Jewelry Redesign Story #60: Ruby Ring Surprise
THE REDESIGN CHALLENGE:
Kiai had been holding on to a number of pieces of jewelry that her mother had given her that she didn’t think were aligned with her modern aesthetic. Because Kiai wanted to carry her mother with her and utilize the high-quality materials from her mother’s old pieces, she thought it would be a great idea to put the stones in a redesigned piece of jewelry that would be perfect for her contemporary style.
THE REDESIGN CONCEPT:
initial sketches
One of the biggest challenges in this design was that Kiai wasn’t sure how she could reuse the rubies and diamonds from her mother’s ring which she thought might be too sweet for her tastes and wasn’t sure how they would fit into the finger-shaped, minimal and modern, ring that she was envisioning.
In order to create something that used these stones in Kiai’s modern design, we chose to create a ring for her where the ring is designed around the shape of the stones for an almost abstract shape and with multiple options for wear. However, by also planning to use bezel and channel settings for the stones, the design would still appear minimal and clean so they would still meet with Kiai’s aesthetic.
Because the design we had created was very minimal, we wanted to offer Kiai some designs with details including ‘Option A’ without a metal wall between the square rubies and round diamonds as well as ‘Option B’ which did include the metal wall.
Kiai selected Option B which was perfect as it seemed as though this construction would be more structurally sound in order to support the rubies and the diamonds in the setting of the redesigned ring.
THE REDESIGN PROCESS:
Rhino modeling
During the Rhino model for this ring, it was important for us to make sure that the square rubies as well as the round diamonds are aligned and that the walls are thick enough to support the stones without taking away from the simple and clean visual elements of the finished redesigned ring. It was also important that the “walls” were thick enough to support all of the stones.
Casting
Once we received the casting we were certain that the stones would set in the metal of the new ring and that we had set aside enough metal to create the complete ring.
THE REDESIGN REVEAL:
Jewelry on the customer
The new ring was as minimal and clean as Kiai wanted. Because of its finger-shape, Kiai loved how she was able to wear the ring with the stones laying on different parts of her finger for more simple or modern looks depending on her mood or how she will choose to wear the ring on that day.
Kiai was so pleased with how chic this ring was and was so surprised that she fell in love so quickly with a new piece made from stones she wasn’t sure about. We love this ring and, we are happy to say, so does Kiai!
Material: Oval ruby in bezel setting, square rubies, and round diamonds in channel setting in 14k yellow gold
Manufacturing Level: Medium
Design level: Medium
Have stones you don’t know if you love? Surprise yourself! Get started with your redesign here.
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