78th & COGNAC: A platinum band for a manly man
New York City – This past weekend Green Lake’s Charlie Herner took home the prize from the Sustainable Design 2012 competition. It was a gala event put on by Johnson Matthey, the London based refiner of noble metals with a 150-year history of supplying the world’s leading jewelers with precious gold, platinum, and silver.
Platinum men’s band with 22k yellow gold and bead-set cognac diamonds.
The winning ring was not the delicate diamond-encrusted bridal piece typically associated with platinum – or the kind most might have expected. Instead, it was a manly ring; a more exotic approach for a men’s band replete with diamonds that bore a color distinctly associated with prestige – Cognac. It’s a ring for a man, a muchacho, a dude; mostly because it was designed by a dude.
Spokesmodel Yyves with Green Lake Designer Charlie Herner
There’s no doubt that Herner is a competitive designer. On both the computer and at the bench, he approaches the creation of fine jewelry with a John McEnroe-like energy. And while his rambunctious enthusiasm for design fuels his good work at Green Lake, it’s this zeal for getting things done better and faster which seems to win him national recognition – Within the past year, Herner’s stole the first place spot in a total of three large jewelry design competitions.
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“There’s just something about the heft of platinum. It really brings out the masculinity in a piece. In thinking up a concept for this ring, I kept going back to its heaviness…”
Assuredly the look of tufted leather, accented with buttons, makes a bold statement; it’s reflective of bespoke fashion. To really make the platinum pop on this piece, Herner ‘cushioned’ the tops of the buttons with a sandblast finish, which is a nice contrast to the high-polished surroundings. And in keeping with this manly approach, he paired the platinum with a bit of regal 22k yellow gold to showcase 1.5mm Cognac bead-set diamonds.
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But what about the name of this band, 78th & Cognac? Well, the color-treated diamonds are clearly the Cognac. But the 78? It’s the corresponding number on the periodic table of elements. Very clever, dude.
To learn more about Charlie Herner and other terribly talented designers at Green Lake, visit the Artist Page.