Given that many jewelry pieces are mass manufactured, how can pieces become unique to their wearer?
Market Trend
Personalization with history: There is a renewed desire for luxury among millennials and Gen Z in jewelry as expressive heirloom objects.
Among the desired objects in this trend are DIY personalized products with a back-story & appreciation of craftsmanship
Source Stylus trends report, 2019
Potential Consumer
What kind of person would be interested in this kind of jewelry?
Persona
Kate, 25
Travel Photographer & fashion blogger
• Loves fine art and history
• Wealthy from family inheritance
• Internationally experienced
• Loves heirloom objects with backstory and craftmanship
The imagined average consumer: Young, hip, crafty, & experienced
Jewelry Trends
S/S 2020: What characteristics do jewelry professionals foresee trending?
"Unique decorative designs, mix & match pieces, jewelry with a message that you can make your own."
- Roxanne Assoulin, Ashley Zhang, Jewelry designers NYC
"Out with dark blackened metals and in with a movement I notice is utilizing bright hues in jewelry."
- Colette Steckel, Colette Jewelry
"Personalized jewelry! Whether big or small, engraving or choice of material, jewelry can be more than a fad."
- Justine Lancon, creative director of Mejuri
Initial concept inspiration - Signet Rings & Acquired Uniqueness
The desire for personalization seems familiar. What does this trend remind me of?
Concept 1: Modern Heritage
Inspiration: Stamp rings & Memory
Inspired by traditional signet rings, the goal of this concept is to create a piece that feels everlasting, significant, & has a material richness
The signet ring concept was in response to the heirloom trend. "What's a modern heirloom these days?"
However, signet rings require history to establish a unique symbolic character
Concept 1: Modern Heritage
Inspiration: Stamp rings & Memory
Stamp rings & Memory
This design featured a concave brushed lacquer form with engraved fingerprint in response to the idea of modern personalization.
So then I thought..
What if....
There was a jewelry finish designed to change over time in a way unique to each individual wearer?
A visit to the sponsor, General Brite Plating Co. in Los Angeles soon followed.
Metal Plating Facility Visit - Opportunities
General Brite plating offers two main services: metal casting and metal plating.
Here I noticed two opportunities for highlighting surface finish.
1. Their metal casting capabilities are small scale but can make super fluid & organic forms using wax casting.
2. General Brite can plate multiple layers of metal on top of each other that wear away over time.
Example of fluid form wax cast
Metal parts in the process of plating. The green cords run a current through the metal part.
Outdoor storage for large scale plating projects
Medium scale art piece applying patina
Hanging racks for plated objects drying
Large tanks for plating
Aesthetic Inspiration
Inspired by General Brite's capabilities, I thought about light contrasts, color coatings, and fluid shapes
How might we design: Mixed material ornamental jewelry or lighting with materials that improve over time?
This inspo board was made after visiting General Brite & understanding their capabilities and marketing goals
Surface Finish over time
With the two options of casting and plating, there were opportunities to create a finish that stays consistent over time and a finish that changes over time.
After talking with the sponsor I decided to make two lines of jewelry because of probable market demand.
1. Solid precious metal casts for people who want their jewelry consistent
2. Multi-plated finish that changes over time with cheaper zinc cast core for people who want more variety
Multi-Plated: Zinc core cast with metal plating layers on top.
Further plating layers wear over time establishing wear pattern unique to user
Soild cast/anodized: Consistent stable finish that stays the same over time
Memento Mori - Form and Meaning
Inspired by the high shine finishes and organic castings I saw at General Brite, I started thinking about how the changing metal finish could be used to tell a story.
Form
Because the metal finish is always in a state of change, a lot of the form inspiration came from art pieces with fluid forms that seemed to change depending on viewing angle.
Meaning
As the finish is always changing, I wanted the form of the ring to reflect the same idea of non-permanence by having a melting/distorted form, almost as if it's caught in a state of melting away.
The idea behind this was to remind the wearer that change is inevitable and nothing lasts forever.
Secondary concept inspiration - Distorted Reality
This conceptualization stage explored fluid forms that seemed to be caught in the process of melting away. Inspired by what I saw at General Brite.
Concept 2: Distorted Reality
Inspiration: Surrealism & Cubism
Inspired by the works of Salvador Dali & the Cubism movement, this concept focuses on reflecting light on curved forms with multiple layers of detail.
Concept 2 came from visiting General Brite's factory and casting abilities. It seemed like anything could come out of the plating tanks.
Final Concept Direction: Dutch Symbolic Paintings
I thought the combination of Surrealism and Dutch memento mori paintings could be interesting because there was an opportunity for storytelling.
Surrealism's flowing forms could work well with the decaying objects presented in Dutch still life paintings.
Warnings Against Opulence: Storytelling through form, finish, & luxury materials
Form: Contrasting design with a refined bottom part and melted distorted looking top face
Components: Changing finish (Unique wear patterns, Impermanence) + Melted form (Impermanence) + Precious Metals (Material appeal)
Click here to show/hide detailed process
Refined form based on the idea of "faded richness"
What form signifies deformation and what forms could connect to the meaning of faded richness?
I wanted to have melting looking ring with distorted humanish faces and heads on top that looked like they were melting into the material of the ring. My thought process was that this would be a good way to convey excess. As if it was something that showed the worthlessness of materials people usually valued.
This probably will either be casted in one piece then masked or made in two pieces.
This two piece idea was an exploration of personalization. Maybe people could swap out face plates?
Scale mockups
After initial sketches the patterns were then traced onto aluminum foil to simulate metal and get a better sense of presence.
The goal was graphic face exploration and deformation/ sizing for the top face piece of the ring. It turns out the face plates initially started out angular but gradually transitioned to smooth curves as that conveys the concept of “melting” more adequately.
CAD underlays
After finalizing my direction I found classical art that I photoshopped to create my own underlays for CAD
This one was a reference for my human figures that would melt into the ring.
I decided to make distorted human figures because people tend to imagine what could happen to them a lot. A human figure is most relatable
CAD underlays
After finalizing my direction I found classical art that I photoshopped to create my own underlays for CAD
This version is a reference for the distorted human head version based off of a Edvard Munch painting. My goal was to create a scene that looked out of a horror movie, some kind of deformed human that was hard to recognize.
CAD model
Then a 3D model was created based on the distorted image in Zbrush.
Scale mockups
On the left are the measurements of the initial planned ring. However, based on past 3D printed prototypes the design was made considerably smaller for the final because of the proportion of the ring mass to average finger.
This step was critical. I had made the ring way too big at first.
Form development scrapbook
This Process entails the journey from "Melting form" ideation to modeling and physical prototyping.
For more detailed explanation, please scroll to "Process" at the bottom of the page.
Tiny sample of finishes on hand. So many combinations
Death (Melting form) & Opulence (Metal band and ring material)
3D prints to determine scale
Models started out angular but transitioned to smooth curves to convey "deformed" better
Graphic exploration and sizing models for scale examination
Then made a 3D model based on the photoshop underlay
I then photoshopped classic art for my own distorted human versions. This one is a Edvard Munch painting
I wanted distorted faces and heads on top that looked like they were melting surrounded by a valuable metal band.
What form signifies deformation? Exploration of blemished shapes
I then decided to explore "A valuable ring past its prime"
-Faded richness
Explorations of a ring with melted form, distortion, and reflected light
Explorations of a ring with melted form, distortion, and reflected light
