Perfection is Ugly: I Want You to Damage It
Well I live, work and play at the foot of the Rockies. My favorite thing to do when I get a little time to myself, is go for a mountain bike ride or a long hike into the middle of nowhere. And I don’t know about you, but around here there are a lot of us that love to use the mountains as our playground. In my time as a jewelry designer I’ve definitely had my hand in more than one project that involved topographical maps and outlines of hiker and kayakers’ favorite mountains.
So, mountain themed jewelry is pretty popular out here, and the mountains are certainly something I’m passionate about. When my friends at Darvier suggested that I design my own style of mountain ring it sounded like a great idea. The tricky part is that “popular” part. That means there’s a lot of styles already out there, so I’d have to think pretty hard to come up with an idea that was uniquely mine.
Well, I think I pulled it off. I designed something that is light and airy, but solid. While a lot of hikers will take the ring off while they hike, and probably should, I don’t like wearing jewelry I can’t take to the mountains with me. This piece isn’t really made to take a slamming, but I didn’t want it to be so dainty that couldn’t hold up to a little bit of knocking around.
The ring is framed by the ridges of the mountain, and the framing is very jagged, yet smooth and comfortable, to capture the jagged shapes of the Rocky Mountains. While I think that already starts adding some interesting flare and style, the center stone is where it really gets interesting. The original idea was to set a diamond at the top, upside down, so it looked like a glittery snow peak on the mountain. Now this is a little crazy because it exposes the more fragile part of the stone. Everyday wear and tear will certainly break the culet, or point tip of the stone, and may expose the belly of the stone to chipping and scratching. But the more I thought about that, the more I loved that about it. A chipped and scratched stone seems like a perfect fit for a jagged mountain ring. Part of the beauty of the mountains is their jagged, broken, imperfect shapes. I’m a strong believer that some of the truest beauty comes from our imperfections.
I certainly wouldn’t recommend placing an expensive stone there. Besides the fact that you’d be intentionally damaging something pricey, you’d be damaging something that was pricey because of it’s perfection. But we don’t want perfect! Give me your cloudy and included stones. Give me their personality! And it’s a personality that is such a perfect fit for this mountain ring and all of it’s beautiful imperfections.
But then I thought some more. Dangerous. I know. What if instead a diamond, there was a mossy agate? Mossy agates are all the rage right now, which I’m not sure I care about, but they are so perfect for a ring that shouts excitement for the mountains. Mossy agates, as I understand it, have a piece of moss, or greenery, inside, with a bit of a smokey, light green coloring to them. What could be a better center piece for a mountain ring than something with a bit of that lush, outdoors beauty right inside of it. And it adds such a more interesting and unique touch than any white diamond could.
So what do you think? Was a mossy agate the right choice? Do you love wondering through the mountains? Does this design capture your love for the mountains? Is it something you’d show off to all of your friends? Let’s discuss it in the comments.
My take on a mountain ring