Ring, Hidden Diamond Ring from The Diamond Project

General Introduction:





The diamond series was originally comprised of 7 different objects made throughout 2004 that each feature diamonds in unusual ways to elicit a reflection on luxury, consumption, beauty, and commitment. Natural diamonds are the hardest and one of the rarest materials on earth. Although they have been harvested for thousands of years, during the early modern period their extraction and trade became a lucrative global industry. Old and new trade routes were stimulated by the emergent and intensifying colonial networks which gave wealthy patrons throughout the world, from the Mughal empire to European absolutist monarchies, unprecedent access to these costly gems. Diamonds were symbols of wealth, power, and prestige. As their circulation increased, new cutting techniques were developed, magnifying the beauty of these precious stones which were mounted on the most intricately designed jewels, accessories, and ornaments of the time.


The interest and hunger for diamonds however, went far beyond the privileged and closed-off world of the aristocracy. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, great artisans such as George Ravenscroft or George-Frédéric Strass perfected formulas to make high quality glass-paste imitation diamonds. Such techniques enabled highly skilled glassmakers and jewelers to produce stones that closely resembled diamonds, but for a fraction of the price. With the Industrial Revolution, by the late 19th century the European middle-class expanded and had newly disposable income and opportunities to socialize. In this context jewelry that featured imitation diamonds became a ubiquitous sight throughout the metropolises of Europe.


Despite falling out of fashion during the first half of the 20th century, the widespread appeal of inexpensive diamonds made a triumphant return during the second half of the 20th century. New technologies involving high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) or chemical vapor disposition (CVD) techniques enabled the production of synthetic diamonds. These have the exact same chemical and physical properties as naturally formed diamonds. Consequently, ‘real’ diamonds of all shapes and colors became accessible with unprecedented ease as they entered the increasingly mass-producing and consumerist societies of the late 20th century. Despite their greater availability, diamonds hardly lost their status and appeal as luxury goods as this image was communicated and amplified though popular culture. Movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Pink Panther, Diamonds are Forever or even Moulin Rouge are but a few examples.


As such, it is more than fitting that Tobias Wong, a conceptual designer whose work interrogates and plays with ideas surrounding the consumption of luxury, made a series centered around diamonds. In a 2003 interview for SOMA, when asked by Hillary Latos what types of materials he likes to work with, Wong responded with characteristic humorous ambiguity: “Diamonds. All diamonds.” Throughout his diamond series, with each individual object he proposes a different reflection on the world’s most coveted mineral, portraying them at once as objects of beauty, desire, elegance, strength, danger, and boundless vanity. Following his philosophy of making “paraconceptual” design in his attempt to expose the similarities between art and design, the diamond series presents objects which can be appreciated for their beauty and aesthetics in conjunction with their conceptual depth rather than in lieu of it. A year later in 2005, with collaborator Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Wong designed the INDULGENCES series which similarly to the Diamond series offers a reflection on the consumption of luxury but this time through gold.







Hidden Diamond Ring:





Made in collaboration with industrial designer Philip Mohr, the Diamond Rings present a reflection on rings as both symbol of a promise between two people and as an ostentatious and public display of wealth. Their design is simple, it features a simple polished metal band, either gold, white gold, or platinum, making it appear as a classic engagement or wedding ring. The twist however is that a small diamond, available in three different grades, is incrusted on the inside of the ring, which is invisible when worn. On Tobias Wong’s website the catchy subtitles of the Diamond Rings appear as follows: “only you know how much he/she cares” and “who else should care?”1. These indicate not only that the rings were unisex, but that their main purpose is to intimately and quietly symbolize the commitment or promise that two people have made to one another. Rather than placing the diamond ostentatiously, Wong and Mohr decided to hide it. They prevented their ring from becoming, as is often the case in certain socio-economic circles, an external marker of wealth or an object meant to be flaunted to attract the admiration, sympathy, or even jealousy of friends and peers. Only the wearer and the person who gifted the ring are aware that the promise they sealed through it is materialized by a dissimulated diamond. The gemstone’s edges can be felt by the person wearing it whenever they touch or rotate the ring, acting as a gentle sensory reminder of its presence. Like a whispered secret, this private and intimate knowledge amplifies the ring’s emotional value and the connection shared between the two people it concerns most. By subverting the use of the diamond Wong was showing that the deepest of emotions can be materialized through restraint, while also taking to a new level Coco Channel’s iconic saying “elegance is refusal.”




Footnotes:

1 http://www.brokenoff.com/thediamondproject.html

Ring, Hidden Diamond Ring from The Diamond Project; Designed by Tobias Wong (1974–2010); Collaborator: Philip Mohr; platinum, diamond; H x diam. (ring): 0.5 × 2.4 cm (3/16 × 15/16 in.) H x W x D (pouch): 4.4 × 2.2 × 0.6 cm (1 3/4 × 7/8 × 1/4 in.) H x W x D (box): 2.2 × 4.1 × 4.4 cm (7/8 × 1 5/8 × 1 3/4 in.); The Tobias Wong Collection, Gift of Phyllis Chan and Gordon Wong; 2024-4-20-a/c