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photo: Lisbeth Damgaard i first connected with hildur over a year ago, when she sent me the loveliest message asking if i was open to featuring new jewelers. perhaps i’m a little biased when it comes to Sweden. my father is swedish, i lived there and have always felt a special connection to the country - but hildur immediately won me over, and i invited her to participate in SFA. back then the timing wasn’t quite right, though, she was about to begin an important internship, so we agreed she’d come back when she felt ready. and here we are, over a year later, with her participation finally a reality. there’s something wonderfully serendipitous about hildur returning just in time to be my last SFA guest before i put the series on pause for a while. sometimes things really do happen exactly when they’re supposed to. please welcome swedish jeweler hildur ottilia höglind, the woman behind @hildur.ottilia.jewelry HILDUR OTTILIA HÖGLIND A few months ago, my mom texted a picture of my old school workbook from second grade. In it, I had written that when I grow up I want to “become a goldsmith/silversmith/coppersmith/other kind of smith” or ”find stones”. I had completely forgotten about being interested in metalworking and gems at that age, and it somehow felt very validating to know that goldsmithing isn’t a phase or a strangely early midlife crisis. Years before I wanted to be a writer, psychologist or musician, I wanted to make beautiful things with my hands. Or find stones. Even as a bona fide grownup, it feels nice to know that my career choice has 8-year-old me’s approval. Now, when it comes to "finding stones”, my other career of choice as an unnaturally eloquent second grader, I hunt for them in the wild a lot less often than 8-year-old me would have ideally liked. In my defense, living in Scandinavia, however beneficial in terms of healthcare and education, is geologically unfortunate. I make up for the lack of everyday sapphire panning and opal digging by stalking auction houses and pawnshops for beautiful gems. Buying antique, old, vintage, second-hand, pre-loved or whatever you want to call it has the wonderful added bonus of giving me the sense that I am saving something from oblivion by granting it a new life. A newly acquired gemstone releases the same amount of dopamine that a kitten would and turns me into something not unlike Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings. I think it ultimately comes down to the colors for me, and perhaps that’s why I am particularly drawn to cabochon cuts. A cabochon is, in my opinion, color in its very essence; no facets or sparkle to detract from all the beautiful, unadulterated hues and shades offered. This is my fourth and final year as an apprentice, currently at wonderful Goldfingers in Copenhagen, and although I know I should be focused on my studies and not get distracted by my own grand ambitions, I can’t resist staying late in the workshop to explore my own ideas sometimes. The occasional weekend too. And Christmas and summer, of course. I spend so much time thinking about the jewelry I want to make that I sometimes forget that my career hasn’t even really started yet. Since middle school, I have been told to slow down, let things take time and not rush the process, but it’s impossible when there’s so much I want to do and so many gems I want to find and so many pieces I want to design and so many colors I want to combine! I don’t see why I would hold off on creating the things I want to create any longer. I know patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait, but dammit, I’ve waited since second grade. HILDUR - photo by Karl Ejnar Nybo Høj photo: Lisbeth Damgaard photo: Lisbeth Damgaard photo: Lisbeth Damgaard photo by Karl Ejnar Nybo Høj @hildur.ottilia.jewelry

today on SFA, i’m delighted to welcome natalie, the designer and founder of liri bespoke jewelry. working from south wales, natalie creates sleek, contemporary jewelry with a wonderful sense of individuality. she also has a particular talent for giving existing pieces a completely new life. inspired by ideas of freedom, personal transformation, and the beautiful landscape around her, natalie’s work is as much about the meaning we attach to jewelry as it is about the pieces themselves. i’m very happy to have her here today to tell us a little more about her journey and the world of liri - which is actually the albanian word for freedom. LIRI My name is Natalie Williams and I am the founder of Liri jewelry. I am originally from South Wales in the UK, lived for 5 years in Mauritius and am now based in the north east of Scotland. I am a jeweler obsessed with softness and curves, which have become a key feature of my designs over the years. Sketching and designing are my moments of calm, a feeling I want to translate into my jewelry; and there is nothing more soothing than graceful curves. When worn as a ring, a curved design is instantly tactile and the rhythm of idly following that curve with your finger, is instantly calming. I am a self-taught jeweler and I use a range of techniques to bring my designs to life - whichever method can translate the essence of the sketch into the jewel. This includes handmaking, wax carving and CAD design. It never ceases to amaze me how each technique has its own 'feel', so it's important to choose the correct one or the life and personality you want to give to your piece can be lost. Most of my work is redesigning other people's jewelry, which is the most challenging creative process as you always have to work around the materials you are given. I also create limited edition collections, but to experience total creative freedom, I love nothing more than designing one-of-a-kind pieces where i marry bold gems with statement design. NATALIE WILLIAMS @your_liri

it is always a pleasure but not an easy task to choose one ring for the Bague Extraordinaire Award. there were 20 presenting artists who exhibited their work in Encoded Bodies, part of Code & Craft, the Cluster Craft showcase in November 2025, directed by Ema Marinova and curated by Valeria Del Vacchio. after careful consideration, i chose abigail’s ring as it contained the key points that i believe make up what a Bague Extraordinaire should have: uniqueness, creativity, beauty, and of course, that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ aspect that makes me look twice. in this case, the mix of mechanical + organic details was a defining moment, as was the sense of movement and transformation within the piece. i love how abigail brings together the old and the new, creating something that feels both rooted in tradition and wonderfully futuristic. about the artist thu huong nguyen, aka abigail, is a contemporary jeweler, metalsmith, and illustrator currently based in hanoi, vietnam. after graduating with a bachelor of interior design (honours) from RMIT university in 2022, thu huong traveled to adelaide to pursue a master of design (contemporary art) at the university of adelaide. her work revolves around the use of industrial mechanics and movement to explore themes of technology, body dysmorphia, nostalgia, and the social and economic changes taking place in her country and in contemporary society. she is particularly interested in mechanizing organic forms (including the human body, animals, and plants) to reflect on the rapid encroachment of technology on human evolution, cultural heritage, and social values. by merging the old with the new, thu huong seeks to express both her desire to preserve vietnam's traditional values and her willingness to embrace the unpredictable future of an ever-changing world. process my process begins with observing and documenting everything around me, especially in my hometown of hanoi, vietnam. the city is in the midst of an industrial and technological revolution. everywhere, there are construction sites and machines building, repairing, or transforming something. in these machines, i see a beautiful simplicity that is easy to understand. life has always felt like a complex equation to me, and the only way i can simplify it is by turning it into a mechanical system. tactile movement plays a major role in my work, allowing each piece to open, close, collapse, unfold, and transform into different forms. by inviting people to interact with these movements, i hope to create a sense of curiosity and fascination. my interest in mechanics began during my interior design degree. at the time, i sketched machines and collected instruction manuals from my uncle, who is a mechanic. i experimented with combining different mechanical components to create opening and closing mechanisms. however, it wasn't until i met the wonderful jeweler katie collins, a lecturer at RMIT, and discovered her practice that i began to imagine turning machine mechanics into wearable objects. i started modeling my designs in 3d, then hand-cutting, soldering, and casting the pieces together to create new forms of machines. my work is now moving toward combining mechanical structures with organic and abstract forms, particularly the human body. i am interested in how we might transform in the future. this new direction will be presented in two exhibitions at nexus gallery and pop gallery in adelaide, australia, on september 30. about apollo and daphne (winning ring) apollo and daphne is a very important work for me because it was the first sculpture ring i ever made. at the time, i was looking for inspiration for how to mechanize organic forms when i came across an art book called baroque. i was immediately drawn to bernini's sculpture of apollo chasing daphne as she transforms into a laurel tree. the beauty of the white marble, together with the story of control, transformation, and the fight for freedom, stayed with me. in my version, daphne is represented by white marble and the laurel tree: elegant and growing upward, but still trying to break free. apollo is represented by yellow brass: strong, solid, and impossible to ignore. even the opening and closing movement of the ring reflects daphne's struggle to escape his grip. trivia my studio's name - hopo - simply means “hot pot studio.” i named it after my mum's hot pot restaurant. it was the place that raised me and made it possible for me to go to art school. without my mum and that restaurant, i don't think i would have become an artist or a jeweler. here are a few more pieces from abigail's body of work: @hopo_studio

gallery a few of my favorite rings...

the story behind fancythisrings & eliane about fancythisrings fancythisrings was born in 2020, right in the midst of the pandemic. having always had a deep love for rings, eliane decided - on a whim - to create a page dedicated entirely to them. with no prior experience and no grand plan, she simply took the leap and never looked back. six years later, @fancythisrings has grown into a thriving community that continues to inspire and delight her every day. connecting with talented artists, passionate collectors, and fellow jewelry lovers from around the world has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the journey. what began as a simple passion project has evolved into a carefully curated digital gallery featuring more than 5,600 rings (and counting). above all, eliane is proud to have created a positive and welcoming space where creativity, craftsmanship, and beauty can be celebrated. while showcasing extraordinary rings remains at the heart of fancythisrings, her greatest joy comes from discovering emerging talent, supporting independent artists, and sharing their work with a wider audience. about eliane eliane de luca peres was born in são paulo, brazil, and has lived in sweden, panama, and canada. she currently resides in la ville rose, toulouse, in the south of france. with extensive experience in communications and public relations, eliane has worked with some of the most prestigious advertising agencies in são paulo, including ogilvy & mather, mccann-erickson, ddb, and leo burnett. alongside her career in advertising, she has nurtured a lifelong passion for bold, extravagant, and unconventional jewelry, particularly rings. today, when she is not searching for unique treasures to feature on fancythisrings, eliane works as an english and spanish tutor for children and teenagers, translates for the brazilian advertising market, and writes a regular column for the paris-based magazine salut les garçons.