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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

i am pleased to introduce the work of young french jeweller ulysse thiebaux: Brut et Precieux. his contemporary rings are defined by richly textured surfaces, organic forms and a distinctly sculptural quality, resulting in pieces with an intriguing tactile presence. i rather enjoy the manner in which his pieces are presented "floating" on his instagram page. it gives it all an ethereal atmosphere, much in line with his particular style, brut and precieux! BRUT ET PRECIEUX - ulysse thiebaux I trained as a boilermaker with the Compagnons du Devoir, where I learned to work material in a direct way: bending, welding, shaping metal without shortcuts. The workshop was also a very physical environment — the smell of heated steel, welding fumes, the grinding wheel screaming, hands blackened at the end of the day. This experience was fundamental. It gave me a tangible understanding of material, but more importantly, the feeling that anything could be made. That creation is not an abstract idea, but a concrete ability. I later stepped away from that environment to develop a more personal approach. Jewelry naturally became my medium, more intimate, more demanding, where every detail matters. The scale changes, but the relationship to the gesture remains the same. In my studio, the micromotor runs in the background, and the light is neutral, around 5400 Kelvin, the same temperature used in gemology, as it preserves the true color of the stones. I’m drawn to stones with inclusions; they carry a depth and character that flawless, high-priced stones often lack. My process does not begin with a fixed drawing. It develops through a constant back-and-forth between intuition and reaction to the material. A stone can trigger a piece, an accidental texture can define a form. I give space to the unexpected: irregularities from casting are not systematically corrected — they become points of departure. There is a deliberate element of improvisation. I work in particular with Delft clay casting, a direct and demanding process that produces raw textures and sometimes unpredictable forms. The moment of casting is always a threshold , waiting, heat, then discovery. Nothing is fully guaranteed. This relationship to unpredictability interests me; it creates a tension between control and what escapes it. The piece is not about perfect mastery, but about finding balance. My influences are diffuse: organic forms, architecture, ancient motifs, mythological figures. Certain elements recur — spirals, faces, almost archaic volumes. These references are not illustrative; they act more as underlying structures or resonances. I deliberately distance myself from standardized jewelry — overly polished, overly symmetrical, often designed as disposable objects. I aim instead to create pieces with presence and density. Weight, texture, and how the piece evolves over time are essential. A matte surface, for instance, retains its character far better than a polished finish that gradually fades. Each piece is unique. It becomes a way of expressing a sensitivity to singular objects — pieces that cannot be found elsewhere. I position myself between craftsmanship and an artistic approach. The gesture remains central, but the intention goes beyond fabrication. What I seek is to create objects that endure — both through their material and through the experience they convey. @brutetprecieux

fernanda and i met virtually through another incredible artist, isabella blanco, a little over a year ago. her work quickly caught my eye (no pun intended!), and even though she doesn’t make rings at the moment, she has promised me that she will one day! as an art lover and a strong believer in repurposing objects from the past, her pieces immediately spoke to me. she is also funny, outspoken, sweet, extremely loyal, and a fierce mama bear. it is always a pleasure to talk to her and share the good, the bad, and the ugly. i cannot wait to meet her in person soon. this is fernanda’s story. enjoy! FERNANDA SOZZI i was born in Guarulhos, São Paulo, and my mother was one of the people most responsible for my encounter with art. she was an art teacher and, from an early age, taught me to draw what i felt before i even understood what it meant to create. perhaps that was where my relationship with art began: not as an attempt to reproduce the world, but as a way of interpreting it. i was not a child with many friendships, and i carried none of them from school into university. my path was built through encounters with people who arrived, stayed for a while, and somehow left something of themselves in me. at university, where i studied business administration at Mackenzie in São Paulo, i met people with different personalities, stories, and ways of seeing the world. these encounters taught me that sometimes there are no words capable of explaining what we feel. sometimes, a look can translate what we cannot say. the pieces featuring brown eyes are a reflection of those people who did not know how to speak, but knew how to be transparent through the way they looked at the world. we all carry a singular way of interpreting reality, and this perspective can transform our relationship with things, with others, and with ourselves. perhaps creating is precisely that: gathering fragments with gold, as if transforming what was broken until something unique emerges. my artistic identity was born from this movement of welcoming what has been broken, reorganizing its parts, and revealing a form that did not exist before. my creative process begins with the search for objects that carry an emotional identity: old tableware, forgotten plates, and fragments of vintage porcelain marked by time and invisible stories. in the studio, i bring these memories together through mixed techniques, combining broken fragments and whole plates with metal, hand-painted eyes, and surrealist elements. i do not create despite the fragments, but because of them. i preserve the marks they carry and allow them to become part of something new. by transforming objects from the past into jewelry and conceptual sculptures, i give discarded objects another possibility of existence. for me, there is no more profound form of expression than transforming these fragments into pieces that can be carried with us, wherever we go. @fernandasozziatelier

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.

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curadoria de anéis, artistas joalheiros novos ou estabelecidos, entrevistas, galeria de anéis fancythisrings welcome, everyone. curatorship this is one of the things I absolutely love to do nyc jewelry week In August 2024, I had the incredible honor of being invited by Bella Neyman and Chantel Gushue to curate the latest round of DISCOVER applications. Artists from all over the world apply for the chance to showcase their work on this amazing platform, and I was absolutely thrilled to be part of the selection process. Curating was both a rewarding and humbling experience—I fully understood the weight of the responsibility, and it was no easy task to make final decisions. One piece of advice for those considering applying: make sure your Instagram is cohesive and professional, your photos are high-quality, your website is engaging and easy to navigate, and most importantly, keep an eye on your inbox for updates. The DISCOVER page, featuring all the selected artists, officially launched on November 18, 2024, in celebration of the first day of NYCJW24. london calling! London was incredible! I’ve shared all about AURIC, the CLUSTERJEWELLERY fair, my visits to the Goldsmiths’ Centre and Kasun—everything’s up on the blog. There are dedicated posts where I dive into the events and visits in detail, with plenty of photos to bring it all to life. an important update: I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been invited by the Head Curator of CLUSTERJEWELLERY to continue our partnership—which means the BAGUE EXTRAORDINAIRE award lives on! I’ll be selecting the next recipients at each upcoming fair, and I couldn’t be happier! salut les garçons magazine rédactrice & brand content interviews with extraordinary artists, connaisseurs, bloggers and, of course, filled with lots of rings. issues #4 is sold out, but you can still find issues #5, #6,and #7 at Palais de Tokyo (among other venues). the latest issue, #8, where i interviewed Teresa Kiplinger and Roy Krejberg is already available! collaboration