It is the most important question that you want to pop, but will a 3D Printed Ring make the cut? Will it create excitement or disaster? There are two ways you can look at the first ever Nervous System diamond engagement ring. Cheap Bastard or OMG – Sentimental Fool Creative Genius – I love you sooooo much, honey.
We will skip cheap for the moment, because some couples can ‘tie the knot’ with a literal piece of string. So, let’s focus on the creative genius. When we asked Jessica Rosenkrantz (force behind Nervous System) what was her take on the project, she said, “I can’t say I have any particular thoughts about the ring, as a woman. However, in general, I love how we were able to empower our client to make something truly personal and meaningful. Using our Cell Cycle app, he was able to actually design and shape the ring himself.”
The main design challenges, besides the diamond fitting for the ring had to do with adapting the freeform design system that Nervous System already had created to meet the needs of stone setting. To scale the project Jessica says they are planning on releasing a new version of Cell Cycle with virtual stone setting tools. “We’d like people to be able to visualize the effect of adding stones to the ring right in the browser.”
Jessica further elaborates, “One issue was that gemstones come in regular shapes. How do we incorporate a perfect circle (or several as it turned out) into an organic pattern of shifting cells? We ended up creating a new merging feature that allows small cells to be combined to make space for large stones. We also added the ability to constrain certain cells in the structure to a circular configuration.”
Notes by Nervous System:
- Round diamonds are as tall as they are wide.
- The system needs to have variable layer separation within the structure to enclose the stone.
- The space in between the layers is larger on top of the ring to allow for the large diamond.
- On the sides of the ring, the layers are close together to make the ring comfortable.
According to the details shared by Jessica, the ring was crafted in 18 karat yellow gold. A ring features a central diamond surrounded by four small rubies and comes in a special solid cherry wood presentation box with a gold-plated steel lid.
