Chain Door Lock Necklace

Style  |  Design

Chain Door Lock Necklace from Bond Hardwar. Turned a brass-plated door chain lock into a fashion necklace. "Bond hardware: A line conceived for the everyman, the everywoman, a reinterpretation of the necktie, a modern approach that suits you. You’re bound to want some around your neck. Made in U.S.A."

Via laughingsquid, heavybrowsing, image idontlikemondays

Gold wedding ring | The art of designing time

images courtesy gallery deux poissons | click to enlarge

a poetic visualization of the time shared between two people

The Tokyo-based gallery deux poissons, 1 of only 3 galleries in all of Japan who specialize in jewelry, recently announced that they had enlisted Torafu Architects to design their latest piece. The young architecture duo, who have no experience designing jewelry, managed to leverage their immense knowledge of material to design a ring that poetically captures the essence of the bond that is formed between two people who decide to spend the rest of their lives together.
But don’t call it a timepiece. “Gold wedding ring” is crafted from 18k-gold which is then coated with a thin layer of silver. As time passes the silver wears away to reveal the gold. It’s a poetic piece that visualizes the time shared between two people.
Depending on which ring you choose – round (52,500 – 94,500) or square (47,250 – 57,750) – the gold is revealed in different ways.




source: @_TORAFU

wire spring jewelry collection by kouichi okamoto

As a child, did you ever wrap springs or wire clamps around your finger, pretending they were jewelry? If so, listen up! Kouichi Okamato of Kyouei Design just announced his latest product – wire spring jewelry (1,950 – 3,550 yen) made from components of the industrial manufacturing process.
The collection – an homage to all things mechanical – include wire clamp rings and spring earrings. I love the utilitarian look and feel of these and I admire Okamoto for finding beauty in even the most industrial of things. Admittedly I would have liked to see how they look against the skin of a model.

mag_net_ic earrings by Akiko Oue

Jewelry designer Akiko Oue has created mag_net_ic – a pair of infinitely customizable magnetic earrings. The 2 silver earring studs have magnets attached to them and come with 12 colorful dots that can be attached. Inspired by the act of picking up pieces of metal after jewelry-making, Oue thought it might be fun if a piece of jewelry could actually emerge from the act of picking up small pieces with a magnet.
The earrings are available (12,600 yen) through the bota boutique in Kobe. You can order through their website but it’s all in Japanese. If you need help ordering you can go with a forwarding service.


The concept of DIY jewelry is in the same vein as pick-a-jewel.
Lovely idea. Lovely logo and packaging too! In case you were curious, both were designed by Atsushi Suzuki. I love how the perfectly round “O” invokes imagery of jewelry.

source: mocoloco

Jewelry Inspired by Rock Sugar | Recrystal Rings by Dan Tomimatsu

photo by Tomohiko Okutsu | click to enlarge
It doesn’t get much sweeter than this! Japanese designer Dan Tomimatsu has designed a brand new line of jewelry inspired by rock sugar. Much in the same way that the designer recalls those sweet childhood memories of cradling a crystal between your teeth, the rings are intended to invoke fond memories, whether it’s your mother giving you a crystal to suck on, or those sugar crystal experiments you did in science class.
The collection is on display through the end of this week at contemporary creations gallery in Kichijoji. You can see the full lineup of rings on the designer’s facebook page.

Midas Touch

Golden thumb by Mahtab Hanna.

Reversible Sign Necklace

This Reversible Sign Necklace made me laugh. Hat tip to the DesignGlut ladies!

Make A Wish

In case you are considering to propose to your girlfriend on her birthday, here’s your plan: Have her blow out the Make A Wish Candle which is actually a fingerring. Made me smile. Great idea by Bettina Nissen

2010 Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Award | Takuya Motte

Continuing our coverage of the 2010 Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Awards…
The award for honorable mention was like an unexpected visit from an old friend. We featured Takuya Motte’s neck camera, “Vision” during our coverage of student work at Kobe Design University about 1 year ago.  So it was nice to see the piece progress this far!

The neck camera, which was co-developed with the University, is a working model. You drape the camera strap around your neck and images are recorded by the simple act of creating a picture frame using your hands like this (Photo: Oliver Strewe/Lonely Planet). Not only is it a beautiful looking product, it poses some interesting questions about our relationship with photography, as well as gadgets, for that matter.
In his seminal essay on photography, John Berger writes:

Photographs bear witness to a human choice being exercised in a given situation. A photograph is a result of the photographer’s decision that it is worth recording that this particular event or this particular object has been seen. … At its simplest the [photograph], decoded, means: I have decided that seeing this is worth recording.

Although we don’t always look at a photograph and think, “ah, human choice,” Takuya Motte’s neck camera has the potential for making us far more aware of our actions as photographers. Not only will we be more conscious of the act of recording, but we will take pleasure in the process, our surroundings and our current conditions far more than we ever have.

It’s interface is also worth considering as it is a significant step forward in blurring the lines between human and mechanic relations. What was once a very mechanical process can now be accomplished through a very natural human gesture. Although I imagine it would be quite awkward at first, I would love to try it out to see what it’s actually like. I have a strong feeling this is not the last we will see of the “Vision” neck camera.

IK Joyeros

IK Joyeros is a jewelry company based in Mexico and founded by Iker Ortiz. Their beautiful geometric jewelry made from titanium, silver, gold, platinum, Corian, and other versatile materials. Some of the pieces remind me of measurement tools and others architectural details. They will be carried in Peel in Houston, Texas and Taboo Studio in San Diego, California.

Rheanna Lingham - Knot Necklace

How beautiful is this Knot Necklace by Rheanna Lingham? I can't tell for sure from the photo, but I think that the knot is made from metal rather than rope. I kind of wish it were actually made from rope, but this is lovely, too!

Black Badger

This is no total concept work, this is real, ready to go, out there in the world. This ring is designed by James Thompson and is milled by his company Black Badger Advanced Composites. Specifically, it’s milled from a cross section of solid carbon fiber plate, (offcuts from aerospace production), fused with DuPont Corian. So far it comes in blue and orange, and a white version is coming on soon. This ring will be shown at Designboom Mart 2011 at the Stockholm Furniture Fair, check Black Badger out!
Designer: James Thompson

Pick A Jewel by fift

click image to enlarge
Remember as a child, walking through the wilderness, you would find some astonishing artifact that blew your mind? Whether you had found a leaf in its stunning transformation from green to red, or a berry whose shape and form convinced you that there wasn’t any other like it on the planet, these objects became our treasure; treasure that could not be assigned any monetary value.

Pick A Jewel, one of the latest creations to come out of design unit fift (husband and wife design-duo Katsunari and Asami Igarashi) is an attempt to revive that childhood notion that the most valuable jewels are the ones we find; the ones that carry sentimental value.
You can buy it as a necklace or as earrings, both which go for 2800 yen (USD $34).