As you might remember way back in April, we launched a juried ring competition online, Battle of the Rings, a tournament style competition, with a top prize of $500. The response was fantastic! Our esteemed jurors, Anika Smulovitz and Andrew Cooperman, had the very difficult task to narrow the playing field to just 64 rings from an incredible turnout of 128 from across the country and abroad! These 64 exceptional rings have now been paired into matches. With themes including nesting and protection, many of these rings are truly works of art, snapshots of this unprecedented time in history. Collectively they represent a wide range of material, style, technique and personality. Just to be clear, for the most part these are not every-day rings, they are statement rings and they are all for sale. See ALL the rings HERE!
Above: rings by Micah Donnelly, Maru Almeida and Zuzana Korbelarova
Below: rings by Julia Lowther, Checha Sokolovic and Catherine Grisez
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES!
All 64 rings have been drafted into teams: The Shanks and the Mandrels and paired into matches that will go head-to-head in competition beginning June 1st for a top prize of $500. All voting happens online, at the Danaca Design Studio Instagram account, @danacadesignstudio Throughout the entire month of June, EVERY morning at 9:00am (Pacific time), new matches will be posted in our Instagram stories: in the app, tap the flower above our account name to find them. You can pick your favorite by tapping “TOP” or “BOTTOM” in the poll. Click on the links in the Instagram post to view more pictures and information about each ring. The story can matter! Each ring can win up to three points in a match. One is given to the winner of the Instagram poll; the other two points come from our judges. The Ring with the most points moves onto the next round. See all of the matches HERE.
May the Best Ring Win; One Ring to Rule them All!
Looking forward to Reopening
In other good news, we are in the process of retrofitting the studio to reopen in mid-June. When we open it will be for a maximum capacity of 6 students so you know CLASSES ARE GOING TO FILL UP FAST! To keep as many of you engaged as possible we’ll continue to expand our online class offerings. So far Wax Working for Jewelers and Mentored Independent Study are been big hits! The best thing about these online classes is now you can make new friends in Florida or Ohio or Texas! Check out what’s available in our online class lineup HERE.
Remember too that we are continuing to provide a selection of tools and supplies for curbside pick-up or to be shipped. (I still have one apron!) You can see some of what we offer in the KITS we’ve put together. If you don’t see what you need, just email us. If we have it we’ll put together a custom order for you. That’s what you might call Small Business Hospitality.
Looking forward to seeing you soon, whether in person or online!
Stay safe, calm, clean, and well adorned!
Dana
