With so many jewelry lines competing for entrance into the same arm, ring, and ear parties, we imagine it's pretty difficult for young designers to set themselves a part, but Bande des Quatres's Erin Wahed has consistently done so and her latest collection of jewelry that seems to magically float on the body does not disappoint.
Bande des Quatres is a very cool, very promising new jewelry line by a young New York-based designer named Erin Wahed. Despite having launched less than six months ago, Erin’s eye-catching and somewhat mind-blowing collection of rings has already caught the attention of Vogue.com, Elle.com, Brad Goreski and Jessica Alba (via Brad who is apparently styling her now!). Erin studied fine art photography at NYU and then worked (and still does, full time) as a production manager before launching her first collection of Bauhaus-inspired rings. Regardless of whether or not you know anything about art, these rings will make you do a double-take because of the optical illusion they create. The 18 kt yellow and palladium white gold rings appear to float on the wearer’s hand--they’re sort of like the inverse of a knuckle ring. The line of high-end jewelry wasn’t something Erin had planned to do, but the result of a project that kept getting the attention of both friends and strangers. However, it wasn’t a huge stretch--her mother, Janis Kerman, is an established fine jewelry designer in Erin’s hometown of Montreal. We’ll let Erin tell you more about how the line came about, where it’s going, and what it’s like working with mom.