Pieces of History, Inspiration for Today: The Driftwood Band

 

Pieces of History. Inspiration for Today.

The Driftwood Band is more than a piece of jewelry—it carries the character of the natural world that inspired it. After more than 20 years of working with organic forms, I still find that nature leaves the best fingerprints.

I've Been Making Men's Jewelry for 20 Years… Maybe It's Time to Pay Attention

I've been thinking.

That's usually when something interesting starts happening around here.

For more than 20 years, I've been carving jewelry inspired by the natural world. Leaves, branches, roots, vines, driftwood, coral—I've always been drawn to forms that look as though they grew instead of being designed.

And for just as long, I've been making pieces that men wear.

I've never really called it a men's collection.

I simply made what I wanted to make.

But lately, I'm beginning to wonder if I've been overlooking something that's been right in front of me all along.

The Driftwood Band

One of my long-time selling rings began with a real piece of driftwood.

Not a photograph.

Not a computer-generated texture.

Actual wood.

I studied the way it moved, the openings, the grain, the irregular shapes and the strength in something that had been weathered by nature.

Then I took that feeling into my wax.

The result became a ring that has continued to sell for years.

And it just sold again—in gold.

Interestingly, the most recent gold ring was purchased by a woman for her fiancé.

That made me smile.

Because maybe the customer isn't always looking for "men's jewelry."

Sometimes she's simply looking for something that feels like him.

And sometimes a man sees the organic ring his partner is wearing and says, "I like that. Do you have something that goes with hers?"

I love that idea.

Not matching rings.

Rings that belong together.

So I'm Paying Attention

I'm not interested in suddenly creating a huge men's jewelry department.

That's not how I work.

I'm thinking about a small group of pieces.

A few rings.

A pendant.

And perhaps a cuff.

(And if you've followed my work for any length of time, you know I'm no stranger to cuffs.)

My Ocean World cuffs were carried in Wyland Galleries for years, so creating a substantial organic cuff isn't new territory for me.

What's different is where my eye is today.

After more than two decades of carving, casting, experimenting and watching people live with my jewelry, I have a much better understanding of what happens when you let nature lead the design.

I Don't Want to Make "Men's Jewelry."

I want to make Dawn Vertrees jewelry that happens to be worn by men.

That's an important distinction to me.

I don't want to take my work and make it harder, heavier or more masculine just because someone says it is for a man.

I want to keep the things that have always made my work mine:

Organic form.

Texture.

Movement.

Strength.

Imperfection.

Nature.

And then see where those ideas take me.

Maybe that becomes a small men's collection.

Maybe it becomes something couples can discover together.

Maybe a woman finds a ring for her fiancé.

Maybe a man finds something that reminds him of the outdoors, the water, the woods or a place that means something to him.

I don't know yet.

And that's actually the fun part.

I'm going to start carving.

One piece at a time.

And we'll see what grows.

After all, that's how most of my jewelry begins.

New Forest Collection: The Matching Wedding Band Story

 

When It becomes Something More...

Sometimes a custom design reaches a point where everything suddenly makes sense.

This wedding band began as a challenge: create a ring that matched a previously commissioned engagement ring featuring a Blue Sapphire in 14k Rose Gold with a medium oxidation finish — but without simply copying the original design.

The engagement ring carried a very organic, woodland flow with curved branch structures wrapping and lifting the sapphire almost like it was being offered upward. The side profile had movement, growth, and softness to it. 

But this ring needed a different presence.

Instead of designing the wedding band completely from scratch, I decided to work almost genetically.

New Forest emerald engagement ring set in flowing organic branches
with matching nested wedding band in warm rose gold.

Because I made the molds from both of my original rings, I began borrowing structural elements directly from the engagement ring and wedding band. I used the side architecture from the engagement ring as the foundation for this band, then combined and blended two wedding bands together to create a broader, stronger flow.

New Forest matching wedding band in rose gold featuring intertwined
flowing branch textures inspired by natural woodland forms.

The result became less about creating “matching rings” and more about creating two rings that clearly belong to the same story.

One of the most important parts of the process was preserving the organic language of the original design while shifting the overall movement into a more masculine direction. Instead of delicate upward movement, the branches became more grounded and structured. The lines were straightened slightly, spacing adjusted, and the overall posture of the ring changed without losing the feeling of natural growth.

Since this ring would not contain a stone, additional twig structures were added to blend the transitions together and create continuity across the surface of the band itself.

The medium oxidation in the 14k Rose Gold will help unify everything in the final cast by darkening the recesses and emphasizing the bark-like texture and depth between the branches.

These are the moments I love most as a designer.

The quiet early-morning hours where the pieces stop feeling separate and suddenly become one complete idea.

Not duplicated. Not copied. But connected.

That is always the goal.

To create jewelry that feels like it grew naturally into existence.

— New Forest