Crystalline Creativity: The Incredible Highs of the 2026 Osmium Visionary Design Awards

In 2026, I joined forces with the Osmium Institute to launch the Osmium Visionary Contest for the second consecutive year. This incredible competition encourages global designers to think differently, challenge their typical design status quo, and imagine a jewel that can impress a leading panel of judges. The only condition is that their concept must include osmium – the world’s rarest precious metal. The 2026 competition is over, and the winners have been announced, so let’s explore the highlights together…

Osmium first landed on my jewellery radar back in 2024. It was then that I discovered a new type of precious metal within the platinum group that behaves in an entirely different way from the materials we usually encounter. You see, crystalline osmium is not malleable or bendable, so it must be used like a hardstone inlay or as ‘osmium diamonds’ in the form of small discs that can be set into surfaces, similar to pavé.

2026 Submissions

We evaluated pieces based on numerous factors, including aesthetics, originality, manufacturability, storytelling, wearability and, crucially, the use of osmium itself. As this is such a rare material, our judges rewarded designs that minimised waste and thoughtfully conserved material (this may become a formal judging criterion in future editions).

2026 Winners

Of course, there could only be a handful of winners who received the top prizes: €30,000, €20,000 and €10,000 worth of crystalline osmium. The judges, including world-renowned jewellery artist Anna Hu, narrowed it down to ten people with just a handful of points between them. In the end, though, three winners were able to rise above the rest to claim their prizes at GemGenève.

Let’s start with third place, which was awarded to Ying Chen Chen from Taiwan. She studied jewellery design and metalsmithing before travelling to Paris to continue her studies and establish her own eponymous jewellery brand. We loved her Arrivals Pulse earrings, featuring waves of osmium, yellow sapphire and blue titanium in an asymmetric layout. Her concept relates to the tilt of an aircraft as it comes into landing and the way in which city lights punctuate the night sky to bring land back into sparkling view. It’s so original and striking, whilst also responding beautifully to the constraints of osmium as a material.  

In second place was British designer Dan Voaden, whose Stargazer ring was fantastically emotive and full of childlike wonder. A midnight blue Lightning Ridge black opal serves as the inky night sky, lit up by stars of osmium set into a locket-style lid. The finishing touch is a small child, perched on the edge, looking up at the great big universe (maybe we all saw ourselves in this little girl).

Finally, in first place, I am thrilled to say that French artist-jeweller Marie Genon secured the top prize with her Night Bird transformable brooch and earrings (see them brought to life below). It was a meaningful win for me too, because Marie created accepted my challenge that I offered to @katerina_perez followers just a few months prior. I shared a story encouraging designers to think of a mechanism that can turn earrings into a pair of brooches, and clearly Marie succeeded in it. The wings of her mythical, universal bird detach to form two studs, while the carved obsidian body remains adorned with a poem and star map laser-engraved in white gold. 

2026 Impressions

Overall, this year’s competition felt like another step towards building a global community centred on ingenious and thoughtful design. Together, all the designers, renderers, jewellers, curators, writers and judges involved in this project are contributing towards a creative and joyful platform that takes the boundaries off creativity. I can see how growing international participation and better-informed submissions are turning the tide for osmium, taking it out of the shadows and into the light.

I hope after reading this article, you also feel that osmium is no longer an eccentric material. On the contrary, this competition highlights that its uses are endless and full of storytelling potential. If you didn’t have the opportunity to enter in 2026, don’t miss your chance in the year ahead.