What an honour it was to win this award last night!
This ring was made for a dear friend, also a jeweller, and is an amalgamation of 10 years worth of personal jokes.
The central stone is a piece of smoky quartz, masterfully carved by Ryan Bowen in the likeness of actor Willem Dafoe, on a muscled-up naga body. Holding a paintbrush in front of an eye, I can’t even begin to explain the nights of laughter that led to this carving. 
The back plate behind the quartz is one of my favourite details, with the texture achieved by rolling the platinum plate between two pieces of paper torn from a notebook used in a joint study.
Behind that, a cavity accessible through a locket at the back holds an interchangeable disk engraved with a haiku.
The door to this locket is made from a piece of egg-shaped Mokume Gane that I recycled from my TAFE majorwork the year we both graduated as jewellers, with the toggle catch and the piece opposite it being tiny pear shape diamonds, 2 x 3mm!
To either side of the ring, the same size pear shape sapphires sit above a fluted beam of 18ct gold that shoots around the finger, widening and pinching to emulate the movement of a lighthouse beam as it circles. A heavy matte texture contrasts the high polish of the platinum, letting the colours of the metal speak out.
To have a career where I can take all of these weird and wonderful memories and turn them into something so substantial is something I count myself lucky for every day.
If you’d like to check out the judging process and the other finalists, here’s the link!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PuPscK3DaOk&feature=youtu.be
The JAA came to the workshop to film some snippets for the awards video, so you’ll see my face pop up a bit as I work on “Eris” and “Detritus” a few weeks ago.