AGTA Spectrum Award™ winning designer Ashleigh Branstetter submitted her first
entries into the competition in 2009. Right out of the shoot, she took home a 3rd
Place in Business/Day Wear with her 32.10 ct. pink Tourmaline ring. Then for the
2010 competition, Ashleigh was awarded two more Spectrum trophies for her 2nd
Place in Business/Day Wear for her Chalcedony briolette and moss Diamond slice
earrings and a Manufacturing Honors in Men’s Wear for her London blue Topaz
bullet cufflinks.

Her latest Spectrum Award-winning pieces are featured in Florida International
Magazine, Best Jewelry Design of 2009 on www.Brides.com and at the recent
Oscars Awards ceremony.

Ashleigh Branstetter grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A model since high school,
Branstetter has appeared in print ads for Southern Comfort and Volvo as well as
national commercials for Bank One, Mazda and Sprite. On the big screen she can be
seen in Failure to Launch and Runaway Jury, and even a Harry Connick Jr. music
video. In school, she started out as a pre-med major at Louisiana State University.
Then, she took a summer session in a figure-drawing class at Parsons School of
Design in New York and discovered the path her future would take.

Branstetter returned to LSU, changed her major to Art, and fell in love with painting
and drawing. At the time, LSU had a metals department under Christopher Hentz.
Branstetter took an elective course in jewelry-making and has never looked back.
Working at the bench has given her more satisfaction than anything she has done.

Branstetter graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture and a minor in
Jewelry and Metals. While working in her dad’s dental office, she began making her
jewelry.

She then went on to further hone her jewelry skills at Penland School of Crafts in
North Carolina, the Revere Academy of Jewelry Artists in San Francisco and
Gemological Institute of America. With encouragement from friends and family,
Branstetter began to sell her jewelry at fairs and festivals.

In 1998, she began strictly doing jewelry. Branstetter is building a reputation for
her gorgeous hand-crafted jewelry of colored gemstones and pearls. She uses an
array of colored gemstones, from amethyst to turquoise, set in sterling silver, 18K
gold and platinum. Her designs are sold at high-end art shows and festivals all over
the country, from Coconut Grove, Florida, to Aspen, Colorado. Her pieces are also
carried at A.R.T. Worth Avenue. A.R.T. is a combination of high-end jewelry and art
boutique, highlighting celebrity designers such as Neil Lane and Ashok Sancheti and
art by Andy Warhol.

“I really love colored gemstones,” Branstetter said. Since the early 90’s, she has
been coming to AGTA GemFair™ Tucson, and she has not missed a year yet. She
adds, “This is the only place you can get all sorts of goodies from all over the
world.”

While in Tucson, Branstetter looks for that one gemstone she cannot live with out.
She is open to designing with any type of material, and purchases what she likes. “I
have a very bad habit of going to the most expensive thing in the case.”

Once Branstetter has purchased the materials the design process begins with a
sketch. Often inspired by floral patterns in nature, her work runs the gamut from
elaborate custom pieces to casual accent ones. Her designs are very bold and very
feminine at the same time.

In 2004, Branstetter’s pearl earrings featuring curvy metal won the Perles
de Tahiti North American Pearl Trophy contest. Pulling inspiration from an old-
fashioned ruffled dress, Branstetter utilizes the element in a contemporary manner
with bold colored gemstones. Many pieces feature her signature Ruffle™ design.

Back to the design that made an appearance at this year’s Oscars. The 2010 AGTA
Spectrum Award™-winning cufflinks were featured at the Style Lab Academy
Awards® Red Carpet Preview. Maurio Fiore, “Avatar” cinematographer, and his wife
selected Branstetter’s London blue Topaz cufflinks valued at $17,000. Fiore rocked
the cufflinks on the red carpet at the Academy Awards®, and he took home an
Oscar as well.

“This piece was done for the AGTA Spectrum Awards™,” said Branstetter. “I didn’t
even know he was going to wear them,” she added. Unlike the high dollared
cufflinks, most of Branstetter’s jewelry sells for price points from $125 to $8,000.
She does plan to incorporate the Spectrum-winning and Oscar-worn cufflinks into
her line. After searching for the calibrated gemstones, and now having found them,
she intends to set them in 18K gold and possibly sterling. Branstetter does note
that when clients come in they are often looking for sterling silver, but end up
buying 18K gold.

Next for the former model is the cover of Brides magazine featuring a pair of
amethyst earrings, and of course designing for the upcoming 2011 AGTA
Spectrum™ Awards.

To learn more about Ashleigh Branstetter and her designs, visit her at
www.ashleighbranstetter.com.

http://www.agta.org/pressroom/newsletters/prismnlsummer2010/index.html?pageNumber=10

Red Carpet is all Ears for Color

62nd Primetime Emmy Awards - Red Carpet

Emmy nominated actor John Goodman with his daughter, wearing Ashleigh Branstetters Fire Opals, Diamonds and Turquoise drop earrings in eighteen karat.

A sparkling future

Photo by PETER HURLEY

Ashleigh Branstetter, wearing her clear quartz earrings set in 18-karat white gold, is making a name for herself in the jewelry business, with appearances of her wares at the Oscars and in national magazines.

Ashleigh Branstetter’s jewelry makes appearance at Oscars

BY KAREN MARTIN

THE ADVOCATE /Assistant People editor

Published: Jun 14, 2010

Jewelry designer Ashleigh Branstetter got her first brush with greatness at this year’s Oscars. But it went by so fast, she almost missed it.

Branstetter, who grew up in Baton Rouge and now works out of New Orleans, designed the cufflinks flashed by Mauro Fiore on the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Fiore took home the cinematography Oscar for “Avatar.”

“I didn’t even know he was going to be wearing them,” said Branstetter, daughter of Dr. R.M. and Joan Branstetter.

So how did her cufflinks make it from here to Hollywood?

The journey began at the prestigious American Gem Trade Association, where the cufflinks won a Spectrum Award, sort of the Academy Award of the jewelry industry.

Winning designs and other pieces were selected for a jewelry preview, where celebrities and their stylists “shop” — meaning borrow — for red-carpet wear. Branstetter also had some diamond-slice earrings, another Spectrum winner, at the preview, but it was the bullet-shaped cufflinks of London blue topaz cabochons and pavé diamonds in platinum valued at about $17,000 that got the nod.

“His wife (Fiore’s) supposedly picked them out for him,” Branstetter said. “I guess because they were the ‘Avatar’ blue.”

For now, things as big as the Oscars’ appearance aren’t the norm. But, given her talent, fame is coming.

Soon a pair of Branstetter’s purple amethyst earrings will grace the cover of Brides magazine, and the diamond-slice earrings that won a Spectrum Award can be seen in the May issue of Florida International Magazine.

Branstetter is building a reputation for her gorgeous jewelry of colored gemstones and pearls, most of which she sells at high-end art shows and festivals all over the country, from Coconut Grove, Fla., to Sun Valley, Idaho , and Aspen, Colo. Her pieces are also carried at A.R.T. Worth Avenue, a high-end jewelry and art boutique in Palm Beach, Fla., that showcases such celebrity jewelry designers as Neil Lane and Loree Rodkin and art by Andy Warhol.

Not bad company for a girl who started her LSU life as a pre-med major.

It took only one summer session in a figure-drawing class at Parsons The New School for Design in New York to change her mind.

“I came back to LSU and went into painting, drawing, sculpting, then the jewelry and metals program,” Branstetter said.

She started graduate school and was working in her dad’s dental office, making her jewelry, but not selling it. A friend suggested she rent a booth at Hollydays, the Junior League’s annual Christmas market.

That was in 1998 and it set Branstetter on a career path that takes her around the country. In 2004, she won the North American Tahitian Pearl Trophy competition for her earrings featuring a curvy metal ruffle, which has become a signature design for her.

In addition to pearls, Branstetter uses an array of colored gemstones, such as topaz, emerald, beryl, opal, tourmaline, quartz, turquoise, citrine, amethyst and ruby. She works in 18-karat yellow and white gold and sterling silver.

“I really love colored stones,” she said. “I’m not really interested in diamonds.”

Unlike the expensive cufflinks, which were done for the competition, Branstetter said most of her jewelry sells for between $125 and $8,000.

She said she’s gathered a following on the festival circuit.

“People at Jazz Fest this year came back to look for me,” said Branstetter. “That happens at a lot of the shows.”

If you want to find Branstetter, go online to http://www.ashleighbranstetter.com.

Florida International Magazine

We're loving the Ashleigh Branstetter Diamond Slice Chalcedony Earrings featured in the May issue of Florida International Magazine! A total of 11.23 carats of moss sliced Diamonds and white Diamond slices (2.32 ctw.) with South African Chalcedony briolettes (40.61 ctw.) set in eighteen-karat with pave diamonds.

Featured at the Oscars®

Ashleigh Branstetter Blue Topaz Cufflinks

The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) recently showcased jewelry designs from the AGTA Spectrum Awards™ at the StyleLab Academy Award Red Carpet Jewelry Preview in Beverly Hills, CA. The jewelry was selected with input from stylist and television commentator Michael O’Connor of Style & Substance, Inc.

The London blue topaz cabochon and diamond platinum cufflinks by Ashleigh Branstetter were selected and worn to the Academy Awards® by Mauro Fiore, who won the Oscar® for Cinematography for Avatar.

http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/agta/oscarsspectrum.htm

“The AGTA Spectrum Awards™, considered the most respected and prestigious creative award for the design industry, has been honoring artistic excellence for over two decades were announced October in New York City with the Spectrum Awards Gala presented during the 2010 AGTA GemFair™. “ The Spectrum Award is considered to be the “Oscars” of the jewelry industry.

To be honored as one of the top amongst such designers as JW Currens, Samuel Getz, Jack Bigio, and Evelyn Clothier is truly amazing after being up against Erica Courtney and Ivanka Trump.

The judges for the 2010 AGTA Spectrum Awards™ competition were design consultant/writer Marlene Richey, gem artist John Hatleburg, jewelry designer Mish Tworkowski of Mish New York, jewelry editor Nicole Keating of Women’s Wear Daily and W magazine, antique jewelry expert Ben Macklowe of The Macklowe Gallery and jewelry designer Cecelia Bauer.

Business Daywear Category/Second Place for Diamond Slice Chalcedony Earrings. A total of 11.23 carats of moss sliced Diamonds and white Diamond slices (2.32 ctw.) with South African Chalcedony briolettes (40.61 ctw.) set in eighteen-karat with pave diamonds.

Men’s Wear Category/Manufacturing Honors for “Bullet Cufflinks” featuring London blue Topaz cabochons (39.89 ctw.) and pave diamonds in platinum.