Gurhan Orhan is a jewelry designer

Jewelry designer

A jewellery designer or jewelry designer is a person who renders original jewellery creations and usually constructs them as well...

 and master goldsmith

Goldsmith

A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...

 known for his work with pure gold, pure platinum, and pure silver.

Biography

Gurhan began his career as a jewelry designer at age 40, having “discovered” pure gold and, falling for its allure, deciding to master the craft of working in the pure metal. Prior to becoming a jewelry designer, Gurhan pursued a number of careers: watchmaker, audio electronics engineer, and a proprietor of night clubs

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

, rock bars and restaurants. While Turkish by birth, Gurhan considers himself a citizen of the world, having lived in Greece, Switzerland, France and currently New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Further utilizing his eclectic assortment of skills, Gurhan has a passion for photography, which he has used to shoot his brand’s national advertising campaigns.

Brand

The brand, GURHAN, was the creation of Gurhan Orhan and his wife, Fiona Tilley. The brand references only the designer’s first name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

. Gurhan began his career as a jewelry designer in the early 1990s and their business was incorporated and launched in the US in 1997.

The brand can now be found in top luxury department store

Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

s like Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...

, Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...

, Bloomingdales, Barneys New York

Barneys New York

Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.Brands sold include...

, Harrods

Harrods

Harrods is an upmarket department store located in Brompton Road in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air...

, Selfridges

Selfridges

Selfridges, AKA Selfridges & Co, is a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The flagship store in London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK and was opened on 15 March 1909.More recently, three other stores have been...

, and Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols, founded in 1813, is an upmarket department store chain. Its original store is in London. Founded in 1813 as a linen shop, it sells many international brands of clothing for women and men, fashion accessories, beauty products, wine and food...

, as well as independent specialty retailers. It is regarded as one of the top selling fine designer jewelry lines in the luxury sector.

The brand has attracted a strong following from royalty and celebrities alike, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...

, Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...

, Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

, Faith Hill

Faith Hill

Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...

, Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

, Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

, Megan Fox

Megan Fox

Megan Denise Fox is an American actress and model. She began her acting career in 2001 with several minor television and film roles, and played a regular role on Hope & Faith. In 2004, she launched her film career with a role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen...

, Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...

, Ashley Olsen

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen are American actresses and entrepreneurs.Both have appeared in television and films since infancy. Since then, they have continued their celebrity through numerous television programs, films, interviews, as well as commercial endorsements...

, Kelly Ripa

Kelly Ripa

Kelly Ripa is an American actress and television host. Since February 2001, she has served as the co-host of talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, along with Regis Philbin and now solo host of Live! With Kelly...

, Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson

Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...

, Tipper Gore

Tipper Gore

Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore , née Aitcheson, is an author, photographer, former second lady of the United States, and the estranged wife of Al Gore...

, Laura Bush

Laura Bush

Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001, to January 20, 2009. She has held a love of books and reading since childhood and her life and education have reflected that interest...

, Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron is a South African actress, film producer and former fashion model.She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules...

, Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

, Deborah Norville

Deborah Norville

Deborah Norville is an American television broadcaster and journalist. Since 1995 she has been host of the syndicated American television program Inside Edition...

, Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks

Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums...

, Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray

Rachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day...

 and Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Annette Bullock is an Academy Award winning American actress and producer who rose to fame in the 1990s after roles in successful films such as Demolition Man, Speed, The Net, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping. She continued with films such as Miss Congeniality, The Lake House,...

.

Collaborations

Gurhan was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

 and exclusively authorized by the government of Afghanistan to create a collection of 24 karat gold jewelry in commemoration of the exhibition Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures of the National Museum, Kabul. Gurhan was chosen by the Met, specifically for the fact that his major contribution to the world of jewelry has been to reincarnate the techniques of ancient goldsmiths who first worked in pure 24 karat gold. These goldsmiths emanated from all the various cultures that created the museum treasures, not just Turkey or Afghanistan. Their techniques were abandoned for a long period time following the trend to alloy gold with lesser metals such as silver and copper, and indeed, it became commonly regarded as impossible and undesirable to make jewelry using 24 karat gold due to its softness, weight and expense. Gurhan’s pioneering revival of the use of pure gold in modern jewelry challenged these long-held assumptions and it is thanks to him that this wonderful metal is now available for today’s woman to wear. With all of his designs – those in the Met exhibition and others available elsewhere - Gurhan offers an opportunity for modern collectors to experience a piece of history.

Awards

• 2000 – Grand Prize in Design Trends, awarded by the World Gold Council for Spring bracelet
• 2000 – First place in Ornamentation, awarded by the World Gold Council for Spring necklace
• 2000 – Runner up
  Runner-up
  Runner-up is a term used to denote a participant which finishes in second place in any of a variety of competitive endeavors, most notably sporting events and beauty pageants; in the latter instance, the term is applied to more than one of the highest-ranked non-winning contestants, the...
  
  in Ornamentation, awarded by the World Gold Council for Lentil necklace
• 2002 – Honorable Mention, awarded by Perles de Tahiti for Tahitian pearl and diamond necklace
• 2004 - First place, awarded by Perles de Tahiti for Tahitian pearl Comet ring
• 2004 – Third place, awarded by Perles de Tahiti for Tahitian pearl cufflink and stud set
• 2006 – Blue Ribbon, awarded by the World Gold Council for Pebble suite
• 2007 – Blue Ribbon, awarded by the World Gold Council for Willow suite
• 2008 – Blue Ribbon, awarded by the World Gold Council for Lush suite and Dome ring
• 2009 – Everyday Luxury, awarded by the Platinum Guild International for one-of-a-kind platinum ring with a Mexican Opal
• 2009 – Best Designer in Gold, awarded by JQ International and selected by retailers throughout the United States

External links

• http://www.gurhan.com