This Design Duo Is Crafting Heirlooms for a New Generation of Jewelry Obsessives

Jewelry design has historically been a solitary pursuit, though a new duo is out to prove that sometimes, two bijou-obsessed heads are better than one "We're both Geminis," says Rick Van Steain Low, who co-created En, a new line of minimalist precious jewelry, with his friend Malu Byrne, "So it's sort of more like four heads." The word en loosely translates to together in Japanese and is also a nod to enso, the Zen Buddhist practice of circular ink painting "We find the symbolism especially beautiful, because making jewelry together brings us the most joy" The two were working under other jewelers-Byrne with Gabriella Kiss, Van Steain Low with Robin Renzi of Me&Ro-when they first met, about 10 years ago, at Mike's Coffee Shop in Clinton Hill, a popular Brooklyn hangout for creative types and art students from nearby Pratt Institute.

Now, almost a decade later, that personal history comes full circle with En's debut collection, in which classic jewelry tropes are subtly twisted through the duo's distinctive lens Strung with knots carved from rose quartz and baroque pearls cast in silver, En's nontraditional rosaries are heirlooms for jewelry obsessives of every stripe to covet "My aunt was a jewelry designer, and my mother would wear all of her pieces," says Byrne, referring to her late aunt Tina Chow. Source