Next week is the finale. This week two design­ers were elim­i­nated: Christina and Diego. Before con­tin­u­ing on, let me say that I’ve loved their work, and they were more than qual­i­fied to be in the final five before they took their bow last night. In fact, they per­fectly com­pli­mented the show and the other design­ers in this con­test of style. Every remain­ing designer was unique in his/her vision and process. Christina and Diego are both immensely tal­ented, inno­v­a­tive, and pas­sion­ate about what they do. If only this wasn’t real­ity pro­gram­ming where every­thing is judged in the moment, then we would have much more to see from them. Maybe Life­time would con­sider a doc­u­men­tary about the pro­fes­sional life of a designer after the Project series: how they’ve moved on, their career path, and how their design aes­thetic devel­ops here­after. Many design­ers say they have learned a lot from being on the show. It would be fas­ci­nat­ing to see the affect, if any, it has had on their careers.

In terms of the win­ners of this chal­lenge, I think that Rich edged out Nina by the tini­est of mar­gins. It wasn’t in exe­cu­tion or atten­tion to detail because there they both were bril­liant. And here I have to also give kudos to Brian for his pieces. His neck­lace, cuff bracelet, and ring told a lush and cohe­sive story. I’m not sure what Molly was see­ing when she remarked about the black cuff look­ing cheap; to me, it was mas­ter­fully exe­cuted and beau­ti­fully fin­ished. Take a closer look at the indi­vid­ual pieces on Lifetime’s Rate the Run­way, and see if you agree.

Rich refo­cused our atten­tion on what is impor­tant in jew­elry, which of course is design. He made each part of that insect a focal point: the head, the body, and the wings. All at once, he can­ni­bal­ized and can­on­ized them, trans­form­ing the anatomy of ento­mol­ogy into some­thing pre­cious, like a gem­stone. While the Swarovski crys­tals added a bit of sparkle and depth of color, the insect’s dis­em­bod­ied parts drew the viewer’s eye to the orna­ment. Watch­ing Rich talk about his design, I was cheer­ing. This is the kind of think­ing that gave us Rene Lalique, a nine­teenth cen­tury jew­elry arti­san (and later famous art glass man­u­fac­turer) who took insects and trans­formed them into dimor­phic shapes and themes never con­ceived by nature. These Art Nou­veau motifs pro­duced exquis­ite jew­elry that was unortho­dox, some­times repug­nant, and the kind that demanded atten­tion. It was res­olutely compelling.

Rene Lalique — Gul­benkian Drag­on­fly enamel brooch France, c. 1897.1898. Gold enamel, chryso­prase, chal­cedony, moon­stone and diamond

Rene Lalique — Gul­benkian Drag­on­fly enamel brooch France, c. 1897.1898. Gold enamel, chryso­prase, chal­cedony, moon­stone and diamond

Nina took things spi­der­ish and made arach­nid poetry with them. The leggy and lyri­cal wire ele­ments on her cuff were as attrac­tive as they were orig­i­nal. While I have seen body orna­ment done well before, in par­tic­u­lar by stu­dio arti­san Lucie Heskett-Brem of whom I am a huge fan, I haven’t observed any­thing as tai­lored or pre­cisely draped as Nina’s neck­lace. The way it caressed the shoul­der and was fit­ted almost like a sleeve made it per­sonal, sculpted to the woman wear­ing it. Holiday-wise, this is the ulti­mate stock­ing stuffer, or Chanukah present. Hint, hint, honey. Loved, too, Nina’s brooch and the ver­sa­til­ity of wear­ing it in the hair, or any­where else.

Next week’s win­ner is anyone’s guess. The last three design­ers are all cham­pi­ons, regard­less of who actu­ally takes home the prize.