Rings

Gold with tahiti pearl

Seven gold rings with seven white brilliants and 7 brilliants, green as the beech wood in spring

The winning ring. Gold ring with brilliant.

As the day goes by the small points or cups with diamonds are constantly moving and entering into new positions relative to one another. You can add the in-between ring for a special day.

The “Play Ring” is a chain of rings, which are folded in over the finger. Each ring in this one is curved, which gives it a brush of poetry.

Silver and gold ring.

Gold ring with diamonds, yellow to white

This Heart Ring is set with green and white diamonds on one side, and with white only on the other side.

The grey-blue pearl is secretive and hide in its lustre the story about its long journey.

When the cross faces you, it may remind to remember to buy milk on your way home ?

My rings are rarely round. The single corner on this ring shows how to wear it. At one side there’s a cross.

”Oval with a Line” and ”Double Ring” have been designed on the very same day. Both rings have a light caracter and the form follows the anatomy of the hand.

The Double Ring is related to The Bend Ring, only it encircles the finger twice. The soft bend is slightly raised from the hand and allows one a peek between ring and hand.

In the end of the gold wire I have set a small diamond which only you can see, when wearing it.

In 2008 the Smiling Ring was enlarged and translated to use on the index finger with a raw diamond. It is quite marvellous really, that the craftsperson who mounted the stone, did it in such a way that you can actually look in through the little window, made by the cutter, when he decided what this particular raw diamond was suited for.

When you take off the ring at night and put it on the table it will rock for a quite long time.

When thinking about a new gold or silver ring in classic terms, we often visualize it as made of some shiny metal. When you start wearing a ring, it inevitably gets scratches, which in time becomes the ring’s patina. You might even think less highly of the ring for that. If, on the other hand, you become the owner of a “veiled” matte gold ring, something entirely different will happen. The surface of Open Eternity is silver-plated and oxidized, so that the ring presents itself with a shining, silver surface, which with wear and tear slowly turns to gold: The more you wear your ring, the more precious it becomes. The ring’s surface changes over time from matte black to a shining gold ring, only matte where it’s not worn.

The top ring is a new matte black gold ring and the bottom is the exact same ring, only it’s been worn for 10 years. The Danish Art Foundation acquired the first used "Ring in Use", and in 2006 they incorporated it in the foundation’s Jewellery Box.

You can ask yourself if it’s OK to veil the precious metal. But maybe there’s a thrill in unveiling it? Or maybe you’d rather own a shining ring and have it patinated slowly by time? Well, I guess I could shine it right now, so it presents itself in all its glittering glory! It is merely a question of either wanting your ring to become more beautiful with time, or to gain patina the way it’s always been done !

In my universe Amphora is the term for a special set of mostly rings, but also necklaces and brooches – all of which are inspired by the classical Greek vase. I first got the idea in early 2004, and new Amphora rings surfaced throughout the year. The basic idea is inspired by the Greek jar, which was originally used for storing oil or wine. A woman probably created the jar more than 2000 years ago. She and I stand together in awe of the original source of inspiration: the female body. I admire her for the fundamental research in shapes and forms, which resulted in the classic silhouette, which has generously floated down through the centuries and into my modern mind.

The titles for the Dancers came to me when Dorte Krogh was photographing the Amphora rings for my Winter Letter 2004. During the shoot it became clear exactly what I had created. Through Dorte Krogh’s lense I could see that this particular Amphora Ring was a woman, pirouetting on a dance floor. (My Winter Letters are published yearly and are my artistic end-of-year reflections). Winterlett​er 2004.

Dancing is a global way of communication, understood by all, white, black, red or yellow. It’s the same with my Dancers. Whether a Dancer is yellow, red, white or black has only to do with the colour of the precious metal. The rings are twisted to fit either the right or the left hand, so they bend harmoniously to follow the lines of the hand. An interesting phenomenon with the Dancers is, that if you turn them 60 degrees, any idea of a ring for the finger vanishes. You suspend it from a chain and it has become a pendant.

Dotted Dancer can be used both as a pendant and a ring. You can choose whether you want to wear it on a gold or a silver chain – or maybe both? The shape of the ring is twisted so it fits comfortably on the right or left hand, depending on whether you’re left- or right handed.

I feel lucky to be able to call myself an artist, because it gives me the joy of naming my jewellery. When a piece is created, it arises from a thought or a shape. It is often from there I gather the title. But some times a title comes from the outside, as it happened with the silver rings Lovers. This title came to me while Dorte Krogh was shooting the pictures for the Amphora Winter letter 2004. She saw the two silver rings in a way that instantly made me think of two lovers, following each other. (My Winter Letters are published yearly and are my artistic end-of-year reflections).

Lovers are pairs of Amphora rings. Each ring has an “angled” shape, and they lean slightly towards each other, so that the shape of the ring bends slightly backwards on the hand. It can, as shown, be two dissimilar rings, but they could just as well be similar. You can choose to wear both rings on the same day, or decide to wear just one.

The Amphora rings can be turned around as shown here. Between the rings you can put a third, delicate band with, let’s say, a Mexican fire opal. Or it could be a small band with an amethyst, pearl or maybe a diamond. To turn your rings around and make them flexible to fit your mood means that you, instead of believing in the old saying: “It’s now or never”, make your own decisions and say: “Now and forever”.

Can be worn together with separate emerald ring.

Stop Ring with a morganite set in red gold mount and white freshwater pearl. Looking for big stones is like being where the rainbow ends.

It has taken a very long time to find a pearl in exactly this unic colour.

Among the magnificent pearls that have passed through my fingers lately, this black-green Tahiti pearl inspired me to the ring “The Drop”.

I didn’t invent the two-finger ring! I saw the first two-finger ring when I was a teenager and I wanted it in a way that only a teenager can want something. Since then I’ve seen both two- and three-finger rings made by some of my colleagues, and I’ve also made rings myself that covered several fingers – hand jewellery – you could call them. But towards the end of 2006, a new idea saw the light of day. An idea featuring pearls, usually a rare guest in my studio. Running Ring won a prize in the 2007 competition “Scandinavian Tahiti Pearl”.

Once I started working with pearls and ran them between my fingers, I have to admit that they took a hold on me! – To think that pearls can have that many colours: pale blue, green, golden-yellow, dark coppery – and white obviously!

Fish are loaded with symbolism. The shape of the fish seems easy enough to render, but it’s also a creature that keeps growing throughout its life. In my universe both factors relate to the child inside us – faith and growth. The Fish Ring has a long tail, which nestles between the ring finger and the little finger. Thus, the diamond in the ring is always visible to you.

Ring for left pinky finger.

No. 3 with white and green diamonds contains three rings. One ring with white stones, one ring with green and one with both white and green.

The ring can be worn i three different ways. So you get three different rings.

A special treasure trove exists for the jeweller to dive into at any given time. The task for the jeweller is to comply with the wonders of nature, thus giving top priority to the stone. This version of a stone ring is my favourite, because the stone seems to float in the golden curve of the ring, individually fit to match this particular stone.

The bullfinch is a most noticeable bird in winter, when it sits there in the apple tree and brightens up the day with its red chest. With the Bullfinch I’ve recreated not only the beautiful red chest of the male, but also its silhouette.

The Long-tailed Tit is meant for the middle finger and its long tail stretches over across the ring finger. In the book by Lise Funder “Dansk Smykkekunst 1960-2000” (Danish Jewellery 1960-2000) Dorte Krogh’s photograph of the Long-tailed Tit can be seen. That led the Jewellery Museum The Ring in Grenå (1996-2001) to choose this particular silhouette as its emblem.

PI is meant for the left hand. Here the upper part will seem to float above the hand. In a quiet moment the wearer can enjoy the little row of white diamonds, partly hidden between the ring finger and the little finger.

Rainbows in the Night has, beyond its wings, yet another association to birds, as the shape between the two layers looks like a seagull in flight. The most interesting thing about the ring is probably the way the light is reflected by the stone. It’s a thought that’s been maturing in the back of my head for a long time, waiting for the right scene to present itself, so that others could experience the wonder that I myself experienced in 1985. For years I’ve been wondering how strange it is that there’s a sea of light under all diamonds – only nobody had ever created the possibility for it to show itself. Only in year 2000 I successfully incorporated the idea in a ring, which tells where the rainbow ends.

In 1985 I had two exhibitions in New York. The second time I took a Yellow Cab to get to the opening on Madison Avenue. I had a lovely feeling inside of happiness and luck. Suddenly I glanced at the car door, where I saw a totally clear rainbow. It was the sun, which reflected by the stone in my ring, brought on this spectacular sight. The experience made me consider how I could make this happen in my jewellery. The brilliance of the stone can only be seen because the light is reflected in it. But light that is not reflected through the mirror of the stone, goes right through it. In the Winged Ring I’ve created a double layer, so that the sunlight that goes through the diamond can be seen in “the night” under the stone, where it reveals itself in the colours of the rainbow.

As a female artist it’s particularly interesting to make jewellery for men. Images from childhood classrooms have crossed my mind: The boys drew people with square bodies the girls drew them round. That has led to a square masculine ring, which, I’m pleased to say, is silky soft inside.

Whether “Two Rectangles” is made in gold or silver doesn’t change its appearance very much. It’s more a matter of taste, whether you like the white, poetic silver or the legendary, warm gold.

The basic principles of the “Clergyman’s Ring” were already in place in the Seventies, when I started working with lamellae set closely together. Quite a few of my earliest rings looked like that. In the “Clergyman’s Ring” from 2003 I added a highly polished gold cross, which gives the ring an almost solemn look.

You wear the Heart Ring with the biggest bow upwards.