Designed by a Japanese contemporary artist Kaori Tazoe, Small Factory Ring offers a unique threaded system of making your own perfect ring by combining a Base Ring with ornamental Heads of your choice.
Inspired by the precise metal cutting technique of some specialised, small-scale metal processing factories in Tokyo, Tazoe designed a new line of jewellery, where an ornamental Head part can be attached to a Base Ring by screwing it on. This allows for unlimited customisation, as the Head can be replaced with other Heads depending on your mood or occasion.
Small Factory Ring is for all genders, therefore the standard Base Rings (in bare messing and black) come in a wide range of nine sizes.
Since its launch in 2014, Small Factory Ring has been introducing new designs regularly, and now the collection includes pearl, jade, lapis lazuli, and also an earring attachment part.
Based in Yokohama, Japan, Kaori Tazoe’s artistic practice ranges from photography, installation art, and the founding of the first artist-run space in Yokohama called Scratch Tile, to designing jewellery.
She has exhibited among others at Yokohama Triennale / Yokohama, Location One Gallery / NYC, and Yokohama Civic Gallery Azamino / Yokohama.
Tazoe also develops other jewellery projects under the name of TAZOE.
Kaori Tazoe works closely with several metal-processing factories in and around Ota-ku, Tokyo. The key partner is Yazawa Manufacturing, originally a supplier of precision machine parts for medical and inspection equipment, where most of the Small Factory Ring components are produced.
Other collaborators include INB Ltd., which processes the sandblasted surfaces on Sandblasted Heads; Sanwa Precision Machinery Manufacturing, which cuts the refined knurling patterns on stainless steel rings; and Hitachi Springs, which bends stainless steel boxes with a beautiful feather finish.
Since most of the Small Factory Ring's metal components are cut and shaped on lathes, the surfaces of some rings and heads bear fine grooves — subtle traces the designer intentionally preserves to emphasize their industrial aesthetic.
Beyond Tokyo, Doi Pearl Co. Ltd., supplies Akoya pearls, while gemstones are cut and polished by master lapidary Miyoko Okada of Houseki Kenma no Takumi.
