This year’s honorees include a Midwest retailer and two multi-store independents, one in New York and the other in New England.
Customizable Jewelry Gets Taken Up a Notch with Tech
Irish jewelry company Love & Robots uses 3-D printing technology and historical weather data to commemorate the wind patterns of a particular date and place.

Dublin--Customizable jewelry suffers no shortage of popularity, but the designs have always risked running stagnant. That’s where tech-focused jewelry company Love & Robots comes in.
Instead of paying homage to a person or place with an initial, Love & Robots’ “Windswept” collection utilizes wind data from a user-chosen location and date over the past 50 years to virtually blow wind over a piece of cloth or ribbon.
Customers watch the virtual wind blow and manipulate the cloth, then pause the motion to create a customized piece of jewelry in 14-karat rose or yellow gold, sterling silver or gold-plated brass. The collection retails between $168 and $1,324.50.
“So much of what we feel attached to, what we remember, is inextricably linked to a particular place and time,” said Love & Robots CEO and co-founder Emer O’Daly. “We wanted to realize that in a material way by linking a particular date and place to a personalized piece of jewelry.”
O’Daly is an architect and graduate of University College Dublin and Yale University, where she gained expertise in 3-D printing and digital design. Love & Robots' other collections focus mainly on typography and graphic motifs.
“We at Love & Robots are looking at how 3-D printing will revolutionize the design and fashion industries. We look to create interactive experiential pieces where the customer is truly part of the creation process,” said O’Daly.
“Windswept” isn’t Love & Robots first foray into tech and likely won’t be the last, with the brand planning to explore more virtual materials.
Last year the company created a free-moving chainmail cape, made with thousands of moving components to look like actual moving feathers.
The “Windswept” collection is available exclusively on LoveAndRobots.com.
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