finalist

Fleur-de-Lis

While we live, we must follow the voice within, even when the path is dark. The ring is adorned with a mix of square, pear-shaped, and round brilliant-cut black or rose cut salt-and-pepper diamonds.

At its center, three sterling silver skulls are held by two skeletal hands, symbolizing awareness of life’s impermanence.

Beneath them, the 14kt yellow gold fleur-de-lis, once used on ancient compasses to mark north, becomes the compass of the soul, representing passion, direction, and truth.

More than an ornament, this ring is a silent oath: even as death watches, the living must move courageously toward their truth.

Artist: Hsinyu Candy Chu

finalist

gut check

Making decisions can be difficult. When you’re stuck and you ask someone for advice, it’s often the minute they suggest you STAY that you realize you actually want to GO.

Sometimes we have to be suggested to do one thing to finally feel our inner knowing to do the opposite. This spinner ring functions as a little “knowing” decoder.

Assign the colors to either Stay or Go, or Yes or No, etc. Spin the ring: it is while it’s spinning that you’ll
likely feel that you secretly hope it lands on one color or the other.

The top of the ring is engraved with “The truth is you already know,” because we do all already know. From the front it reads “Know The Truth.”

Artist: Lauren Jennings

finalist

Mirror of Veritas

Veritas is the Roman personification of truth, and the word itself means truth in Latin. True believers, those who seek truth in its rawest form, often find it through reflections of themselves.

The Romans expressed it through Veritas, the goddess with wavy hair and gentle reach. This piece brings an Art Nouveau inspired movement, extending toward an oval moonstone that rests in the center like a mirror.

The pierced structure keeps the ring open and light, almost like a breath moving through metal. A small banner with the word Veritas keeps the meaning close.

The piece becomes a mirror to see yourself, a reflection you carry, and a subtle expression of belief.

Artist: Ellie Lee

finalist

Seek and Hold

I have come to understand life as a balance. I have never held belief in a higher power nor followed any religion, and the idea of an afterlife is not something I have ever envisioned as existing.

Change is inevitable. There are few sureties. Embracing the duality of life is my strategy for survival: at times infuriating and devastating, at times inspiring, and even sometimes peaceful.

The candle is burning from both ends, one brightly aflame and the other the glow of an ember, but both still lit. It is my belief that we can hold this duality and even make sense of it.

Artist: Meagan Segal

Ad Te

An ode to the Victorian Lover’s Eye, this piece weeps the radically honest cost of deep devotion, not of weakness, but as a declaration: I choose to be devoted, and I wear it like a crown.

Inverted black diamonds form a night sky, a reminder that even in darkness, the vow remains. A true believer knows, ‘what I feel does not decay.’

Artist: Stephanie Cummings

My king is Me

I don't give control of my life to someone who doesn't make me happy. Even if I tend to forget it, the third eye is watching me anytime.

The center stone is a topaz with an icy blue hue and a special “eye cut.” It will gaze with icy calm upon the wearer. To embody the king’s majesty, the material must be made of pure gold. Gentle upon the wearer, it bestows brilliance and power. 

The meticulously sanded matte finish gives the surface a soft lustre, and the texture that develops with use evokes a sense of shared history, fostering confidence in the wearer.

Artist: Port Doré

Providential Panopticon

Ultimately, this piece is about the American caste system. Call it racism, call it classism, call it God’s Country.

The Eye of Providence has long been a symbol of this country, taking at times a more sinister flair as pop culture returns to it. It has also represented jailers in a certain London prison’s design.

In this piece, it overlooks two stones, sapphire and garnet, representing both truth and justice as well as the blood and collars of the working class.

Artist: Christian Schneider

the astra

"Per aspera ad astra" is a Latin phrase that translates to "through hardship to the stars". Living in this crazy time, it's easy to feel the weight of the world.

This design serves as a quiet encouragement to the wearer that strength is carved from struggle, and that resilience and persistence will take you to the stars.

Artist: Julia King

Transverberation

Inspired by Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, this ring captures the moment an angel's flaming spear pierces her heart: a rapt facial expression, caught between surrender and revelation, and her matte-finished veil wrapping around the wearer's finger.

Two red sapphires burn as her eyes, evoking the inner fire she described consuming her. Echoing Bernini's hidden light source, they appear lit from below by a heart-cut garnet suspended inside the band.

Set inverted on rays of gold, its point gently presses against the wearer's skin, as does a second garnet along the back of the band, drawing the body into the ring and its meaning.

The band's interior and edges are carved to evoke crumbling marble, fracturing light across the piece. Inscribed within is transverberare, the Latin verb meaning to pierce through.

Artist: Jade Boutilier

Vanitas

Our truths and understandings of the world shifts as each and every one of us are shaped by time.

Vanitas is a 17th century still life art genre that depicts several objects such as a bubble, skull, wilted flowers, candles, coins, and clocks, symbolizing the transience of life and certainty of death.

These painting were meant to serve as a memento mori, helping us to question
what our true value and beliefs are at the end of time.

‘Vanitas’ tells the same story, reminding the wearer of our mortality and to treasure what’s beyond our physical world.

Artist: Alice Son

Walk Through Hell

A tale of love and devotion. After Eurydice died, Orpheus journeyed into Hades to bring her back which was agreed on one condition: as they walked through Hell, Orpheus could not look back at her.

This ring honors that journey. The golden eye at the center serves as a reminder to stay focused and trust the path ahead. The hands on the back symbolize Orpheus and Eurydice reaching for each other. 

Orpheus’s love compelled him to look back and he lost Eurydice forever. He wandered the earth alone until he became the constellation Lyra, which is represented along the shoulders of the ring.

Artist: Erica Bello