Jim Omori is an award winning Winnipeg jewellery designer specializing in crafting fine engagement rings, wedding bands and all forms of custom jewellery which often feature stunning and rare diamonds, sapphires and precious gems. Today we will be showing you a magnificent “Starry Night” ring that Jim designed, which was inspired by the famous painting by Vincent van Gogh.
This ring was designed by Jim Omori and together with the help of our CAD specialist and goldsmith we were able to capture the wonderful textures of the night sky as seen in the famous paining by Vincent van Gogh.
The story behind the design…
This ring was created for a special client and family that we have known for many years. The design began with a very rare Ceylon yellow sapphire which was chosen as the centre piece of this design.
After discussing various ideas, both Jim and the family came up with a wonderful idea to incorporate the yellow sapphire, which was to base the design around the famous Starry Night painting by van Gogh.
As is often the case, Jim began the jewellery design process by sketching out some ideas. These sketches were then used as a framework for both the CAD designer and the goldsmith for the creation of the starry night ring.
As you can see, the sketches often become very detailed including dimensions, proportions and measurements so that our team can communicate effectively and create the design as imagined. As always, it is very important to take into account the exact size of all of the diamonds involved as the design is literally crafted around these stones in order to create the maximum amount of sparkle and light return.
The next stage in the design was the wax carving. During this stage, Jim will often hand carve a wax. This is an excellent way to finalize creative ideas as the physical process of carving the wax allows all sorts of new ideas and happy accidents to flourish and sometimes new textures and shapes can be born.
Another reason why we love to create the shape in wax first, is that it gives the client an opportunity to see the design come to life as well as suggest changes. One of the things that Jim loves about working with this family is the creative freedom that they give when it comes to their design. Since we have known them for many years, Jim has developed a great sense of the styles that they love. In this case, we knew that this would be the perfect design for the woman who it was created for!
The next stage in the design process was to have our CAD designer print out a more accurate wax model to insure exact proportions for when the design would be cast in gold. As this design features many textures of white and yellow gold, the ring was cast in several pieces which were then put together by our master goldsmith.
After the parts were cast, our goldsmith then undertook the task of assembling the ring, as well as creating the textures.
One of the most striking aspects of the starry night ring design is the sweeping textures which create the look of the light moving through the clouds of the night sky. This was created through special design techniques which etch and engrave the swirling textures into the gold itself.
In the below side shot you can see how these textures turned out and can be seen on both the top and band of the starry night ring.
Once this stage was complete, the goldsmith then polished the finishing touches on the ring and we contacted our client to pick up the design. This ring was given as a birthday present to our client’s wife and we are very pleased to know that she loves her ring and that we could play a small role in her special birthday and celebration!
Want to see more of Jim Omori’s Starry Night ring design? Check out the video HERE