Sriram “Ram” Natarajan is now GIA’s senior vice president of laboratory operations and is based out of the lab’s headquarters in Carlsbad.
Alex Woo wants to help the honey bees too
The designer has partnered with the Platinum Guild International to launch her first platinum design, a limited edition beehive and honey bee pendant that will help support the “Häagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees” program.
Woo collaborated with Platinum Guild International and Emmy Award-winning costume designer Lyn Paolo, who currently works on ABC’s Scandal and the Showtime series Shameless and is a PGI platinum ambassador, to design the piece.

The limited edition pendant marks the designer’s first venture into platinum. It features a honey bee and beehive made in the metal as well as fancy vivid yellow diamond accents. It is priced at $1,898 and is being sold on Woo’s website.
It is the latest addition to Woo’s Little Activist collection, created to allow consumers a new way to express who they are and what they believe in.
Proceeds from the sale of the pendant will support the “Häagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees” program, which provides funds for honey bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis, and to help maintain the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a bee-friendly demonstration garden on the UC Davis campus.
RELATED CONTENT: The baubles and the bees
“All my designs are symbolic so it was such a pleasant surprise that Lyn and I both shared the same interest in helping save the honey bees,” Woo said. “This became our inspiration for our Little Activist Beehive. My fine jewelry collection is classic, personal, and wearable every day, so it was exciting to be creating this new pendant in platinum, as it still captures the essence of all my trademark Little Icons, but in a luxurious new way.”
RELATED CONTENT: Bee-ing helpful
Woo joins companies like Gumuchian and Maison Birks in creating fine jewelry lines to support research on the plight of the honey bee--how colonies are collapsing, hives are failing and bees are dying --and what can be done about the threat to this all-important insect.
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