MiaDonna® discussing engagement season on the radio

It’s Engagement Season. Are you ready?

MiaDonna® CEO Anna-Mieke Anderson recently visited our lovely friend and customer Nicolle Camarata during one of her segments on Portland’s 97.1 CharlieFM. During the segment Anna-Mieke and Nicolle covered some trends  and things to look for if your planning or hoping to get engaged this holiday season.

 Browse MiaDonna® Engagement Rings

Palladium on the Red Carpet at the 2011 Emmys

Did you notice all the Palladium jewelry that was worn on the red carpet at this year’s Emmys? We did! Celebrities Christina Hendricks, Kelly Osbourne and Giuliana Rancic were all wearing it.

Only a few nights before the Emmys we also saw Christina Hendricks attending the premier of her new movie “I Don’t Know How She Does It” along side costars Sarah Jessica Parker, Olivia Munn and Greg Kinnear, again all wearing Palladium.

So has Palladium finally arrived in Hollywood? Well we can’t answer that question, but we can say that Palladium has definitely arrived in the wedding and fine jewelry world. With the price of Gold, Platinum and Diamonds sky rocketing to all time highs it’s no wonder this incredibly beautiful and extremely resilient metal is starting to make its presence known.

 So what is Palladium?

Palladium is a member of the Platinum family. It shares many of the same characteristics as Platinum, but it doesn’t hold the higher price point. Palladium has the identical luster and color of Platinum and will even develop the lovely patina that Platinum forms over time. Palladium is as strong as Platinum, is hypo-allergenic and is offered at an 18k gold price. At MiaDonna® we offer Pure 950 Palladium, considered to be the finest mixture available and of course our offering is 100% recycled and eco-friendly. One thing to keep in mind when creating your ring from Palladium is the fact that it takes a highly skilled jeweler to work with the metal. This is because of the extremely high temperatures used, you’ll want to maintain your ring with a jeweler that is confident in working with Palladium – like us!

If you desire the look of Platinum but don’t like the price, Palladium is a great alternative that you will love for a life time. Every ring at Miadonna.com is available in our eco-friendly Palladium. You can learn more about Palladium and how it stands up to all our other precious metals here.

MiaDonna® and The Greener Diamond photo shoot: Behind the Scenes

We recently spent some time in New York City where we met up with Greener Diamond endorser and international supermodel Nnenna Agba. Celebrity photographer Keith Major, most famous for his work with Beyonce, Sean Combs, Tyra Banks, Lauren Hill, Iman, Spike Lee and many more, did a fantastic job photographing Nnenna in her MiaDonna jewelry. Nenna’s  makeup and styling was done beautifully by Daryon Haylock who was also at the shoot.

 Here are a few of the finished photos we will be using in future marketing campaigns and advertisements.

These are some additional behind the scenes photo’s taken buy our lovely friend Selena Moshel. Selena also traveled with us to Africa to visit the 100 acre Greener Diamond Farm, that was paid for by proceeds from the sales of MiaDonna’s® eco-friendly fine jewelery.

MiaDonna&Company and The Greener Diamond founder Anna-Mieke Anderson in New Zealand’s, The Profit Magazine

The Profit Magazine, Hawke’s Bay’s Business resource, recently wrote an article on our founder and native Hawke’s Bay resident Anna-Mieke Anderson. The article covers Anna-Mieke’s work in Africa through The Greener Diamond foundation and the development of MiaDonna®, a social and environmentally conscious fine jewelry retail chain that solely funds the projects carried out by The Greener Diamond.

The full article by The Profit:

Anna-Mieke Anderson- Her niche in life and business found setting up a green farm of a unique type across the globe in Africa

Sierra Leone is a long way from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood where movie stars and celebrities wear jewelry often harvested by African communities on the brink of destruction.

But is it where Hastings-born Anna-Mieke Anderson realised her dream setting up “The Greener Diamond Farm” which aims to reduce the impact mining has on its environment and people.

She initially founded her business MiaDonna and Co in 2005 in Portland, Oregon, developing technology to make man-made diamond products as an alternative to conflict diamonds, also known as “blood diamonds” mined in Africa.

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MiaDonna Diamond Hybrids® featured in Diana Sell photography wedding shoot on OneWed.com

MiaDonna Diamond Hybrid® was recently featured in a bridal photo shoot hosted by Diana Sell Photography, a local Portland photographer, specializing in weddings, portraits, portfolios and head shots. You can also see this beautiful shoot on OneWed.com’s Savvy Scoop.

Model Natalie is wearing the Allure wedding ring set. The engagement ring features a 1.85 carat oval cut MiaDonna Diamond Hybrid® center stone and is accented with 0.21 carats of recycled f/g color diamonds. The matching wedding band holds 0.13 carats of recycled f/g color accenting diamonds. Both the engagement ring and matching wedding band were created in eco-friendly 14K solid recycled white gold.

Natalie is also wearing a matching, custom crafted, eco-friendly 14K white gold Allure bracelet along with 2.0 carat total weight MiaDonna Diamond Hybrid® princess cut stud earrings.

Model Kc is wearing the Seth Men’s ring with a 1.0 carat round brilliant, hearts and arrows cut MiaDonna Diamond Hybrid® center stone. The Seth is crafted from eco-friendly 14K solid white gold.

MiaDonna® is set to attend the 2011 JCK Las Vegas.

MiaDonna® is set to attend the annual JCK Las Vegas, the jewelery industries largest and premier jewelers convention set to be held June 3rd to June 6th at the Mandalay Bay hotel and Casino. This will be our 5th consecutive year attending this prestigious event.

The series of JCK Events are designed to serve the worldwide jewelry industry by offering the most comprehensive and complete buying and selling opportunities on a business-to-business basis. This year we will be meeting with many new designers, attending media and spending sometime listening to industry experts give their take on the future of the fine jewelry industry and what they think the hottest trends will be for 2011.

We will be showing off our new finds and sharing our experience with our twitter and Face Book friends, so follow us today to see what is happening. Some of the cool things we hope to share with everyone will be our experience at the leVian Red Carpet event and the after party concert with Bruno Mars performing.

MiaDonna® is a registered STOP BLOOD DIAMONDS jeweler.

We are happy to announce that MiaDonna® is officially a registered “STOP BLOOD DIAMONDS” jeweler.

MiaDonna® and The Greener diamond

The Greener Diamond is a charity foundation created by MiaDonna & Company. They were created together, to work as a system, towards a common goal of bringing the beauty of love back to diamonds. Funds from consumers purchasing eco-friendly products at MiaDonna & Company allow The Greener Diamond to repair the damage caused by the unethical harvesting of diamonds, gems and precious metals. Despite ongoing reports in the media about the dark side of the diamond trade, consumer demand continues to grow at a steady rate. This increased demand perpetuates the cycle of the exploitation of natural resources, mining communities, natural environments and diamond consumers. To learn more about how your purchase from MiaDonna® is creating a new future for the people that have suffered directly from the harvesting of blood diamonds click here.