On the 5th Day of Christmas...

... this blogger gave to thee...

... five gold rings!..

... four micro art forms...

... three tubby little cubbies...

... two fancy pens...

... and a lego man made of a tree.

I love the fifth day of Christmas. It's the one I don't have to think about too hard to come up with an idea, because frankly it doesn't change year on year, but still always struggle to come up with five designs for you! The struggle is two fold, one, there are just too many beautiful rings out there which include gold, two, Pinterest and the rest of the web make it really impossible to narrow the search because if you just look for "gold rings" you get everything with those two words in them under the sun appearing in your search results.

First world problems.

Anyway, this year, partly because I changed my numbered image format, I get to show four rings I've been unable to include thus far, but absolutely love and am completely jealous of as a designer, as well as one I've never seen before but thought suited the set.

Analya Cespedes is a Chilean born jewellery designer, based in Washington. The inspiration for the majority of her work in based on nature and this is obvious in her Floral Rings (big and small). Cast from silver with 18k gold accents, these are sparingly simple designs, using the two metals for colour and polished and whitened surface of the unpolished silver to enhance the forms created by each leaf/shell. I love collections of these cup like forms used in jewellery, they're so effective for creating organic forms.

Mari Ishikawa, a Japanese jeweller based in Germany, also uses cast silver pod forms as the main structure of her ring, part of the Moonlight Shadow Series: Weaving Time, 2008 which has then be oxidised black, giving a much hard and industrial look to the ring than Cespedes polished shells. But then, almost like police tape, Ishikawa has wrapped her design in finely woven 18kt gold ribbon, softening the ring in juxtaposition to its slightly industrial and sharp black base. This one was new to me, but I like it!

Sabrina Meyns and her freaking beautiful jewellery. I just adorn her jewellery and if there's a level above jealousy, I'm probably there. There is just something so beautiful about the way she combines handmade paper, seeds (you can just make out dandelion clock seeds in the paper of this particular ring), 18kt gold, silver and steel to create these delicate, almost ethereal collaboration between soft natural materials and harder traditional metals used in jeweller. Meyns manages to interpret floral and plant forms using almost architectural metal forms on a natural base. These, in my opinion, are something special. 

Germany based designer, Tanja Friedrich's Gold & Oxi Quiril Ring comprise five interlocking ring, much like the traditional Russian wedding rings. Four of the bands are made of oxidised sterling silver, and a fifth out of 18ct yellow gold, however all are made from gold filled beaded or pearl wire (known to the supplier I used as fancy gallery wire), giving the design a unique spin. Gallery wire, particularly the pearl was everybody's new favourite material when I started fourth year at uni, it was as though I was the only person who hadn't discovered it over the summer! I obviously wasn't cool enough for the gallery wire club.

Lastly is another series of rings I love. Rui Kikuchi's Kinetic Flower Rings (Waratah) are made of silver, copper and gold leaf and hark back to the artist's life growing up in Australia, each of the rings (and brooches) representing a native plant or flower indigenous to the country. Now based in Japan, Kikuchi's rings each focus on a simple base form and the kinetic movement of the petal and leaf shaped elements, fitted into the shank of the ring allowing them to move with the wearer. It's a very simple form of kinetic jewellery, however perfect in its execution.

It's really annoying when jewellers make it look simple...

Merry Christmas! Part six tomorrow...

Link || Analya Cespedes Website
Link || Analya Cespedes on Artful Home
Link || Mari Ishikawa Website (Image via Biff on Tumblr)
Link || Mari Ishikawa on Klimt02 
Link || Sabrina Meyns on Portfolio
Link || Sabrina Meyns on Pinterest
Link || Tanja Friedrichs Website (on Pinterest)
Link || Tanja Friedrichs on Orro
Link || Rui Kikuchi Website

..................................................................................

Listening: Single Ladies - Beyoncé