Over the years, the ring has evolved far beyond mere romantic traditions or a nobleman\u2019s flex. Now they can be powerful instruments of self-expression and a physical talisman of one\u2019s own journey. <\/p>\n
\n Helene Ravlich speaks to six creatives about the outer beauty and inner meaning of their favourite pieces.<\/p>\n
Claudia Li<\/p>\n
When designer Claudia Li returned to New Zealand Fashion Week Kahuria this year, her intimate salon presentation was titled A Love Letter to New York. <\/p>\n
The collection was rooted in the memory of meeting her now-husband in the legendary city, so when asked to select a ring most precious to her, Li naturally chose her wedding band. <\/p>\n
Claudia Li and her ring. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the piece of jewellery I feel most connected to. We bought our rings together in New York before we got married, so it reminds me of that time in our lives. I never take it off. And after all these years, it truly feels like a part of me.\u201d <\/p>\n
A simple gold band from Van Cleef & Arpels, with a flat surface and softly rounded edges, the ring has been on the designer\u2019s finger for seven years now, the couple\u2019s wedding date engraved inside. <\/p>\n
As well as being a beautifully understated statement of their commitment to each other, \u201cit\u2019s incredibly comfortable to wear, which is one of the reasons I love it so much\u201d. <\/p>\n
Finn Mora-Hill is the creative director of Fringes, a slow fashion label rooted in texture, autonomy and social commentary that was most recently seen on the runway at NZFW as part of The Studio showcase.<\/p>\n
One of his key collaborators, close friend and jeweller, Chloe Giles of Anthurium. created this ring. <\/p>\n
Finn Mora-Hill and his ring. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have worked together for a while now on shows for Te Wiki \u0100hua o Aotearoa and most recently, NZFW,\u201d he explains. \u201cChloe gave me this after we did one together in March as a gift, so it means a lot and represents a milestone in our collaboration.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wearing it most days since then, he says that the piece\u2019s rawness is what he\u2019s most drawn to, \u201cas you can see evidence of her process and handwork within the ring\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cMade from silver, it\u2019s amazing to see the material show the relationship between creator and creation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Yuka O\u2019Shannessy<\/p>\n
Yuka O\u2019Shannessy is a multidisciplinary creative and the owner of Public Record, a gallery and shop on Ponsonby Rd. There, she curates an impeccable edit of beautiful handcrafted objects, including a ring she gifted herself by P\u014dneke-based jeweller, Max Walker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m surrounded by exquisite, bespoke, hand-crafted jewellery pieces from Aotearoa, and this piece really stood out,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s quite bold and has a sculptural element, but at the same time, it has such an elegant balance of lines that I love.\u201d <\/p>\n
Yuka O’Shannessy and her ring. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
With the feeling of a traditional signet ring but very contemporary in character, she says that it was the combination of something familiar and classic, but reinterpreted in a completely unexpected way that truly captured her heart. <\/p>\n
The piece is hand-cast, crafted from sterling silver and set with cubic zirconia stones by Walker in the home studio space he shares with his jewellery artist parents, Karl Fritsch and Lisa Walker. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love the combination of the strong sculptural form with the refined detail of the stone, and I absolutely love wearing it,\u201d O\u2019Shannessy says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s playful, and uplifting.\u202fIt just called to me, and it fit my finger perfectly. The ring chose me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Layla Kaisi<\/p>\n
Layla Kaisi is a fine jewellery designer and founder of the sculptural fine jewellery house, Layla Kaisi Collection. Surrounded by bespoke designs, the pieces she wears constantly change, \u201creflecting the facets of life I am currently exploring through my designs\u201d. <\/p>\n
Layla Kaisi and her ring. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
However, a ring that has not left her rotation, is one called\u202fPerspective.\u202f<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was originally created to represent the feeling of being carefree, and finding freedom in liminal, undefined spaces.\u202fIn a world where rules dictate, I wanted a piece that felt like\u202fa sublime contrast to the structured expectations we impose on ourselves,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Rendered in platinum, the design\u2019s undulating\u202fform features a 2ct elongated marquise-cut diamond centre stone, set diagonally and off-centre. This is cradled by 18 round-cut diamonds set across the asymmetric, double-finger band. <\/p>\n
The piece\u202fended up inspiring the creation of\u202ffive more styles she has dubbed the OUTR\u00c9 Edit,\u202fall set in 18ct white gold. <\/p>\n
Since then, pieces from OUTR\u00c9 have been worn by the likes of Cardi B, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, leading the designer to describe the original ring as something that \u201cstarted as a private feeling, but became the synthesis of what took Layla Kaisi Collection global\u201d.<\/p>\n
Biddie Cooksley<\/p>\n
Growing up in New Zealand\u2019s fashion industry, Tuesday Label founder Biddie Cooksley is the first to admit she\u2019s helpless in the face of an accessory.\u202f<\/p>\n
\u201cI was wearing layers of sterling silver bangles to primary school, and stacked rings on every finger had become a signature for me by high school.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was a style she committed to, and is always seen with a beautifully arranged collection of pieces across both hands. <\/p>\n
All of her rings have meaning, but she describes one piece in particular as an heirloom in the making.<\/p>\n
Biddie Cooksley and her ring. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was originally my mum\u2019s, and I was enchanted by it when I was growing up. The incredible Ceylon blue of the teardrop sapphire, the diamonds \u2026 I always loved it. Then completely unexpectedly, Mum gifted it to me for my 25th birthday.\u201d <\/p>\n
At the time she wasn\u2019t wearing yellow gold, so her mother secretly had the ring remodelled into a modern white gold setting. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was the version mum wore when\u202fI was a child that I had adored and held all the sentiment for me,\u201d says the designer, who later worked with Zoe & Morgan to help return it\u202fto what it had always been, in a beautiful gold setting. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe pear-shaped sapphire is surrounded by 13 brilliant-cut diamonds and is easily a statement piece when I wear it on its own,\u201d Cooksley says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I also love it stacked with my other rings for every day. I feel the same about jewellery as I do clothes; that our favourite pieces should be worn and loved, not hidden away for a special occasion.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kevin Hailiang Yu<\/p>\n
The designer behind Kevin Thorne Jewellery, Kevin Hailiang Yu holds a master\u2019s degree in architecture and spent four years working in the industry before stepping away to develop his own design voice. <\/p>\n
\u201cArchitectural design has been a major influence on my creative life,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the thing that drew me to jewellery is how free it is to construct and that the law of gravity isn\u2019t always working against you.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kevin Hailiang Yu and his ring. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
He believes the world doesn\u2019t need \u201canother jeweller making a cathedral setting diamond ring\u201d, so he started having some fun discovering other ways to hold stones. The \u2018Studio Work, Glacial Ring V1, KT2831\u2019 he is wearing here was the result. <\/p>\n
The ring features brilliant-cut, round cubic zirconia and one radiant-cut rectangular one, totalling over 70ct. Held in place by a clamping system that doesn\u2019t require the more traditional device of claws, they are set to look like a cluster just sitting there, effortlessly. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt literally looks like a building,\u201d laughs the creative, who says architecture is something he will always carry with him, no matter if he\u2019s working on a piece of jewellery or furniture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the years, the ring has evolved far beyond mere romantic traditions or a nobleman\u2019s flex. Now they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[27245,74857,156,131097,317791,46199,2203,19275,3025,117,111,139,317790,69,48211,1523,2849,17216,29952,10540,23334,317136,2122,1962,317792,165,8229,55400,1530,80],"class_list":["post-648557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-beyond","tag-creatives","tag-entertainment","tag-evolved","tag-flex","tag-instruments","tag-journey","tag-mere","tag-most","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-noblemans","tag-nz","tag-ones","tag-over","tag-physical","tag-powerful","tag-ring","tag-rings","tag-romantic","tag-selfexpression","tag-share","tag-special","tag-talisman","tag-their","tag-they","tag-traditions","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}