Jacques Branellec receives JNA’S Lifetime Achievement Award

Jewelmer Group President and CEO Jacques Branellec received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the sixth annual JNA Awards, presented last Sept. 14, at the InterContinental Hong Kong.

Organized by UBM Asia, the JNA Awards is one of the most prestigious awards in the international jewelry sector. Its highest accolade, the Lifetime Achievement Award, is conferred to leaders and visionaries who have changed the landscape of jewelry and who have made a lasting impact in the world at large.

“This award holds much meaning to us, because Jewelmer was there in the first issue of JNA, at the time when Letitia Chow and Peter Brindisi established JNA in 1983,” says Branellec. “Our companies began and evolved together, until JNA became the famous media outlet that it is today.”

Recognized as one of the pillars of the international jewelry industry, Branellec pioneered the production of two of the most exquisite living gems: the black Tahitian pearl and the golden South Sea pearl.  As Branellec co-founded Jewelmer with Manuel Cojuangco in 1979, he sought ways for pearl farming to go hand in hand with environmental conservation.

“Jewelmer has grown to champion a larger cause—not only to create the perfect pearl, but to nurture the environment that produces it,” says Branellec in his acceptance speech.  “At the height of global warming, we have to change our ways. The whole world and the jewelry industry—[especially with] the pearl industry [being] one of the leaders of the field—should consider not anymore the volume or the quantity, but the quality and the sustainability.”

Fusing luxury with sustainability, Branellec has sought not only to revolutionize an industry, but to create an alternative way of life: where man works in harmony with nature. “To me,” Branellec says, “this award means that if you innovate with the right intention, you will be rewarded beyond what you can imagine.”