Killer Ring from The Diamond Project Ring

General Introduction:




The diamond series was originally comprised of 7 different objects made throughout 2004 that each feature diamonds in unusual ways to elicit a reflection on luxury, consumption, beauty, and commitment. Natural diamonds are the hardest and one of the rarest materials on earth. Although they have been harvested for thousands of years, during the early modern period their extraction and trade became a lucrative global industry. Old and new trade routes were stimulated by the emergent and intensifying colonial networks which gave wealthy patrons throughout the world, from the Mughal empire to European absolutist monarchies, unprecedent access to these costly gems. Diamonds were symbols of wealth, power, and prestige. As their circulation increased, new cutting techniques were developed, magnifying the beauty of these precious stones which were mounted on the most intricately designed jewels, accessories, and ornaments of the time.


The interest and hunger for diamonds however, went far beyond the privileged and closed-off world of the aristocracy. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, great artisans such as George Ravenscroft or George-Frédéric Strass perfected formulas to make high quality glass-paste imitation diamonds. Such techniques enabled highly skilled glassmakers and jewelers to produce stones that closely resembled diamonds, but for a fraction of the price. With the Industrial Revolution, by the late 19th century the European middle-class expanded and had newly disposable income and opportunities to socialize. In this context jewelry that featured imitation diamonds became a ubiquitous sight throughout the metropolises of Europe.


Despite falling out of fashion during the first half of the 20th century, the widespread appeal of inexpensive diamonds made a triumphant return during the second half of the 20th century. New technologies involving high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) or chemical vapor disposition (CVD) techniques enabled the production of synthetic diamonds. These have the exact same chemical and physical properties as naturally formed diamonds. Consequently, ‘real’ diamonds of all shapes and colors became accessible with unprecedented ease as they entered the increasingly mass-producing and consumerist societies of the late 20th century. Despite their greater availability, diamonds hardly lost their status and appeal as luxury goods as this image was communicated and amplified though popular culture. Movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Pink Panther, Diamonds are Forever or even Moulin Rouge are but a few examples.


As such, it is more than fitting that Tobias Wong, a conceptual designer whose work interrogates and plays with ideas surrounding the consumption of luxury, made a series centered around diamonds. In a 2003 interview for SOMA, when asked by Hillary Latos what types of materials he likes to work with, Wong responded with characteristic humorous ambiguity: “Diamonds. All diamonds.” Throughout his diamond series, with each individual object he proposes a different reflection on the world’s most coveted mineral, portraying them at once as objects of beauty, desire, elegance, strength, danger, and boundless vanity. Following his philosophy of making “paraconceptual” design in his attempt to expose the similarities between art and design, the diamond series presents objects which can be appreciated for their beauty and aesthetics in conjunction with their conceptual depth rather than in lieu of it. A year later in 2005, with collaborator Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Wong designed the INDULGENCES series which similarly to the Diamond series offers a reflection on the consumption of luxury but this time through gold.




Killer Ring:





Continuing on the topic of diamonds, rings, and commitment, Tobias Wong made the Killer Ring, also known as the Ultimate Solitaire Diamond Ring. Perhaps the best-known object of the diamond series, it is a Tiffany & Co stamped ring that features 0.46 carat brilliant cut round and colorless diamond set on a simple and polished platinum band. The brilliant cut, with its 58 facets, is the most popular diamond cut, known for enhancing the gemstone’s brilliance, depth, and its classic style. . However, the key feature of this ring is that Wong designed it with the diamond set in reverse, meaning that the stone is turned on its head. With the table, the flat part of the diamond, toward the ring and the culet, the gem’s sharp point, facing outwards. This kind of setting is most often associated with punk and contemporary jewelry design. By placing a diamond upside down on an engagement ring and refraining from providing a specific intended meaning, Wong is drawing the viewers’ attention to this object while leaving its interpretation open-ended.





On a practical note, this ring is a tool of its own as it is mounted with the world’s hardest material. It can come in handy to cut, carve, tag, mark, or even gouge any surface, giving the Killer Ring a unique functionality that traditional engagement rings do not possess. Wong designed the rings after a commission by a company called 20 Limited and before Tiffany & Co., they were produced by the American luxury jeweler house Harry Winston, who was worried at first of working with Wong as by then he had acquired the reputation of being a “provocateur” or “bad boy” of design.2




On a second level of interpretation, the Killer Ring appears as a traditional engagement ring which functions as an ostentatious marker of commitment, of a union between two people, a token of love that is meant to be noticed and admired for its beauty. However, having the diamond’s strong and sharp culet jutting outwards in a way that could cause physical harm seems to be signaling the potential for danger and hurt that can incur in a marriage. As such, Killer Ring can be read as a commentary on the nature of marriage as both a beautiful and deadly experience.


From another but related perspective, with the Killer Ring, Tobias Wong also seems to point out how marriage and conspicuous consumption can be intertwined, with the latter giving a marked sense of performativity to the former. Following the typical popular culture ideal of the engagement ring, the Killer Ring comes in a bespoke navy-blue velvet Tiffany & Co. box, accompanied by a diamond certificate in a Tiffany & Co. leather folder. The ring is one thing, but knowing the diamond’s carat weight, its clarity grade, and that it is officially from Tiffany carries a whole different range of implications. In the common imaginary, the Killer Ring has become a luxury item. Like a moth to a flame, the weight and drama associated to this ring through the brand name of the most famous American jeweler induces a sense of fascination towards the Canadian designer’s creation. But in typical Tobias Wong fashion, its blatant apparence could also be hiding deeper criticisms. In a consumer society like ours, which of the two prevails: marriage as the relationship between two people, or marriage as the accumulation of commodities that signal its existence?


As an outwardly gay man living in New York in the early 2000s, Wong stood at a vantage point to make particularly astute and nuanced criticism of marriage as an institution. Same-sex marriage was not legalized in the entire United-States until 2015, and although New York city has always been somewhat of a haven for queer people, public displays of affection and commitment between two people of the same sex were legally void and culturally discredited. In this context, objects related to marriage like rings become powerful symbols whose materiality can be imbued with deep and intimate shared emotions. Yet at the same time, in a more cynical way, queer people were painfully aware how at a fundamental level these objects are first and foremost commodities that are marketed to sell an ideal, and the simple fact of their ownership on its own does not guarantee access to marriage in the legal sense but only to its performance. Killer Ring wasn’t the first time that Wong proposed a reflection on the concept of marriage, in 2004 with collaborator Carlos Salgado they invited friends and colleagues to celebrate their fake engagement with formal invitations, a cocktail party at The Present Future in Brooklyn, and even a wedding registry. Staged at the heigh of public debates in the United States over same-sex marriage, this entirely performative ceremony, just as the Killer Ring, served to highlight the ambivalence surrounding marriage, its ritualization and the culture of consumption associated to it.




Footnotes:

2 Walker, Rob. “Tobias Wong on Consuming Consumer Consumption.” Design Observer (12/01/07), https://designobserver.com/feature/tobias-wong-on-consuming-consumer-consumption/27248.

Killer Ring from The Diamond Project Ring; Designed by Tobias Wong (1974–2010); white gold, diamond; H x W x D (overall: ring and case): 6.7 × 4.4 × 7.3 cm (2 5/8 × 1 3/4 × 2 7/8 in.) H x W x D (ring): 2.2 × 1.9 × 0.8 cm (7/8 × 3/4 × 5/16 in.) H x W x D (case when closed): 4.4 × 4.1 × 4.1 cm (1 3/4 × 1 5/8 × 1 5/8 in.); The Tobias Wong Collection, Gift of Phyllis Chan and Gordon Wong; 2024-4-18-a,b