More than beautiful: innovative jewellery with aesthetics and expressivity
To convince the experts of the jury panel of the Red Dot Award: Product Design, a shapely designed product alone is not enough. This year, two entries from the category “Jewellery” attract attention: The ring “Cut” from Kiss Design and the earring “Pirouette" by Johanna Otto Jewellery Design demonstrated innovative strength and have been honoured with the Red Dot: Best of the Best, the highest distinction in the Red Dot Award: Product Design.
Geometric shapes inspired by nature
The “Pirouette” earrings by designer Johanna Otto adopt the circle as their defining design element. The contours of the Pirouette emerge from four plain circles grouped and spinning around a shiny centre. The result is a three-dimensional pattern with a clear geometric look and flower-like appeal. The particular shape is achieved through a special fixing technique of the main elements: Like in nature individual petals group in circles that repeat several times in a flower to lend a blossom its characteristic appearance. The Red Dot jury praised the innovative interpretation of the Pirouette earring, which made a simple design shape emerge as a novel piece of jewellery: “The Pirouette earring adopts a simple basic shape and, playing on the many design possibilities the shape bears, emerged with a beauty that appeals to women of all ages.”
Perfect cut by laser micro technology
The design of the rings from the jewellery “Cut” by designer Sally Kiss follows a similar approach like the “Fer de Berlin”, a type of jewellery made of metal wire from the early 19th century. In the sense of a “reduction of the gem to the basic cut shape”, these pieces of jewellery aim at visualising significance and value independent of the material. The pieces are made of stainless steel using advanced industrial laser micromachining technology, which requires meticulous planning of the object. The result is a fascinating geometric design idiom with an impressive three-dimensional appearance. In its assessment the jury emphasizes the innovative realisation by making use of contemporary technology, which led to pieces of jewellery of high aesthetics and expressivity: “Using the possibilities offered by laser micromachining in a creative manner, they emerged as gems with a distinctive visual appeal. They touch the senses with their inspired design and exude a sense of high value.”
