Made With Purpose. Allowed To Age.

The Key Elements Of A Perfect Piece...

Posted by Ryan Purdie on

THREE things make up the ultimate pinky piece...

Size
Although the piece needs to have an overall smaller design size to it, it is generally in the style that the size is made to work more applicably to the pinky finger. 

Style
The finer points of the style is where the pinky ring feels its purpose. 

Firstly, with less 'meat' and knuckle on the pinky, the pinky ring needs quite a snug fit and therefore to be able to fit into the back crease, there needs to be a steep curve on the shoulders after the signet face. 

Secondly, is removing any obtrusiveness to the piece. It needs to sit low and flush to the finger. Its a strange thing that you'll notice when wearing a larger pinky ring, is how often you'll clip it on a table when you're walking by. It's bizarre. You'd never noticed how calculated these table fly-bys are, until you slap a ring on the pinky. So any additional distance added to your paw, will get annoying. 

Lastly, is this feeling of comfort. As the pinky rings need to be perfectly snug and up close next to the webbing on the finger, its essential that the shank profile is perfectly round. 

 

Significance

Significance, seems like it should apply to all pieces, however I feel that there is a prestige and legacy to a pinky piece that doesn't exist with all rings. 

As we noted previously, having the pinky occupied by any ring is 90% of the job done. Aesthetics aside. What I mean is, many other rings will need to carry a lot more design attraction for other fingers, where as the pinky ring has a sole purpose of sitting on the outside of the paw and carrying purpose or significance. Whether a meaningful gift, a reminder, or a simple 'yep, I'm a pinky ring type...'.

We've built in the ability to have legacy and added significance by, adding the hallmarks to the face to represent the year it was made, where it was made and a final added touch, is the individual piece number. 1/500, 2/500.... and so on.  

 

 

NOW ONLINE

This year, we've kept the core principles of a pinky ring strong and adapted further. Let's let Ned Flanders do the heavy lifting here... "It's like wearing nothing at all... Nothing at all.... NOTHING AT ALL"

You want that flanking outer metal to be hugging flush to the fist. It needs to have a 'comfort' to it, which is strange to say about a piece of metal suctioned to your knuckle. But, it needs to feel like you're wearing nothing at all. 

 

As the pinky lacks girth and the knuckle structure to hold a piece securely on the finger like all the other digits, we've kept the face quite thin, which will allow it to tuck into the crease on the inside of the hand. Then the features of the signet, flow with the contours of the hand - without being a ballbag with the description, better said 'it's well rounded and sits low to the finger'. 

 

"Anything, As Long As It Hugs This lil' Digit..."

There's a strange thing that I've picked up on during my time with CHD... 

Two approaches with very different entry points, have shown to be the main settlement for shopping attitudes. 

Here they are:

"I want THIS ring... It pumps. I love it... Now, what finger should I channel it on?"

OR, and this is big departure from the first approach...

"I need a ring for my pinky... I don't overly care what ring, just a pinky ring."

 

The nuance (might not even be that nuanced, but its a fun word to say, or type) here is that people either are focused on the ring or the pinky finger. The focus on a particular finger, really doesn't extend beyond the pinky. Obviously unless its for a wedding ring. Even still, the ring's aesthetic plays more of a role than for the purpose of filling that little outside prodder aka the pinky. 

 

This realisation is what birthed the Pinky Piece Release. Coined in 2021, and we are now on the second year running. And by the Mother of Moe, it's a hot one this year. 
 

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The Pinky Piece Release '22

Posted by Ryan Purdie on

"Anything, As Long As It Hugs This lil' Digit..."

There's a strange thing that I've picked up on during my time with CHD... 

Two approaches with very different entry points, have shown to be the main settlement for shopping attitudes. 

Here they are:

"I want THIS ring... It pumps. I love it... Now, what finger should I channel it on?"

OR, and this is big departure from the first approach...

"I need a ring for my pinky... I don't overly care what ring, just a pinky ring."

 

The nuance (might not even be that nuanced, but its a fun word to say, or type) here is that people either are focused on the ring or the pinky finger. The focus on a particular finger, really doesn't extend beyond the pinky. Obviously unless its for a wedding ring. Even still, the ring's aesthetic plays more of a role than for the purpose of filling that little outside prodder aka the pinky. 

 

This realisation is what birthed the Pinky Piece Release. Coined in 2021, and we are now on the second year running. And by the Mother of Moe, it's a hot one this year. 

RELEASING OCTOBER 20

Last year, we had the Opal Textured Signet, see below. 

 

This year, we've kept the core principles of a pinky ring strong and adapted further. Lets let Ned Flanders do the heavy lifting here... "It's like wearing nothing at all... Nothing at all.... NOTHING AT ALL"

You want that flanking outer metal to be hugging flush to the fist. It needs to have a peculiar comfort to it. It needs to feel like you're wearing nothing at all. 

 

As the pinky lacks girth and the knuckle structure to hold a piece securely on the finger like all the other digits, we've kept the face quite thin, which will allow it to tuck into the crease on the inside of the hand. Then the features of the signet, flow with the contours of the hand - without being a ballbag with the description, better said 'it's well rounded and sits low to the finger'. 

Keep yourself stupidly close, we are releasing only 500 Pieces, then, never to be sold again...

OCTOBER 20th

 
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The Collector, 2022 Design Comp RUNNER UP

Posted by Ryan Purdie on


"No more skulls..." *In walks The Collector.

 

There seems to always be an utterance of 'no more skulls' during the countdown. However, there is an undeniable attachment to the skull motif, that comes in droves. We have no personal or brand identity that we feel the need to push designs through that have a skull element within the piece, it is purely due to the massive support base that these designs attract.

If you think about it a little further... The simple fact that skull based designs are plentiful, requires the specific design approach to that much more thoughtful and impactful. It's the nature of not having a unique aspect to carry the design that demands a further creative flare. The Collector has nailed this.

What it also brings to the table, is a level of accessibility to those who may want to give a subtle nod to the skullduggery, without wearing an overly bold 'Skull Ring'.

Coffin shaped signet, with a catacombs inspired sunken positive skull orientation.

A more petite design, perfectly suited for pinky piece OR just those who lean towards slimmer pieces. 

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BEHIND THE DESIGN

Ellie Zuker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  1. What do you currently do for a living/study?

    I am a full time Freelance Makeup Artist in Fashion, Tv, Film, Events and everything in between based in Melbourne.

  2. Outside of COVID times, what else do you get up to...?

    I won’t lie, my life is 90% makeup, and the other 10% is being a mother to my Greyhound napping. Oh and watch Ru Pauls Drag Race religiously.

  3. What was your favourite design (aside from your own, obviously) and who did you think would win?

    My favourite was definitely Snake in the Grass, I loved its simplicity and thought the art deco style felt like a nod to signets of the 1920’s. I found the motif to be quite beautiful and classic, I loved that it was different from the norm. As your “non stereotypical” signet wearer, that was the one I could see myself wearing the most.

  4. Let us know another brand that you follow on IG that our followers should check out...

    I am colour obsessed, and have always felt a strong connection to butterflies, their beauty is incredible. A brand that I love is Babe Butterflies, the most insane butterfly domes I have ever seen; they are truly magical and just fucking cool.
    https://www.babebutterfly.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/babe_butterflies/

  1. Tell us why you decided to enter the Crooked Howlet Design Competition, and how you found out about it?

    I won’t lie to you, I am the girlfriend of Half Life’s - Dion De Kruiff, the people’s choice winner from last year’s design comp, oh and I am good mates with Justin and Conor, the previous two winners. I wanted to get in on the action and put my foot in the ring. After seeing the competition from the sidelines the last two years, I learnt how fucking cool your company is. From your companies branding, the ethos and how funny you (Ryan) and your mate from the pod are, it just made me want to participate and be a part of the experience. It was also nice to be designing/drawing again as opposed to painting faces.

  2. Talk to us about your design background, are you self-taught or gone to art school, etc?

    My whole life I have been an artist, as corny as it is, it is all I have ever known; I am a very creative person.  I have been drawing since kindergarten and as I got older, it went from paper to canvas, from canvas to computer and now from computer to faces.In my last year of school I completed three folio subjects:  Studio Arts, Visual Communication and Design, and Interactive Digital Media. I always knew I want to be a makeup artist, but just to be safe I went to university and got a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Design (fancy word for graphic design).After completing my bachelor’s degree I decided to turn my hobby into a career and put all my energy into becoming a makeup artist, I haven’t looked back since. Because of my extensive art background it was an easy transition, I am fully self-taught and it is truly where I feel most creative and expressive.

  3. What inspired your design? Talk us through the concept and the process from start to finish.

    I have always had a weird affinity with skulls; I find them beautiful but also terrifying at the same time. A lot of my artwork and even makeup works from my younger years are around the theme of skulls. In regards to the concept, I don’t know what to tell you, it was just in my brain, an idea that self-seeded itself. Once I have an idea, I do not like to look it up as I don’t want to be clouded by other designs. I won’t lie, when you were talking about catacombs, I was like “wtf are they?”. I had this image in my head of skulls in a coffin shaped signet; I thought the shape would be unique. So I went downstairs to get the Human Skull from my dad’s office (yes I do mean a real human skull and yes I can explain this in further detail upon questioning :’D) and started sketching. After getting different variations of the skull I scanned them and arranged them in the signet shape in Photoshop, added some shading and some highlights and voilla, the collector was born.

  4. What does it mean to you to win this competition?

    It means a lot to know that other people liked and resonated with my design and to know that I still have it when it comes to drawing and creating. Seeing your concept come to a fully fledge design is very rewarding. It is also nice to say that I am the first female to win, paving the way for the future of female designers/ signet wearers.

  5. What is next for you?

    To keep pushing myself creatively through makeup and for my style to become recognisable. I wish to achieve the goals I have set for myself within the industry. 
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The Collector

Posted by Ryan Purdie on

___

THE SIGNET WITH A SLIGHT NOD TO SKULLDUGGERY

Releasing August 1st, ONE DAY EXCLUSIVE. 
Sold For 24 Hours Only, Then Never Again.
 

 

The Runner Up, of the 2022 CHD Design Comp. The Collector, by Ellie Zuker.

We are into the second and third iteration of the product development stage. 

Some designs in the past, we have needed to be quite experimental with the best way to approach the concept. We'll often change some core elements that we know that may have tickled your groin in the artwork, however they would have struggled to pop in the actual physical piece. 
A solid contrast of detail sculptural aspects with a clean signet design, is the playbook. So clearly, The Collector didn't need much of a fanning. The design was always going to flare. 
 
We have tightened up a few aspects from the original drafts, such as areas that our head jeweller pointed out that could be a bastard to produce. We've opted to sink the skulls in further, both to protect the skulls form wear and tear, which because they are so fine, it may turn them into mush if they consistently cop a beating. Also, just that added depth keeps is always such a powerful hit. 
 
August 1st, Keep Yourself's Annoyingly Close. 

 

 
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