Every act of creation is first an act of destruction. – Pablo Picasso
I wanted to create something new, something that had never been made before. I wanted it to be able to be broken up into pieces and be able to be reassembled. It was to be an act of creation and destruction.
I was inspired by nature, by the cycle of the autumn/winter destruction and the spring/summer creation. Nature is ever changing but it is repetitive. The moon is different each day but always follows a pattern that reminds us that even when things seem to be changing, they also stay the same. The trees let go of their leaves in winter so that they can rest and grow new leaves in spring. When all seems lost, nature reminds us not to lose hope.
I realised early on in the design process that this particular idea was not going to be inexpensive to make but I remembered seeing concept cars in France and reading that they are made not to be sold but to show what is possible. This is my first piece of concept jewellery.
Most jewellery forms are round. A ring, a bangle, a hoop earring, a chain. I imagined what it would be like if these shapes were formed not by the outline of a piece of metal but by the destruction of a solid flat disc. I pictured a disc in my mind and how it could be pierced and broken by someone and what the form would look like after that happened.
Once I had that visualised in my mind, I imagined how the pieces would come back together, how the destruction could be rebuilt.
I took a plain disc of silver and cut it into irregular pieces. I attached solid spheres of metal to each piece and threaded them onto a narrow ring. I loved the feel of design. The pieces could be made to fit together in the palm of my hand or they could all drop, swinging round the band to drop together at the bottom or swing individually inside and outside the hoop.
The shape had two sides, like a coin. I decided to write words on each side. The words would relate to each other but also be opposites. They would describe the idea of this cycle. One side says “Together Forever” and the other says “even when apart”
The words can be read when the piece is in its solid resting state but when the pieces are moving, the meaning is hidden. It is a visual representation of what happens in a meditative state. When we quiet the mind, when we rest, we see what is really important.
This is a reinvention of the idea of a puzzle ring. It can be worn as a ring, threaded onto a chain as a large pendant, added to a key ring or the pieces can be separated and worn by different people who share a connection.
It can even be simply an object to play with. The piece can come with any combination of different precious metals and with any wording and it could be set with stones.
This piece of jewellery took eight months to design and refine. Five different prototypes were made. Every new ring in a different size from this one would have to have a new and unique six piece model made in CAD. It cannot be sized like a normal ring would be as the circle has to be recreated to fit inside each finger size perfectly in a way that allows it to spin in all directions.
For now this design is available in a size M with this wording in any combination of precious metals.
Please get in touch and let me know what you think of this design. Your feedback will help us determine if this is an idea we should explore further.