With singular points of view and a confident approach, these three designers are emerging as the names to know in modern jewelry.

Ring BRENT NEALE. Courtesy of Brent Neale.

Earrings BRENT NEALE. Courtesy of Brent Neale.

For Brent Neale Winston, the most significant jewelry begins with a story. The New York–based designer has become a sought-after name for clients looking to give new life to family heirlooms and forgotten stones, transforming them into contemporary pieces that feel distinctly their own. At times, the source material is even more personal. Winston has turned children’s drawings into gold pendants and recently recreated three beloved stuffed animals—a bear, lion, and elephant—as whimsical gold and gemstone charms. It’s jewelry with an emotional connection.
“Our clients love color and meaningful pieces,” says the 46-year-old designer, who recently opened a sprawling, by-appointment penthouse showroom on Fifth Avenue. There, Winston meets with clients, sketches designs, and selects stones; every piece is then locally made in New York. On Instagram, where she has amassed more than 175,000 followers, jewelry lovers watch the transformation unfold: a classic three-stone ring is taken apart and reborn as a chunky gold signet ring, or a delicate prong-set diamond engagement ring is reset between two colorful gemstones in a cigar-band style.
Winston particularly welcomes the challenge of a client arriving without a plan. “I love when someone comes in and says, I don’t know what to do with my stone, or, I don’t know what to get my wife,” she says. For her, there’s a particular joy in “being able to come up with ideas and create pieces that make them happy.”
Still, the Brent Neale collection remains at the heart of her world. Feminine but never dainty, the jewelry is exuberant and expressive. Her Wildflower designs feature juicy center gemstones—sapphires, tourmalines, and spinels—surrounded by diamond petals, while her signature “pillow” setting nestles colorful gems into rounded gold, giving them warmth and scale.
For fall, Winston introduced a fluid gold and diamond ribbon motif, the latest addition to a playful vocabulary that includes rainbows, mushrooms, and shells. Drawing on everything from fairy tales to art to the 1960s and ’70s counterculture, her jewelry maintains a sense of whimsy without losing its sophistication. These are pieces designed to be worn every day—and become heirlooms of their own.

Ring VRAM Courtesy of VRAM.

Vram Minassian in his Los Angeles studio. Courtesy of VRAM.

There is nothing passive about a Vram jewel. Gold climbs the finger, wraps the wrist in sculptural layers, or stretches in a richly textured line down the chest. Yet for all their volume and presence, Vram Minassian’s designs are remarkably restrained. Their power comes from the curve of a surface, the height of a spiraling ring, the way a piece relates to the body.
Minassian works somewhere between jeweler and sculptor, distilling ideas through drawing, material, and form rather than following conventional jewelry codes. His pieces can suggest the natural world without depicting it literally—an approach that gives the work an organic quality while keeping it resolutely abstract.
“I don’t like to overdesign,” says the Los Angeles–based designer. That disciplined approach has evolved over decades. Minassian grew up around jewelry in Beirut, where his father had a workshop, before studying in Paris and eventually settling in Los Angeles. Some 30 years ago, he established his own workshop, making pieces for private clients as well as for other brands.
While he has been creating jewelry for decades, the past year marked a new chapter. During Paris Haute Couture last July, Minassian, now 62, unveiled a series of one-of-a-kind pieces that brought the scale and sculptural language of his work into a dialogue with exceptional gemstones.
“I’m very comfortable with color,” he says. Color plays a pivotal role in his one-off creations, lending energy and rarity to singular pieces. Rather than choosing stones simply for impact, he looks for painterly combinations of color that can deepen the narrative of the jewel. In one necklace, a rare rosy Mahenge garnet from Tanzania becomes the focal point, surrounded by sapphires in rich, pomegranate-like tones. Elsewhere, a ring centers on a 10-carat natural greenish-blue zircon, surrounded by an ombré of green and blue sapphires and Brazilian Paraiba tourmaline cabochons.
Whether beginning with the geometry of a seed or the saturated hue of a gemstone, his instinct is to pare an idea down until what remains feels elemental: the intimacy of something hand-forged against the body.

Uniform Object founders David Farrugia and Katie Hansson. Courtesy of Uniform Object.

Bracelet UNIFORM OBJECT. Courtesy of Uniform Object.

David Farrugia grew up around bold jewelry. His mother was an avid collector, with a particular affinity for the colorful, unapologetically sizable designs of David Webb. So when Farrugia, a graphic designer and artist, began creating jewelry of his own, he was naturally drawn to pieces with scale and presence.
That sensibility defines Uniform Object, the collection he founded in 2021 with his wife, Katie Hansson, who left her career in law to join the business. In just a few years, the New York–based brand has developed a loyal following for its coveted jewelry that pairs exceptional stones with assertive, highly considered design.&nbsp;
“I love big diamonds,” says Farrugia, 31. “But I want to design pieces that you can wear all the time.”
His approach is to make important stones feel surprisingly effortless. A six-carat pear-shaped diamond is nestled in a substantial, polished gold band that appears to cradle the stone rather than simply hold it. A pair of marquise diamonds is framed in shiny, bold gold drop earrings, giving the classic cut a sharper, more graphic edge.&nbsp;
“I want to toe the line between something very elegant and long-standing and something that’s a bit more avant-garde and edgy,” he says.
Much of what distinguishes Farrugia’s work, however, reveals itself only on closer inspection. Clasps are forged to become part of the design and are often punctuated with diamonds. Pieces must feel weighty, smooth, and comfortable.
“Maybe it doesn’t speak loudly at first, but when you hold it, you can understand why it’s special.” More recently, he introduced carbon into the collection, using the sleek black material to create a striking counterpoint to precious metal and stones. A carbon torque necklace, for example, features a pear-shaped diamond set east-west—a classic stone given an unexpected attitude.&nbsp;
Farrugia’s latest move: a SoHo store, which opened in October. Defined by an exacting attention to detail, it’s a fitting setting for jewelry that is bold enough to turn heads, yet refined enough to become part of everyday life.

Meet The Jewelry Designers Defining Contemporary Fine Jewelry

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