Marina Ring

A gift wrapped and tied, and worn on the finger.

The box is chalcedony, carved from a single piece, and the ribbon crosses it in blue and white enamel — two colours laid to read as the lit face of a fold and the shaded one, so the band appears to turn as it goes round. At the point where the knot would sit, a blue sapphire is raised clear of the ribbon, with diamonds alongside it.

Enamel is powdered glass fused to metal at close to 800 degrees, and that single fact sets the order of everything. The enamelling is done first and the stones go in afterwards, since no gemstone would survive the kiln. It also means the colour has to arrive right the first time: an enamel that pulls or bubbles in the firing can only be taken back to bare metal and begun again, and every hour already in the piece goes with it.

Two colours across a folded form ask more again. Each is fired without disturbing the other, and the meeting line between them is where a ribbon either reads as folded or reads as painted. Here it folds.

Set in 14-karat white gold, and part of Golden Ratio, where proportion governs every piece.

This piece has been sold.