Mark and his partner Julia have been together for over 30 years and recently decided to tie the knot. Mark wanted to repurpose some jewellery that he no longer wore, to create his commitment band. He explains in his own words:
‘Julia (my partner) and I have known about Jo and her beautiful work for many many years. We've seen her at various different jewellery fairs over the years (perhaps almost a couple of decades now), and also at Cockpit Studios.
Inspiring minerals (Mark collected Crystals as a kid)
I had a chunky chain from Graeme McColm (also from many years ago), made from 2.5”, 18ct gold links, that I no longer wore because Graeme made me something new. I’d decided that these gold links would be "sacrificed" for Jo to be able to make my new ring.
I didn’t have a definite vision for what I wanted, design wise. Jo and I spoke at one of the Cockpit Studios open days, and I really liked both the Cube and the Chaos Hex designs, and I couldn't decide between the two. I'm always interested in exploring something new and different, and love to be involved in the design process, so Jo and I discussed combining the two collections.
Jo designing Mark's ring...
I mocked up a very amateurish picture, with the Cube design running around the edge of the ring on one side, and the Chaos Hex design running around the other side, overlapping in the middle. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words, and from our conversation, Jo had thought that I wanted the top half of the ring with one design, and the other half with the other design! A very happy misunderstand, because once Jo sent through a proper rendering of the ring I knew straight away that this was it. We had a couple of very minor iterations - the final design was just perfect.
Renders showing the ring at all angles...
I love that this ring marks our recent Civil Partnership, particularly fitting as the design runs around the ring forever. It’s reminiscent of Diana Porter's On and On inscriptions on pieces that she used to make.
I’m 100% pleased with the finished result; it's beautiful! It catches the light and sparkles more than you'd imagine. It feels very organic to me; The Giant's Causeway springs to mind.
I used to collect crystals when I was a young kid, and this design reminds me of those - it has a really natural feel to it.’
Mark wearing his new ring
I’m so pleased with how this design turned out, and that you love your new ring Mark. I LOVE the ring too!
Sometimes a commission leads to a new design direction - merging my Cube and Hex patterns has been a fusion made in heaven! Since creating Mark's beautiful ring I have developed this idea into some more new work - to be launched at Goldsmiths Fair next week!
