What happens when ice meets fire or hot passion meets icy metal? The meeting point is something unique for everyone: jewellery that reminds us of the temperature when it was created.
FRONT established by Mariliis Hopp and Miikael Danieljants is a Nordic jewellery brand that is born from the harmony between the male and female temperaments. To tell about the meaning behind each jewelry piece and to help you get to know the founders better, we have visited them and now sharing their intro about their work right by the founders’ words.
All of the jewellery collections have different names that are based on the temperature which was outside at the moment when designers finished the first piece. Since they live in Estonia, and here, the temperature differs a lot depending on winter or summer, so whenever you look at FRONT jewellery, you know, when it’s made approximately.
During the interview Miikael was trying to set this sapphire into the engagement ring, but he had to make the setting a little bit wider so that the stone would fit into the ring. “You can work with gemstones like there are many gemstones with a just hole inside you can put anything like a wire through, but it’s a little bit different. It’s harder to make precise settings for the stone”, said Miikael.
Mariliis was making a pair of faceted white gold wedding rings. First she made them out of wax and then they were casted into white gold, and now, then she has them. “They will have a nice polished finish. So all the facets have to be sanded one by one, then they have to be polished one by one and then it’s done”, explains Mariliis.
FRONT jewellers do collections for the stores, so more people can have a piece of their designs. But most of the time, they actually do commission work on wedding rings, engagement rings, and whatever jewellery people want them to make. Guys have some specific model that they’ve been doing for years, for example, Damascus steel wedding rings – one of their most popular designs, but still, they all look a bit different, it’s never the same.
These are Damascus steel rings – 100 layers of steel and it’s twisted and hammered. After the hammering and edging, the layers will come out like fingerprints. Damascus steel rings are always different, and the steel is always different and the layers.
Another popular model – the C° 2 earrings that has this special mold, which can be pressed. Once you make the sheet of metal into a nice shape, then it needs to be cut out, then designers seal the back for it, and then finish it.
The C° 2 collection has around six different shapes inspired by the melted ice – when the ice is melting and starting to drop.
One FRONT client actually said once that it seems that most of their jewellery is made in the winter because all the temperatures are quite cold and yeah, it seems so.