Bronze Award Winning Design - 2016 Best Design Awards

Award-winning Diamond Ring Designs

The Village Goldsmith and Inspired Jewellery team was thrilled to hear that two of our diamond ring designs were named as Finalists in the 2016 Designer's Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards, in the Designed Objects category. The Patai Delicate Diamond Ring went on to win the Bronze Award!

Read about the inspirations and design of the Patai Delicate Diamond Ring and the Rotec Diamond Ring below

Best Design Awards 2016 Bronze pin winner designed objects The Village Goldsmith

The Patai Delicate Diamond Ring

Bronze Award Winner - Designed Objects

Patai diamond ring finalist in 2016 NZ Best Awards

Inspired by the koru, Patai Delicate takes a koru form, sweeps, and suspends a round brilliant diamond.

A creative departure from traditional claw settings

The Patai Delicate diamond ring departs from traditional claw settings using clever design to achieve a fresh contemporary twist. The ring is a genuine solitaire, unencumbered by pave set melee, setting it apart from the diamond engagement rings seen time and time again in national and international jewellery markets. Patai Delicate is created to satisfy those with discerning taste.

Diamond ring design inspired by the koru

Inspiration and style

The ring is inspired by the koru as it unfurls from a tight spiral into a delicate fern leaf, opening up towards the light. This is symbolic of new life, new beginnings, growth, strength and peace. A beautiful and meaningful inspiration when people are getting engaged and starting a new life together.

Patai is a Maori word translated to mean “to ask, question, enquire, cross-examine, provoke and challenge.” It is a constant reminder of why our team are passoniate about designing jewellery - we aim to constantly challenge and radically change people's perceptions of what they thought was possible in a ring. This is what our stakeholders have come to expect of our diamond ring designs.

Patai diamond engagement ring design and diamond wedding ring

A comfortable, everyday ring

Patai Delicate is light and comfortable to wear, with soft edges, making it a perfect everyday engagement ring. Our pieces aim to forge a whole new design direction yet retain a practical, wearable aesthetic. Patai Delicate follows our clean and functional jewellery design principles, coming back to the basics of a diamond and a hand, and art that forms a connection between the two.

patai diamond engagement ring and diamond wedding ring

Modern technologies, classic craftsmanship

In crafting Patai Delicate, we have used a blend of modern technologies with classic craftsmanship. The design was initially hand drawn, then evolved in the latest CAD software, tested and refined using 3D printing capabilities, then cast to move into the workshop for final manufacture by our jewellers who take immense pride in their work.

A design such as Patai Delicate which is without claws, is able to be realised through the latest technologies such as laser welding, micro setting and pneumatic tooling. Every step of the design and manufacturing process is checked and monitored by our creative director, master craftsmen, designers, and GIA Accredited Jewelry Professionals.

Patai diamond engagement ring worn on the hand finalist best awards
Best Design Awards Finalist Designed Objects 2016 diamond ring

The Rotec Diamond Ring

Finalist - Designed Objects

Rotec diamond ring design Finalist 2016 NZ Best Design Awards

Creating a sense of motion through design

Inspired by the design and engineering of helicopter rotor blades, the Rotec diamond ring takes this inspiration and combines modern design with a tension-set diamond to create a sense of movement. This was achieved by twisting and intersecting platinum and yellow gold. Platinum forms the main shank of the ring, while the yellow gold ‘blades’ act to propel the design, giving a rotational effect. The tension-set diamond is suspended within the design of the ring. Rotec is a very non-traditional ring, and satisfies those who wish to express themselves through modern design.

Rotec epitomises the innovation that underpins all of our jewellery designs. We aim to constantly challenge and radically change people's perceptions of what they thought was possible in a ring. This is what our stakeholders have come to expect of our jewellery.

Diamond ring design inspired by the engineering of rotor blades

Engineered as a tribute to the rotor

“The tail rotor of a helicopter is what provides stability and balance. Sometimes contained within a circular tail cut-out, the combination of angled blades contained in a circular form fascinates me. It was this combination that led to the design of Rotec”.

The ring uses angled profiled bands of platinum and gold that twist and intersect around a circular form to create the ring. It is the resultant intersection of these angles that builds the tension housing which finally secures the diamond. The ring is a tribute to those angled blades within a circle. It is a ring whose elements twist and turn to reflect light in and around the diamond, and which ultimately create a solitaire diamond ring that is both practical and wearable. It relies on fine tolerances and intersections of metal to create its own stability and balance, a homage to the rotor.

unique tension set diamond ring design from different angles

Modern technologies, classic craftsmanship

In crafting Rotec, we have used a blend of modern technologies with classic craftsmanship. The design was initially hand drawn, then evolved in the latest CAD software, tested and refined using 3D printing capabilities, then cast to move into the workshop for final manufacture by our jewellers who take immense pride in their work.

A design such as Rotec is able to be realised through the latest technologies such as laser welding, micro setting and pneumatic tooling. Every step of the design and manufacturing process is checked and monitored by our creative director, master craftsmen, designers, and and GIA Accredited Jewelry Professionals.

unique diamond ring design worn on the hand
the village goldsmith diamond ring design finalist 2016 best design awards