What goes around comes around! One of the most popular trends among celebrity tastemakers recently are big, bold, gold collar chokers. This classic piece is seeing a resurgence on the necks of Hollywood’s hottest stars, from Rihanna and Olivia Wilde, to Kim Kardashian and Alicia Keys. Think these are for evenings only? Try wearing one under the collar of a buttoned-up shirt to create a chic daytime look.

Congratulations to the CrowdJewel Spring Statement Necklace winner, Daniela Lobo of WOW! Uivos das Manas, who hails from Braga, Portugal! The crowd picked her pink crocheted necklace as their favorite, and we couldn’t agree more, especially after hearing the sweet inspiration behind the design. Check out our interview to find out more!

Crowd Jewel: Please give us a little background about yourself and how you started designing jewelry. 

Daniela Lobo: WOW is born of a union of three distinct generations. It begins in the desire to perpetuate the special bond that has always existed between us, mother and daughters. 3 parts of a single force. And so the discovery of an activity that would allow us the embodiment of that power, and provide us unique moments. Each generation with its distinctive contribution, resulting in one piece. The unique character we assign to our creations that each part corresponds to a bead sewn shared laughter, and even the successive stings on the hand will turn into memories. And because beauty is in the ability to make gestures, exchanges, moments that materialize the love we feel for others, this was our choice!

CJ: What was your inspiration for this design?

DL: This is a design from a collection based on ice-cream! It is an accessory representation of ice-cream, with all the elements that are a part of it. It is also a hand-made crocheted necklace, which is a tradition in our country.

CJ: Who are your style icons?

DL: We don’t have style icons, For us, style comes from our soul, from the expressions of the heart and desire. It reveals what you are and who you want to be. So, it’s all the people that express happiness from being what they are, from being WOW!

CJ: How would you describe your personal style?

DL: Sometimes it’s very normal, sometimes very eclectic. But also true with the state of mind of the day. That’s when your spirit commands your body :)

CJ: What interested you in joining Crowd Jewel and submitting your design to our contest?

DL: We respect plataforms that help and encourage artists to pursue their dreams, and CrowdJewel is inspiring us and keeping us involved not only with the artist community but with the public.

CJ: Where can we find more of your designs?

DL: You can find us on…
Our blog: WoW! Uivo das Manas

Facebook: Uivo das Manas

Behance: WoW! Uivo das Manas

Etsy store: Uivo das Manas

Dear CrowdJewelers,

As you know we recently launched our beta site’s first contest, Spring Cocktail Rings, and we’re so thrilled with the beautiful designs that were submitted! Unfortunately, we learned from contest that there seems there is still more work to be done to ensure a smooth experience for everyone. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback, it’s helped us to identify some bugs that have created an inconsistent experience for some of our users.  

While this is a frustrating discovery for both CrowdJewelers and for the CrowdJewel team—we had even delayed the original launch date after discovering the need for further testing—we have decided to continue to tweak the site while running contests since, with your help, it enables us to identify and fix issues faster. 

We apologize for any inconvenience, and we hope you’ll continue to let us know when you encounter problems. We also appreciate your patience as we work through this. As for the prizes, we will continue to honor our commitment and award the winners as promised. We realize this may be seen as unfair to some, but we believe this is the best course of action for the time being. Of course, we are open to your suggestions and feedback! 

CrowdJewel