A piece of jewelry can be made in an afternoon or over weeks. The difference shows. This is how an Aurea Nova piece goes from an idea to something you can wear, followed through one ring: Original Sin, a hand and a serpent closing around the apple.
1. The idea
Every design starts with a story worth carrying: a myth, a symbol, an architectural fragment, a feeling that deserves a form. Before anything is drawn, the question is what the piece should say, and how it should feel on the hand.
For Original Sin, it was the instant before the choice: the hand reaching, the serpent already coiled, the apple not yet taken.
There is no single starting point. Each design grows around one central theme, gathered from many references: a myth, a building, a sculpture, a photograph. Some days it begins as a sketch on paper, other days as a photo or several images combined. The aim is always the same: a form that adapts to the hand, that inspires, and that carries a story and a concept behind it. Traditional drawing and modern tools work side by side.
2. The sculpture
Every piece then becomes a digital sculpture, sculpted in three dimensions by Alejandro Sarduy in programs such as ZBrush, Blender and Nomad Sculpt. Working in 3D means the form can be turned and refined from every side: the volume of the band, the gesture of a finger, the scales of the serpent, the depth of each shadow.
This is where most of the time goes. A sculptural ring is not a flat design wrapped around a band; it has to read from the front, from the side and from above, and still be comfortable to wear every day.
A sculpture usually takes several days, though there is no fixed schedule. The more time a design is given, the better it becomes, and each one gets the time it needs.
3. The print
When the sculpture is finished, the model is set on supports and printed in resin. The print is an exact copy of the digital form, down to details smaller than a millimeter. It is the last moment the piece exists in anything other than metal.
4. The casting
The resin models are set on a wax tree, sealed in a flask and covered in a fine investment. In the kiln, the resin burns away and leaves a perfect hollow in its shape. Silver is melted under the torch and, through the lost-wax process, fills the space the print left behind.
The lost-wax process is thousands of years old; the bronzes of antiquity were cast the same way. What has changed is the precision of the model, not the principle: metal takes the place of a form that disappears.
Several orders may be cast together on the same tree. From this point on, every piece is worked on its own.
5. The bench
Out of the flask, the silver is rough: grey, matte, still attached to the tree. Each piece is cut free, cleaned, refined and finished by hand, one at a time. Files, abrasives and polishing bring the surfaces up, while the recesses are darkened on purpose.
That contrast is the signature of the work. Polished high points and dark depths are what let the knuckles of a hand, the scales of a serpent or the folds of a veil read clearly from a distance.
6. Every detail, up close
Before a piece leaves the bench, it is checked under magnification: edges, inner band, every small surface where a burr or a dull spot could hide. A sculptural ring has many places to look, and all of them are looked at.
7. Sealed for you
The finished piece goes into its box with its certificate of authenticity, in its own envelope, and a silver polishing cloth. Each box is closed with a wax seal poured and pressed by hand, so no two are alike, and the seal tells you the box arrived unopened.
Why made to order
Every piece is made when you order it, in 1–2 weeks, in the United States. It is not mass-produced and it does not sit in a warehouse. Making to order also means every ring size costs the same, and any size outside our list can be made to your measure in the same time.
Designed, sculpted and made in the U.S.: the sculpture, the casting and the finishing. Solid 925 sterling silver, not plated.
