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
