Samir Bhansali, Head Designer and the owner of La Reina, a US based jewellery company that specializes in very high end couture pieces has won the first prize in the ‘Diamonds above US$ 20k’ category at the prestigious 2011 Couture Design Awards held during the Couture Show in Las Vegas in early June. Samir is the son of Late Pushpa and Shri Rajnibhai Chandulal Bhansali.

The awards, now being held for over a decade, are among the most coveted prizes for individual designers and brands, and are widely recognised as a true representation of innovation and inherent talent from the most creative minds in timepieces and jewellery items.

The winning piece – An Angel’s Wing, is inspired by Nature, particularly butterflies, fireflies and flowers. The ring is part of the Art du Jour Collection (French for “Art Today”) which has organic, one-of-a- kind pieces themed around Nature. It has been crafted in 18k grey gold and uses a mix of flat diamonds (27.60 carats – 14 stones), oval diamonds (3.76 carats -15 stones) and white round diamonds (2.69 carats – 852 stones).

The piece will be advertised in the Neiman Marcus Holiday catalogue as a one of a kind piece and the eventual buyer will get the original charcoal rendering of the ring signed by the designer.

Bhansali, who was born in Mumbai, has lived in Los Angeles, where La Reina Collection is headquartered, for the past 27 years. A third-generation diamond dealer, he launched La Reina Collection in 2001, and has been regularly winning awards ever since. In 2009, two of his pieces were winners at the Couture Design Awards. An artist who studied fashion design, he works with cutting edge styles and materials and is one of the pioneers of titanium jewellery in the US, creating some exotic collections that are a fusion of India’s age-old history with cutting-edge style.