When Lorraine West told her mother about a new exhibition celebrating the work of Black jewelers, she burst into tears over the phone.To get more news about best designer jewelry, you can visit jewelryhunt.net official website.
West, a jeweler for more than 20 years, said she doesn't normally "get emotional" when it comes to her professional achievements, which include seeing celebrities like Beyoncé and Zendaya wearing her designs. But her inclusion in the groundbreaking show "made me cry," she recalled.
"I wasn't expecting it," she said over email. "I allowed myself to feel it and release the tears of joy and gratitude."
Known for elegant gold statement pieces that favor sophisticated settings over large stones, West said she was inspired to start designing after playing with her mother's jewelry as a child. Now, she is one of 21 Black jewelers showcasing and selling their work at "Brilliant Black: A Jewelry Renaissance."

The exhibition's curator, writer and jewelry expert Melanie Grant, said she believes this is the first time a major auction house has spotlighted "pioneering Black jewelry design."
Open this week at Sotheby's New York, the show features not only contemporary designers but overlooked African American jewelers dating back to the 1950s. Works by Winifred Mason, believed to be the first ever commercial African American jeweler in the United States, are showcased alongside those of her later apprentice Art Smith, a mid-century designer known for his modernist bronze works.
Calling him a "founding father" of Black jewelry design, Grant said Smith's brilliance went unappreciated at the time. "It was quite important for me to put a couple (of historic jewelers) in context (with) the modern designers. Without them, we would be in a different place."
Ancestry and family ties run deep through the exhibition, with jeweler Johnel Jamison also attributing his start in the industry to his mother. The rapper turned jewelry designer wanted to bring a sense of "kingmanship" to his stage performances, so, before he set off for a European tour, his mother helped him create a wire wrap ring using a large black tourmaline stone that had once sat on their family mantelpiece.
The ring proved a hit among his contemporaries, inspiring Jamison to create his own line. When he returned from tour, his mother continued teaching him to make rings. Years on, she remains his "consultant," and his signature golden pieces are now worn by the likes of Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton and football player Colin Kaepernick. He's also been commissioned to create designs for Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond, creative director of Pyer Moss, for whom he has created custom pieces for the Met Gala and New York Fashion Week.
For Jamison, who founded Johnny Nelson Jewelry in New York, the craft is deeply tied to Black culture -- especially to the music industry where, he said, jewelry is viewed as a "sign of wealth." He added, "It's a sign we made it, like I'm breaking from poverty."
Other designers featured in Sotheby's selection chose to pay homage to their African roots. British brand Vanleles, for example, is showcasing floral earrings inspired by the motifs in traditional West African batiks; while designer Satta Matturi has created a selection of earrings inspired by traditional West African wooden masks -- a recurring symbol among her brand's designs, which have been worn by the likes of Rihanna and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas.
Jamison's line, meanwhile, looks to more recent history. As well as carving the faces of civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and Frederick Douglass into his four-fingered Let Freedom Ring -- a design he calls the "civil rights Mount Rushmore" -- the designer's sculptural golden pieces also incorporate imagery relating to the Black Panthers, Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells, among others.