Editor’s Note
This article highlights the promising partnership between Bucherer and Geneva’s CFP Arts, showcasing how industry collaboration can spotlight emerging talent like 18-year-old design competition winner Fanny Lienhard.
Antonio Teixeira (left), Fanny Lienhard (center), and Richard Carbonnelle (right). ©Fanny Lienhard
She is 18 years old, and her future is already very promising! Fanny Lienhard is a student at the Geneva Center for Professional Training in the Arts (CFP Arts). On May 30, she won a highly demanding design competition organized by Maison Bucherer in Geneva.
For the second consecutive year, the Bucherer Fine Jewelry competition brought together ten candidates from the CFP Arts Geneva. These young students, at the end of their four-year CFC training program, had the delicate and ambitious mission of creating a piece of jewelry starting from a single stone: a 12.4-carat pink Kunzite worth CHF 1,500. The gem was chosen by the students and provided by the Swiss Maison. The experience was born to challenge the creativity of young talents, who were confronting for the first time the excellence criteria of a prestigious brand and the constraints of the high jewelry market. A promising association, imagined by Antonio Teixeira, Director of Bucherer Geneva.
The young students presented a dossier of about fifteen pages last April, tracing, step by step, a structured thought process. For one month, each had to imagine, draw, and conceive a unique piece of jewelry that would highlight the precious stone while respecting creative constraints and the very soul of Maison Bucherer. The dossiers were then presented by Richard Carbonnelle, Assistant Master in the management of CFP ARTS Geneva, to a high-quality jury comprising about a dozen jewelry experts, sales professionals, designers, gemologists, and precious object specialists. For Richard Carbonnelle, this adventure represents an incredible opportunity for his students.
Fanny Lienhard’s “Sparkling Star” brooch. ©Fanny Lienhard
Statement of intent, sketches, technical plans, substantiated reflections, final gouache—they were graded on presentation, content, relevance of references, aesthetics, and of course creativity and originality. The winner, Fanny Lienhard, shared with us the steps of significant work, blending a certain audacity with a docile imagination, all driven by a genuine passion for a profession she is proud to consider.
Fanny Lienhard wearing the “Sparkling Star” brooch. ©Fanny Lienhard
“Sparkling Star” is the name she gave to her brooch, a contemporary, powerful, and modern piece of jewelry that she created entirely within the CFP Arts Geneva, from 3D modeling to stone setting. Fanny Lienhard presented it during a special evening at Maison Bucherer, which rewarded her.
Fanny Lienhard will fly to Paris at the start of the next school year to pursue a Bachelor’s in Digital Design at the Haute École de Joaillerie. Her dream now is to continue her training by joining the Creative Academy in Milan. The selection is difficult, but we wish her success. Remember her name, as there is no doubt that the Genevan is promised a great career. Perhaps one day for Maison Bucherer!