Interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard goes for the gold with new unisex collection of rings
Martyn Lawrence Bullard, the Architectural Digest Top 100 interior designer whose client list includes Cher, the Kardashians and the Four Seasons Private Residences in Los Angeles, is now also designing jewelry. Bullard’s new collection of 20 rings is his first foray outside of the interior design category in his 25-year career.
However, it’s his colorful, pattern-rich style as an interior designer that likely has best prepared him to create intriguing color combinations with metals and gemstones.
“You can wear them with jeans. You can wear them with a ballgown. Guys can wear them on their pinky finger,” Bullard said, holding up a gold signet ring in his West Hollywood showroom.
Bullard said the rings, which debuted in September, are meant to be worn by men or women in any season.
“The problem with a lot of fine jewelry at the moment is it’s almost seasonal,” he said. “And who wants to spend thousands of dollars on something you wear for a year and then never wear again? So the thing I love about these is that it’s almost a classic piece of jewelry that you can wear forever.”
Bullard redesigned vintage rings into bands and signet rings, which he left blank or set with diamonds and gemstones. For consumers with a classic taste, Bullard offers simple signet rings in white, yellow and rose gold, which he said could be custom engraved. For those who like a bit more sparkle, there are plenty of louder styles.
“I like bling-bling,” Bullard said, wearing his favorite, the Louis Signet Ring ($8,800), an 18-karat white gold, lozenge-shaped ring with white diamonds and tsavorite, a green garnet.
Another standout is the Vendome ($4,800), an all-over pavé black diamond signet ring. Its white diamond frame surrounds a shield of black and white diamonds atop 18-karat yellow gold. The ring collection ranges from $1,800 to $8,900.
Bullard said he has loved jewelry since he was 12 years old. He grew up in London, where he used his allowance to buy “junk jewelry” from flea markets to sell to tourists.
He said jewelry was the one thing missing from his 14 Martyn Lawrence Bullard categories, which include fabrics and furniture.
“It’s so fun doing jewelry. I can’t wait to do more and more of it,” he said.
Up next for Bullard are more rings shaped like intertwined snakes as well as bangles to be released in 2019. Bullard’s collection of rings is available at his atelier at 8550 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood.
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