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$2,250 Scholarship

Pursuing a B.F.A. in jewelry at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia

When Elle Jerge applied to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2022 she declared as a fashion design major. She was also on a "sculptural path," continuing an interest she had as a teenager in her home state of Tennessee, when she took part in the state Governor's School for the Arts summer program. To fill out her freshman year classes, though, she took a jewelry elective. And it was it that class where "something clicked."

"I loved every aspect," she remembers, "from drawing to design to modeling to casting—even just sitting at the bench." It could be she was just following a family tradition: her mother had enjoyed a successful jewelry design career in the 1990s after pivoting from studies in interior design. But by her sophomore year at SCAD, she had switched fully to jewelry and never looked back. Over the next two years, in addition to her school studies, she participated in special projects involving luxury watch brand Movado (creating a new line of luxury timepieces and jewelry) and New York City–based LoveShackFancy (developing a marketing campaign for luxury vintage and bespoke items). And this past summer, after completing her junior year, she was chosen for an apprenticeship at the New York studio of designer David Yurman, a SCAD supporter who recently donated $1 million in gemstones to the school's jewelry program.

"I learned so much working with the design team—choosing gems for designs, working with illustrators, with CAD, bringing designs to life," she says. "I also was exposed to the business side, marketing and retail. It was awesome."

She'll bring those lessons to her final year at SCAD, where she's focused on creating jewelry that also tells stories. "I love to come up with concepts and stories," she says. One example is her "Women in Crime" suite (below), for which she pictured a "female James Bond" who orchestrates a heist of Princess Grace Kelly's jewelry collections. The scarab in the pendant was inspired by one actually owned by Kelly, and the gold heart (by the clasp) features the image of a Monaco casino. Other elements—the 3-D–printed yacht and racecar, playing-card earrings that pick up on the four suite emblems in the necklace—also seem straight from a Bond film.

"The more you look, the more you find," she says. The description for the collection ends with the directive "Dare to 'seize the sparkle’—because the real crime is holding yourself back."

 As she looks ahead to post-graduation—applying for a full-time spot with the Yurman team, eventually creating her own brand—holding back is the last thing she intends to do.

For her "Women in Crime" suite, Elle Jerge pictured a "female James Bond" who orchestrates a heist of Princess Grace Kelly's jewelry collections. The scarab in the pendant was inspired by one actually owned by Kelly, and the gold heart (by the clasp) features the image of a Monaco casino.

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