I want to talk about the future.
Not in the abstract, theoretical way that industries talk about the future when they are feeling optimistic. I want to talk about it in the very specific, very real, very human way that I experienced it this past Sunday night at the Award of Excellence Gala — when five extraordinary young jewellers stood in that spotlight and reminded every single person in that room exactly what this industry is capable of becoming.
The Young Jeweller award is the one that keeps me up at night. Not because it is complicated. Because it matters so deeply.
Why I Created This Category
Let me be honest with you about something.
When I look at the jewellery industry — at its history, its heritage, its extraordinary depth of craft and culture — I feel an enormous sense of pride. But when I think about the future, I feel something else alongside that pride. I feel a responsibility. A weight. A nagging question that I cannot shake no matter how many successful shows we produce or how many issues of this magazine we put out.
Are we doing enough for the next generation?
Are we making them feel that this industry belongs to them as much as it belongs to us? Are we putting them on the pedestal they deserve — not as apprentices waiting their turn, but as full and vital members of a community that cannot survive without their energy, their creativity, their fresh eyes and their fearless hands?
The honest answer, for too long, was no. We celebrated longevity. We celebrated scale. We celebrated the established and the proven. And those celebrations were deserved and will always have their place. But we were not doing enough to say to a twenty-five-year-old jeweller just starting to find their voice: you belong here. This industry sees you. This industry needs you. This stage is yours too.
The Young Jeweller award is my answer to that. It is this industry’s promise to its own future.
What This Year’s Finalists Showed Us
This year, five finalists stood in that light. Five young jewellers who chose this craft — not because it was the easiest path, not because it was the most obvious one, but because something in them recognized this industry as the place where they could build something real, something lasting, something worth giving their life to.
Breck Alary of Anello Jewellers. AJ Rooney of Bogart’s Jewellers. Victor Commisso of Sabatini Jewellery. Aavis Bhindi of Golden Tree Jewellers. And Hijran Ali Boyaci of West Gold and Diamonds — who carried the remarkable distinction of being nominated in not one but two categories on the same night, a testament to a talent that simply refuses to be contained by a single definition.
Each of them represents something different. A different background, a different vision, a different expression of what jewellery can mean and what a jewellery career can look like. And that diversity — that beautiful, vibrant range of perspectives and approaches — is exactly what this industry needs if it is going to remain relevant, exciting, and extraordinary for the next fifty years.
Innovation does not come from sameness. Creativity does not come from comfort. The future of Canadian jewellery will be shaped by people who see this craft differently, who bring new influences and new ideas and new energy to a tradition that is strong enough to hold all of it — and wise enough to welcome it.
These five finalists are those people. And on Sunday night, this industry stood up for them. Literally and completely.
What We Owe Them
I said this from the stage and I will say it here because I believe it with everything I have: supporting young jewellers is not generosity. It is not charity. It is not mentorship as a feel-good exercise.
It is an obligation.
This industry was built by people who took enormous risks, who sacrificed enormously, who gave their working lives to creating something that none of us could have built alone. The wholesalers who carried the inventory. The manufacturers who worked the bench. The retailers who opened their doors in communities that had never had a fine jewellery store before. They built this. And they built it so that the next generation could stand on something solid.
We owe it to them — to the builders, to the pioneers, to every Keeper of the Craft who paved this road — to make sure we hand it forward with the same care and the same investment with which it was handed to us.
And we owe it to ourselves. Because an industry that does not invest in its young talent is an industry that is quietly, slowly choosing to decline. The creativity, the innovation, the ability to connect with the next generation of consumers — all of it lives in the hands and minds of the young jewellers we celebrate tonight.
Put them on a pedestal. Give them the spotlight. Tell them loudly and without reservation that this industry is theirs to shape. And then get out of the way and watch what they build.
The Winner Will Be Revealed in the Next Issue
The 2026 Young Jeweller of the Year has been chosen. And I can tell you this without reservation: the winner is someone who represents everything this award was created to celebrate. The talent is extraordinary. The dedication is real. And the future they are building for themselves and for this industry is one that makes me genuinely excited to keep doing this work.
The full announcement — including the winner’s story, their journey, and what this recognition means for their career and for this industry — will be published in full in the next issue of Canadian Jeweller Magazine.
I want you to read it in print. I want you to hold it in your hands and feel the weight of what this generation is capable of. Because some stories deserve more than a screen — and this is one of them.
Subscribe to the Print Edition
The complete Young Jeweller of the Year feature — including the winner reveal, the full profiles of all five finalists, and the complete Award of Excellence winners across all twelve categories — is published in the next issue of Canadian Jeweller Magazine.
This is the issue that tells the story of where this industry has been and exactly where it is going. It belongs in your store, on your desk, in your hands.
Subscribe to the print edition of Canadian Jeweller Magazine today and be the first to know.
Subscribe at canadianjeweller.com
Because the future of this industry deserves to be told in print.
Olivier Felicio is the CEO and Publisher of Canadian Jeweller Magazine and Time & Shine Jewellery Trade Show, Canada’s leading jewellery trade show and awards platform.
