Iowa Diamond President Chuck Kuba isn’t sure what to believe about the paranormal, but he’s willing to say that the co-designer of his award-winning necklace “Crop Circles I” might have been an alien.

This week, Kuba and his unusual necklace are in New York City at the National Design Competition. He earned the honor to represent Iowa in that contest after his piece was named Best in Show at the Iowa Jewelers Association’s annual design competition. Kuba’s design for the $11,000 necklace was inspired by his fascination with crop circles discovered in England a few years ago.

“Living in the Midwest and being surrounded by fields, crop circles are something I’ve found to be really interesting,” said Kuba. “I read a lot of articles about different crop circle discoveries, and when I really got to looking at them, I thought this could probably make some pretty interesting jewelry.”

Ian Strachan, a local artisan who is originally from England, manufactured “Crop Circles I.” It was crafted from a 1.06-carat Lazare Kaplan round brilliant diamond with stylized ‘flames’ in alternating white and yellow gold and 0.6mm Akoya cultured pearls at the tips of the flames.

Kuba said the design was modeled from the pattern of a crop circle found in Wiltshire, England, in 2001. He said he doesn’t know who made the circle, but he feels that at least some of the ones he’s read about cannot be the work of human beings.

“There was one from Devon, England, where 400 circles appeared overnight,” Kuba said. “There is no way that you could lay out that many circles in the middle of the night and not be discovered by somebody. For one, you’d need a lot of light to do it, and you’d need a lot of people to be able to do it.

“I’ve come across some bizarre things, and I have no idea what it means or what it all links to. I’m not really into New Age or something like that, but the furthest that I’ll take it is there’s a possibility that my co-designer on the piece was an alien.”

In addition to this necklace, which can be removed from the strand and worn as a broach, he has designed two others based on crop circle designs. He plans to also have Strachan manufacture the others.

In recent years, Kuba entered two other pieces of jewelry in the Iowa design competition and won awards both times. One was a shadow box made from different colors of gold inspired by the “Great Wave,” a woodblock design crafted by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. The other was a ring with a rare “Star of the Shepherd” diamond.

“Designs sort of evolve and come to me over time,” he said. “It’s like a ‘lightning strikes’ kind of thing.”

Kuba’s creativity extends into other parts of his life. He studied performing arts management during college and spent a couple of years touring with a musical. During college, he worked as a television director for an ABC affiliate in Jacksonville, Fla., but spent the bulk of his career in advertising and marketing. In 1990, he left advertising to join his sister and brother-in-law in their business, Nebraska Diamond. Six years ago, he moved to Des Moines to start Iowa Diamond.

He stays involved with music by playing the upright bass with a Gypsy jazz band called the Hot Club of Des Moines. The group performs at venues around the city, including about once a month at Café di Scala. Gypsy jazz, Kuba said, traces its roots back to a Hungarian Gypsy musician living in France in the 1930s. It can be heard throughout the motion picture “Chocolat” and in parts of “The Aviator.”

Perhaps someday Kuba’s jewelry will adorn movie stars or other rich and famous people. But so far, his list of famous customers is limited to Slipknot lead singer and Des Moines native Corey Taylor, whose wedding band was designed by Kuba.

“I missed out on the Golden Globes this year,” he jokes.

Although Kuba now estimates the value of “Crop Circles I” to be $11,000, he said “that could change if it wins in New York.” The series of three could sell for around $40,000 to $50,000, he thinks. If he was to market the three as set, he would probably use an auction house to handle the sale.

“I’ve always been fascinated with musical instruments, and it’s just flabbergasting to me that people will spend $40,000, $50,000 on a violin bow,” he said. “When somebody says, ‘What’s it worth?’ I say, ‘I don’t know; what will you pay for it?’”