2016 NICHE AWARDS WINNER: “Alternative Materials”
Sponsored by NICHE magazine, the NICHE Awards program began in 1989 to celebrate excellence and innovation in American and Canadian fine craft. Artists are recognized in both professional and student divisions. IRTHLY CLASSIC COLLECTIONS, Cycles Ring receive the 2016 NICHE AWARD winner in Alternative Materials, NICHE-AWARDS
INDESIGN Magazine Online and Print March / April 2015: Titled “Without Limits”
Without Limits, His newest collection Irthly Sans, a range of geometric earrings and pendants without the tagua nut “Vegatable Ivory” INDESIGN Online Magazine Article
Rapaport Magazine Online and Print 2015: Titled “Designerlines”
Continuing on his quest to showcase the beauty of natural elements. Rapaport Online Magazine
JCK Magazine Online and Print October 2014: Titled “Colored Stones: Vegetable Ivory Jewels”
Alvarado, one of the 2014 JCK Las Vegas show’s Rising Stars, has over 10 retail accounts, showcasing his Art Deco collection.
Read Full Story at JCK Online Magazine
JCK Magazine Online and Print: Titled “Ten Things Rocking the Industry”
<…> Also of note: the continuation of negative space, Art Deco, morganite as the new opal (though opal is still going strong!), as well as wing motifs, star and crescent silhouettes, and fringe detailing. <…>
Read Full Story at JCK Online Magazine
Conscious Design – Rapaport
By Amber Michelle
David Alvarado, Irthly Jewelled Adornments
Being aware and conscious of our actions personally and professionally makes us better people and businesses. Corporate responsibility is essential in raising the standards and ethics of the jewelry industry. Being confident in my materials and practices gives my clients and my work an integrity that we can be proud of.
Corporate Social Responsibility means to me and Irthly that we have an obligation to answer appropriately to the needs of our social and ecological atmosphere. We see a deep interconnectivity with the world and we must account for, and harken to, the demands of our global ecosystem. To be responsible is to be reliable. We are obligated to gain society’s trust by being accountable, answering the call to uphold a sense of intimate connection with the world.
Read Full Story – “Conscious Design” PDF
Jewelry Designer Battles Elephant Ivory Poaching Trade through Seed of Life
M2 Communications 06/26/2014 3:49 AM ET
LOS ANGELES, CA — Elephants are dying. One fine jeweler has an intriguing, and beautiful, answer: A seed of life.
While the battle against illegal elephant poaching rages, with thousands of the animals killed each year for their precious ivory tusks, designer David Alvarado is altering the fine jewelry landscape – protecting wildlife throughout regions like Kenya and redefining what humans have traditionally defined as “valuable” — by returning to the root of where life begins: a seed. It’s Tagua. The founder of Irthly Jewelled Adornments believes that seed holds an answer.
Alvarado is the first fine jeweler in the world daring to redefine value through a play of materials that mixes use of premium Tagua seeds with conflict-free diamonds, fair trade gemstones, recycled precious metals including gold and platinum, and invisibly set screws that replace toxic glues. The result is both gorgeous and eco-friendly. The most valuable material Irthly uses? It’s not precious metals or dazzling diamonds, but Tagua – a seed that replaces animal elephant ivory, now dubbed “white gold”.
Read Full Story at BloombergBusinessweek
Raising Star
The JCK Rising Star program, established in 1995, seeks out up-and-coming designers whose work exhibits true artisan quality, innovation, and a unique yet marketable style. The juried process includes a select panel of retailers, editors, and stylists who review each designer and provide ratings on the quality of materials used, craftsmanship, originality, and salability. Only those applicants with the highest score are invited to exhibit in the Design Center—the destination for fresh, emerging talent. Previous Rising Stars, including Heather Moore, Sarah Graham, and Alex Woo, are now widely recognized brands in the jewelry industry—a testament to the program’s viability.
Instore Magazine
What is your favorite fashion jewelry material to work with? I use organic vegetable ivory — tagua nut — as the focal material to symbolize and present creation — birth, nurturing and the womb — as an element of our world that is just as precious and valuable as fine jewelry. Vegetable ivory has fascinated me since inception. Its beautiful array of earthy white tones and its natural mokume-like grains and textures expose the process of creation and individualism. Its hardness and workability are still surprising me to this day.
Read Full Story at Instoremag.com or In Store article PDF
Jewelry Connoisseur (Free Magazine App)
Based in the heart of New York City’s dynamic diamond district, Jewelry Connoisseur takes you behind the scenes of the glamorous — and sometimes gritty — world of diamonds, gemstones and jewelry. It will take you inside the glittering auctions and explore the fascinating history of jewelry. It will introduce you to today’s most talented designers, show you the top trends and much more. A new issue of Jewelry Connoisseur will be released once a month.
Earthly Delights
Published in the October 2013 issue
Irthly Jewelled Adornments redefines the meaning of precious.
By Amber Michelle
Gold, silver, platinum, diamonds and gemstones…we all know they are precious. When designer David Alvarado launched his company Irthly Jewelled Adornments in October of 2012, he had a mission to change the way others view what is precious.
“I wanted to reassess what is valuable and introduce new elements as precious. I believe that the notion of precious is undergoing a revaluation. I want to be part of that process by introducing elements of the environment that are often taken for granted, but play a crucial role in the ecosystem, into precious jewelry,” says Alvarado, who got his master’s degree in comparative philosophy from San Diego State University and draws upon that background for inspiration. “I wanted to create something that is nurturing. The womb is nurturing, so I needed to find something that represents the womb. I found the Tagua Nut.”
Read Full Story at Rapaport Magazine or Rapport Content Viewer for Web
WWD Magazine Aug 2013
ECO-FRIENDLY
Irthly Return Pendant recently featured WWD page title Jungle.
Read Full Story at WWD
Opening Lines: August Newest Jewelry
ECO-FRIENDLY
DAVID ALVARADO recently launched the jewelry line, Irthly Jewelled Adornments, to reflect his belief that sustainability is becoming a global value. The collection showcases fashionable jewelry that displays appreciation for vital elements of the environment. For the Classics Collection, he used a fully organic material — the tagua nut (known as vegetable ivory), and harvested with fair trade principles from palm trees in Ecuador’s tropical rainforest.
Read Full Story at Instore Magazine
Irthly Refines Fair Trade Tagua Nut for Diamond Jewelry
Irthly Jewelled Adornments refines the Tagua nut – a seed of a palm tree from the rainforest of Equador – as a featured eco-element of its new diamond jewelry collection, Classics. The Tagua nut is also endearingly known as “vegetable ivory” and displays natural and individually unique colors and ingrains. Tagua is a seed of a palm tree from the rainforest of Equador. A fair trade compliant organization harvests the nut, benefiting the local people and economy.
Read the details and view the video
2013 MJSA Vision Awards – Laser Distinction Winner
Every year, the MJSA Vision Awards celebrate outstanding talent in the field of jewelry design. The winning designers represent the future of the jewelry manufacturing industry, and the Vision Awards competition showcases their creativity and boosts their careers. Some of the industry’s finest designers—Todd Reed, Mark Schneider, Steve Midgett, Lisa Krikawa, and many others—can point to a Vision Award among their exemplary credits. Irthly’s Cycles Pendant in rose gold earned recognition as one of the 2013 Laser Distinction Winners.
2013 American Jewelry Design Council New Talent Awards – Runner-up
AJDC holds an annual contest to select an outstanding new talent in fine jewelry – AJDC New Talent Contest The Summer Award Ceremony will be held at JA New York, July 28-30 – Read the details