AGTA announces Spectrum Awards judges

American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) has tapped experts from different facets of the industry to judge its 2014 Spectrum Awards.

They are:

• Jennifer McCurry, a fine jewellery expert and buyer at Marissa Collections in Naples, Fla. She is a GIA graduate jeweller gemmologist and a nominee for Fashion Group International’s Rising Star Award in jewellery design in 2006. McCurry was co-owner of an estate jewellery store in Naples before starting to work with the founders of Marissa Collections, where she helped establish a showcase of fine jewellery designers within the high-end fashion emporium. She was a judge at the 2013 Las Vegas Couture Design Awards.

• Jennie Ma is fashion and beauty editor for The Knot, where she oversees everything to do with style and beauty, including accessories, bridal fashion, and couture jewellery. Ma has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, and Entertainment Tonight to talk about wedding fashion and bridal trends.

• Barbara Heinrich is a jewellery manufacturer and owner of Barbara Heinrich Studio. After studying jewellery and hollowware design in Germany, she completed a formal goldsmithing apprenticeship and earned a degree at Pforzheim College of Design. Heinrich then came to the United States and completed a master’s degree in fine art at Rochester Institute of Technology. She founded Barbara Heinrich Studio in 1988.

• John Hatleberg is a lapidarist known for creating exact replicas of famous diamonds, such as the Hope, Centenary, Dresden Green, Eureka, Wittelsbach-Graff, and French Blue Diamonds. His work has been exhibited across the United States and internationally, including the Natural History Museum London, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, and the Tokyo National Science Museum.

• Jose Hess is a designer and teacher of jewellery design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In addition to designing his own collection of jewellery, he also works as a consultant to jewellery companies in the United States and abroad to help improve their design and manufacturing methods.