Jony Ive’s latest project is a 100% diamond ring

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You know Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson right? Just the most prolific designers of their age, working as design heads in the most profitable company in the world, Apple. Ive and Newson have altered how we treat consumer electronics, making us revere them as objects of fashion, and their latest design project may be less electronics and more fashion, but it echoes a sensibility and sensitivity that has for long been a culture within Apple.

Apple has been an integral part of RED (a nonprofit organization that partners with the iconic brands to raise money to fight HIV / AIDS in Africa through the Global Fund), designing special products for RED that contribute to RED’s fight against HIV and AIDS. You may remember the special RED edition iPhones from the past, or the special-edition Leica M that Ive and Newson designed which sold for a cool $1.8 million at RED’s auction.

Ive and Newson’s contribution to RED this year is a diamond ring, made in collaboration with Diamond Foundry®. Designed by the duo, the ring is different from most diamond rings, in the sense that it is 100% diamond. The ring is made from the diamond gemstone itself and doesn’t feature any metal or other gemstones. “Consistent with their mutual obsession with transforming raw material into objects of value, Ive & Newson’s design is singular, clear and un-compromised by the traditional metal settings and bands that have previously been required to create ‘diamond rings’. Theirs will be created by removing material rather than adding – an ambition made possible by the extraordinary scale of the stone which will enable the ring to be completely made of this material.” said auction house Sotheby’s.

“Creating a ring-shaped diamond is no small feat; the diamond block will be faceted with several thousand facets, some of which are as small as several hundred micrometers. The interior ring will be cylindrically cut out for the desired smoothness using a micrometer thick water jet inside which a laser beam is cast. The finished ring will have between 2000-3000 facets which has never been seen before on a single piece.”

The ring, which will be crafted by Diamon Foundry will be sold at the RED auction in Miami on the 5th of December (with a price range of $150-250K) and will be made to the size specifications of the buyer. Pretty unique, no? The ring doesn’t have a gemstone. The ring IS the gemstone!

Location Celebration Ornamentation!

There’s a certain beauty to the You Are Here series of jewelry/accessories that is comparable to the STC Memento we saw in October last year. While the Memento celebrates time on a grand scale, the You Are Here really memorializes a location.

The You Are Here series of jewelry captures an overhead/map view of the location of your choosing and carves that into a gold/silver plated metal sheet and then turns it into a wearable of your choosing. The beauty of the You Are Here lies in the fact that it can be linked to any special moment. The city/neighborhood you were born in, the restaurant you went to on your first date, your current home, or a memory spot for a loved one. Once you choose the locality on the map, it gets converted into a stencil that is then laser-cut onto a metal plate. The plate is then formed into a ring, pendant, or a brooch.

The You Are Here ornaments and enriches a memory through space. Not only does it make for great personal expression, it’s also beautiful if worn in pairs! Or perhaps even a rather beautiful gift for a friend, colleague, or family member… because memories are made in the right places, with the right faces!

Designer: Talia Sari

BUY IT HERE: $99.00 $129.00

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Illuminated Party Animals

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Bet you are enjoying the summer house parties and night barbecues. Adding a dash of sparkling fun and making it into a ‘starry’ night, is the Light Dot. Designed to be a piece of hidden jewelry that integrates with the body, it illuminates and bedazzles everyone around.

This funky accessory concept won the 2014 Red Dot Award: Design Concept.

Designers: Guo Shengrong, Kuang Linghui, Li Zhiqiang, Tang Chao, Wang Sansan & Xu Shengli

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Living Accessories

An exploration into both 3D printing & programmable materials, Flexible Textile Structures are not only wardrobe accessories, but active structures that can adjust themselves when power is applied. One can be manipulated into any desired configuration & hold its shape even when force is released. The textile can be reshaped depending on the wearer’s aesthetic preference. The other reacts morphologically to changes in its surroundings, expanding & contracting to adapt to external forces. Essentially, it moves with the wearer, returning to its original shape when undisturbed.

Designers: Alireza Borhani + Negar Kalantar

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(Living Accessories was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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