We just got this new ring design printed in stainless steel! This is the first in a series of hug inspired rings I am designing exclusively for Athru Designs. Jewelry design is a good discipline for an industrial designer to explore as it combines the skills of 3D modeling, materials exploration, prototyping, and production (investment casting, most likely) with the humanism of comfort, expression, and personal value.

The next step is to clean the parts and give them to some friends to wear around for a while. After that, I will likely make some minor adjustments to the surfacing to make sure the light is dancing the way I want it to and that it scales well to various ring sizes.

Scaling is something tricky in form development as proportions often change as well. Consider that sneaker designers design around the most common sizes of feet. Sometimes, those designs lose their proportions as they scale to larger sizes. In that aspect, I would like the jewelry Wild Oscar designs to be accessible to as many hands as possible.

After the ring design has been refined and prototyped in plastic, I print several in a tree like structure for use in an investment casting process. I will make a blog post to show that process.