This is just such a wow piece, on so many levels. Daniel Jocz trained as a sculptor and began designing jewellery with no real formal training. I believe this is part of his Milestone Ruff series and, based on information in his “news” section, that this piece may be finished with a motorcycle paint job. Whatever it’s made of, it’s spectacular.

In his artist’s statement at New York’s Museum of Art and Design, he describes his work this way: “What inspires me is not so much jewelry as body ornamentation, but the potential of jewelry as metaphor, and the relationship that can exist between a piece and its wearer, an object and its holder; the idea that people develop personal, sentimental, or intellectual affinities with objects…Exploiting the physically intimate relationship inherent between jewelry and the body, most of the work focuses on the part of the object which touches the skin, faces the body, or contains an encrypted message only apparent to the wearer. My aim is to bring together archetypal constructions, forms and concepts, to create truly personal objects from universal components.”

Jocz sells at galleries in the US, Canada and the Netherlands. More information on his background, techniques and philosophy can be found here.