Mesi Jilly
by allthebest • 4 Oct ’07 • jewelery, Mesi Jilly • 14 Comments
I am in love with these beautiful rings designed by self-taught designer Mesi Jilly. The collection offers simple and elegant spiral shells as well as oversized, stone-encrusted ones. The handcrafted shell-based rings combine semi-precious stones, mother-of-pearl and coral with gold or silver. I will profile Marie Therese “Mesi” Jilly in the upcoming week. I can’t wait to learn more about this talented woman.
Those are absolutely gorgeous! So original. I can’t wait for your profile.
I agree with Laura. Completely original work. Stunning.
Love these rings!
Beautiful!
Oh, heavens, these are great. Looking forward to the interview.
I went to the site of VIVRE . There are very affordable and so gorgeous . i yhink I’m going to have one
Wow! I’ve never seen these designs before, they are just fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
~Kate
I want one.
I’m so glad that you all like Mesi’s rings as much as I do, they are just too fab!!
Wow, how unique!
Can’t wait to get one, they would make the perfect Xmas gift!!!
What a lucky recipient Mark!
absolutely amazing! organic and glamorous at the same time… what a beautiful find!
I have the Mesi Jilly ring version which uses a cowrie as its base, and then is topped with silver and a blue topaz. The ring is great looking and quite the attention getter and also quite wearable. The shell is cut out for the finger to pass through and then the entire interior is filled with a cement or plaster like material giving it weight and adding strength to the shell. Because of the natural taper of the shell it also fits pretty comfortably between the fingers despite being a large ring. With my version, when it is on its not that readily identifiable as a shell (unlike perhaps the ones that are the spiral shells and are more obvious). This is certainly not the first time shells have been used to make jewelry. Mostly it has been more inexpensive and even souvenir type items, though some high end designers have used shells in their jewelry in the past, just not in this exact way. And of course mother of pearl from inside a shell is used all the time, and cameos carved from certain types of shell are common now and historically. But this is the most novel approach I think, and also unique in the manner they are constructed and the use of some more expensive stones as well as genuine precious metals in this way. I love my ring. I did notice that the sizing has been commented on elsewhere as sometimes difficult to judge (if you were to order with trying on) but I did read that if you buy in a retail store they can shave down or build up the interior a bit to adjust. I don’t personally know that but read a comment to that effect elsewhere. I can say that the ring I ordered ran pretty close to true to size, especially considering it is a large piece.