[Jewelry making - Article 00000] - [Orchid] Belle Brooke Designs Wins National Jewelry Award

[Hilary Scott]

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    Prescott, AZ August 31, 2007 Today, Halstead Bead, Inc. announced
    the winner of its second annual national business grant competition
    for bridge jewelry designers: Belle Brooke Designs of Los Angeles,
    CA. 

    Belle Brooke Barer, principal designer and visionary of the company,
    will receive $6,000 in cash and merchandise as part of the grant
    prize package. She intends to use these funds to invest in a fashion
    marketing campaign including both print and web materials. "I think
    that is going to be a big help for me in taking the next step and
    really expanding my business," said an exuberant Barer. Her work is
    already sold in stores around the country as well as through several
    online retailers. 

    Barer creates jewelry that is inspired by the natural symmetry
    inherent in the organic world. The style is an artistic rendering of
    the concept of cells and their multitudinous manifestations. Her
    work is unmistakably original and features circular patterns
    compressed within shaped frames and offset by natural gemstones. You
    can see her current Metropolis and Night Sky collections at
    www.bellebrooke.net. 

    Barer began making jewelry as a teenager in her hometown of Houston,
    TX. Her passion for jewelry as an art form continued to grow over
    the years alongside her other creative endeavors such as photography
    and studio art. She moved to California for her advanced education
    and honed her talents at Pitzer College in Claremont, The Crucible
    in Berkeley and the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco.
    Eventually, she landed her first industry job as a bench jeweler for
    Studio 311 in Petaluma. After studying many techniques, Barer began
    to develop her own unique style and decided to launch her signature
    line and business in 2005. Belle Brooke Designs was born and has
    been steadily growing from its Los Angeles home base ever since. 

    "Belle Brooke stood out in an extremely competitive field of
    applicants this year. Anyone can see the design talent she possesses
    when you look at her line. However, the judging committee also got
    to see a thorough business plan that revealed her solid strategic
    and analytical skills," said Hilary Halstead Scott, Marketing
    Director at Halstead Bead, Inc. "This is clearly a young woman with
    a very bright future in the industry and we are proud to offer her
    this award." 

    Halstead Bead offers the grant each year as an award to a bridge
    jewelry designer who launched their business within the last three
    years. The prize differs from most competitions in the trade because
    judging is equally based on both jewelry design acumen and the
    artists' business skills. Applicants are required to respond to
    several specific questions and submit a business plan along with
    their design portfolio. Candidates from all over the United States
    vied for the grant and represented the full breadth of products and
    marketing approaches in the marketplace. The Halstead Bead Business
    Grant for Bridge Jewelry is an annual competition that draws
    designers from across the nation. Details on the award and all of
    this year's top 10 finalists can be found at
    www.halsteadbead.com/grant. The deadline for next year's competition
    will be in June 2008. Updated application materials will be
    available online this fall. Last year's winner was Ananda Khalsa
    Jewelry of Providence, RI. 

    Halstead Bead, Inc. is one of North America's leading jewelry supply
    importers and distributors. The firm was established in 1973 and now
    supplies thousands of component resellers and jewelry designers
    around the globe. Halstead Bead, Inc. is wholesale only and sells
    beads and findings for the bridge jewelry segment in sterling
    silver, gold-filled, copper, pearl, shell, gemstones, glass and
    crystal. The firm also distributes branded component lines such as
    Swarovski and Beadalon. 

Contacts:
Belle Brooke Barer
Belle Brooke Designs
www.bellebrooke.net
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