.
The application deadline is 30 June 2025.
Entry criteria – requirements for your participation
- The contest is aimed at new talents. In this context, all young designers, students, apprentices and graduates, start-ups, newcomers and career changers, are invited to apply for the GOLDENE NOVA.
- There are no limits regarding the applicant’s age or the jewellery categories.
- Those already working in the trade must have been doing so for no more than a year.
- Each participant can enter only one finished piece of jewellery into the competition. Designs, drawings and unfinished items of jewellery, as well as jewellery sets (except a pair of earrings), cannot be considered.
- Applicants must have crafted their submitted piece of jewellery themselves. Parts of the piece of jewellery must not have been designed or produced by third parties.
- Previous entrants for the GOLDENE NOVA may compete again for GOLDENE NOVA 2025 as long as they meet the above criteria. In such cases, the item of jewellery must be a new piece that conforms to the current theme.
- Those who belong to one of the companies exhibiting in the INOVA COLLECTION 2025 may enter as long as they meet the above criteria.
This was the GOLDEN NOVA 2024
The GOLDEN NOVA award ceremony took place on 30 August 2024 at the start of the INOVA COLLECTION.
Under the motto ‘Sea love – maritime jewellery for all the senses’, ten nominated talents presented their creative designs on the award area, which had previously been selected by a top-class jury of experts.
We congratulate all the winners and wish them a successful start in the industry!
Many thanks to our expert jury, to our prize money sponsors and our media partners Goldschmiede Zeitung and scope Marketing.
The winners 2024
GOLD
Vanessa Tschentke | LOFTWERK Wiesbaden
Waves tumble over one another in the roaring sea of the senses. A ‘waveplay’ of feelings.
My bracelet symbolises the special moment of becoming one with the seawater. It calls up memories of maritime experiences. It radiates the cool colours of the ocean. Roaring waves gently flatter the sense of hearing. Salt sea air fills the room. The raw structures of the bracelet flatter the skin. The sea is palpably close.
Waveplay | Bracelet
925 silver | Perspex and ball bearings
SILVER
Maria Giegerich | Atelier Stoess
Smell is very abstract and difficult to reproduce consciously, so I have tried to capture the smell of the sea in this jewellery piece. I found a way in the form of a pomander. What I found persuasive was the combination of the typical fish smell, salt and freshness. The design of the ball is inspired by the skeletons of sea-urchins and I have stylised it to form a modern pomander that offers up to my senses bitter-sweet memories of the sea.
RÁN | Necklace
925 silver | Cultured freshwater pearls
BRONZE
Chiara Czerner | Pforzheim School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung Pforzheim)
The bubble-k ring took its inspiration from a particular variety of seagrass (bubble kelp seaweed). From a piece of sheet metal was crafted a ring that nestles itself onto the hand and finger. As a highlight the crafted metal holds two blue-green Tahiti pearls reflecting the sea and also the ‘bubbles’. The pearls have a degree of play that produces an attractive sound, thereby bringing the sense of hearing in as well.
bubble-k | Ring
925 silver | Tahiti pearls
BRONZE
Lissy Sophie Ossig | Pforzheim School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung Pforzheim)
Under the sea are hidden breathtaking ecosystems of incomparable beauty. Since the beginning of time, people have shared their fascination for the wonderful shapes in this world of water, and have crafted elements of it into jewellery. Corals are frequently used, for example, although sadly excessive exploitation has put a huge strain on nature. I wanted to grasp the beauty of the coral in a different manner and transform it into an item of jewellery.
Coral dance | Necklace
925 silver
SPECIAL MENTION
Liv Grundorf | Schönke Atelier Gold & Platinum
For this piece of jewellery, flotsam and jetsam (collected treasures) were applied to the body in an unconventional way: upcycling. Shells, pearls and mica symbolise sea spray, sugar becomes sand and agate beads represent drops of water. Coral branches, glass beads and small fish (silver & silver-gilt) and silica beads reflecting the water are combined in a transparent rubber tube – the aquarium.
Sea to go | Necklace
925 silver, blue agate beads and cultured pearls
Award sponsors 2024
1st place
1.600 € | Carl Schaefer Gold- und Silberscheideanstalt
The first place of the GOLDEN NOVA is awarded by the “Carl Schaefer Gold- und Silberscheideanstalt” with high-quality Argentium – THE FINEST SILVER. Argentium is a special silver alloy that offers many other processing advantages in addition to its hypoallergenic and antibacterial properties.
In addition, the winner of the GOLDEN NOVA can look forward to a workshop with Argentium expert Mrs Christine Zock, a trained Argentium instructor, in Munich to learn the basics and techniques for working with Argentium.
2nd place
1,200 € | RUDOLF FLUME TECHNIK
The winner of second place can look forward to a shopping voucher from RUDOLF FLUME Technik worth €1,200. As a wholesaler for watch and jewellery technology, RUDOLF FLUME Technik offers a broad portfolio of equipment and machines, watch and jewellery spare parts, tools, care and cleaning supplies, and much more.
In addition, FLUME will enable the runner-up to take part in a 2- to 4-hour electroplating workshop in Essen free of charge.
3rd place
900 € | DAHLINGER & STUDEX GERMANY
The third place winner of the GOLDEN NOVA will receive an attractive prize package worth a total of € 900:
450 € shopping voucher from STUDEX Germany – the leading international manufacturer of precision instruments, anti-allergic ear studs and care products for pierced ears.
450 € shopping voucher from DAHLINGER – the international supplier of packaging and displays for luxury and lifestyle products and market leader in the traditional specialist retail trade for watches and jewellery.
Expert jury 2024
Michael Jahr | Head of Gold- und Silberschmied-Innung und Juweliere Frankfurt
Michael Jahr completed his training as a goldsmith with Uhren Weiss in Rüsselsheim. After three years, he decided to further his education by training to become a state-certified jewellery designer in Idar-Oberstein. During his training, he also became a master goldsmith at the Chamber of Crafts in Koblenz. In July 1992, Michael Jahr turned to self-employment running his own goldsmith’s studio in Rüsselsheim. He is head of the guild Gold- und Silberschmiede-Innung sowie Juweliere in Frankfurt am Main. He has won the FBZ Ahlen international design competition and sat on the jury of the 16th Hessian Design Prize.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hensel | University of Pforzheim
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hensel studied philosophy, art history, classical archaeology and business management in Hamburg, Munich and Vallendar. He is a winner of the Aby M. Warburg Prize awarded by the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg. In 2013, he was appointed Professor of Art and Design Theory at the School of Design at the University of Pforzheim. He is also a member of the Faculty of Danube University Krems, Director of the Institute for Human Engineering & Empathic Design in Pforzheim (HEED) and exhibition curator. His main research areas are media history and the history of knowledge and science in art science (especially Aby Warburg), game studies, Old German painting and drawing (esp. Albrecht Dürer and the Danube School) and design history and theory (esp. Bauhaus and Ulm School of Design).
Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber | Head of Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus a. D.
Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber, art historian and jewellery scientist, numerous publications to contemporary jewellery and hollow- and flatware design. Publications to jewellery, fashion, silverware, focal point 20th/21st century. Since 1989-2023 general manager of the Association for Goldsmiths’ Art in Hanau, a non-profit association promoting gold- and silverware design on national and international rank. 2006-2023 director of the German Goldsmiths’ House.
Axel Henselder | Editor-in-chief of the goldsmiths’ newspaper, GZ Goldschmiede Zeitung
Axel Henselder is a qualified publisher and graduate in business administration who has been editor-in-chief of the leading industry journal, GZ Goldschmiede Zeitung, since 2004. As such, he has been a member of the jury panel or assessor for several well-known awards, including selections for the Talents Area at the Tendence trade fair in Frankfurt, the German Jewellery and Gemstone Prize in Idar-Oberstein and the Tahitian Pearl Trophy. He was previously responsible for special interest and trade titles at Frankfurt-based publishers Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag and for the corporate communication publications service at Hoechst AG.
You can find even more impressions in our flickr gallery.
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