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New York, NY—Colorado designer Todd Reed has won “Best in Show” for the 2012 AGTA Spectrum Awards. His winning piece was a palladium and 22k yellow gold locket featuring blue moonstones, blue sapphire, and gray and white diamonds. The locket opens to reveal a 76.03-ct. carved moldavite Buddha.

Total diamond weight is approximately 30 cts.; 24.51 cts. of gray and 5.10 cts. of white. Total sapphire weight is 17.34 cts.

The Spectrum Awards competition—in its 28^th year—was judged October 22-23 in New York. The competition is intended to foster innovative and creative use of colored gemstones in jewelry design. Judges for the 2011 competition were Master Goldsmith Klaus Burgel, Sylvain Chervin of Carvin French Jewelers in New York City Cindy Edelstein of the Jeweler’s Resource Bureau, Pelham, NY, Patricia Faber of Aaron Faber Gallery in New York City, and Clay Zava of North Carolina-based Zava Master Cuts.

Todd Reed spoke to The Centurion about his winning piece. “My inspiration was simply to make a beautiful object that was loaded with passion and symbolism, as well as something that could make people think a bit.

“The piece is an emotional one: the tear drop shape immediately stirs some emotion, but of course this piece is more about what is behind the emotion. The Buddha is the archetype of contemplative practice and in this piece serves as just that. The Buddha is tucked away into the grotto behind the tear, under the beauty. Some may never know he is in there; which is so telling of human behavior.

“I chose the material primarily to emphasize the mood or to set a tone of passion, soft and tantalizing excitement, and of course raw beauty. The colors of metal and gemstone material simply serve as a palette to work with. The object becomes bold but sensitive with this choice of material.”

Reed designed the piece with the Buddha in mind. He purchased it on a trip to Santa Fe, with Peter Schmid, owner of Michael Zobel, and actually was trying to convince Schmid to buy the Buddha. Schmid ultimately decided not to, but by then Reed said he was oddly in passionate love with the little stone and had to have it.

He made the piece for the competition, and while he often uses the technique of clustering gemstones together—which we will see in future work--he’s not planning to create a line of jewelry around the Buddha.

“This one is very much of a personal story. A bit raw, dramatic, and beautiful, quietly sensitive, and like a ninja with the true story on the inside,” he told The Centurion.

Click here to watch a video of the piece on display at the AGTA Spectrum Award media preview.