Austin’s local jewelry scene is sparkling a bit brighter.
The results of Eliza Page’s Austin Shines jewelry competition are in: Jamie Turner Designs took home the Judge’s Shining Star Award, and Claire Sommers Buck Jewelry earned the People’s Choice Shining Star Award.
To celebrate 20 years in business, Eliza Page asked Central Texas jewelers to submit a 10-piece collection and a salt-and-pepper diamond piece for use in the charity portion of the contest, which will donate proceeds to the Center for Child Protection.
Both winners received a cash prize, professional consultation from local companies like Kendra Scott + Giant Noise, and a six-month residency at Eliza Page. ATXtoday caught up with Claire Sommers Buck to chat about her winning collection and what this recognition means to her.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What inspired your collection?
“This particular collection is named Flora, and so flowers were a theme. A lot of my work has different symbolism of objects. This year was kind of hard at the beginning of the year in a lot of ways, and I wanted to highlight beauty within that.
Flowers are the perfect thing to showcase the beauty, but they don’t just stand by and look pretty. They’re resilient — like, you’ll see flowers growing out of cracks in sidewalks. So, it was sort of this balance between beauty and power and resistance.”
What does winning this competition mean to you?
“This was a really cool opportunity to celebrate all the amazing jewelry talent in Austin, and to win feels amazing and special, and I was not expecting it. It’s really cool, because I think a lot of times — especially as a small business owner and a jeweler — you’re sort of isolated. A lot of us work in our own little world, and you forget that wider community, or you forget your impact within that. And so to be recognized like this, it’s really meaningful and it doesn’t happen every day.”
What do you want Austinites to know about your jewelry?
“I love what I do, and I want people who wear my jewelry to feel empowered. Jewelry is so personal, so if they can see a (piece of jewelry) and say, ‘This represents transformation, or the dawning of a new cycle,’ and can take it and bring it into their own lives and create meaning out of it, that’s really special.”
The winners’ jewelry collections are now on sale through the end of October at Eliza Page.
