Vanessa Fernandez won the 2025 Couture Design Awards in the Best in Colored Gemstones Above $40,000 category with a chrysoberyl necklace weighing over 32 carats. But this is just the latest accolade for the Miami-born designer of Cuban and Armenian descent, whose aunt was a sculptor in New York. This cultural mix has helped develop a boundless style. The strangest thing, however, is that before becoming a jewelry designer, she had decided to study nursing. Curiously, however, the program also included electives in art, and jewelry in particular. A coincidence that changed Vanessa’s life, starting with her education, as the designer abandoned her healthcare studies to pursue a bachelor’s degree in crafts and jewelry.
The road to the Couture Award, however, is a tortuous one. After completing her studies in Miami, Vanessa Fernandez attended a party hosted by the John Hardy brand and ended up working as an intern for the brand, which operates in Bali. The story continues: after Bali, Louis Vuitton’s head high jewelry designer at the time, Lorenz Bäumer, offered her a paid one-year internship at the Maison in Paris. This experience, she said, helped her improve her drawing skills and her attention to color.
Vanessa Fernandez’s jewelry, in fact, focuses on two aspects: an original shape, with metal that curves unexpectedly, and the color of the gems, always very large and featuring highly saturated hues. Upon returning to Miami, the designer founded her own small Maison: high-end, high-end jewelry that she makes herself, also selling on Instagram. And in 2021, she was invited by the U.S. State Department to design jewelry for the Paris Olympics.
