I enjoy sharing my photos on Instagram and sometimes I create a photo on there that I love so much I want to share it with everyone. JewelGram is a new company that hope to provide a whole new way of sharing your Instagram pictures, by using them to create truly unique jewelry. Now they have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help them get the funding they need to put their ideas into mass production.
JewelGram is the brainchild of electronics engineer Gianpiero Riva and jewelry designer Michele Marzotto. The company plans to offer rings and necklaces in precious metals and also in a more affordable plastic option. The metal options will consist of silver or 18 karat gold; yellow, white, red and black golds will be available and all the jewelry will be created in Venice using sublimation printing. Instagram pictures are stored with a resolution of 612x612 pixels and as the JewelGrams will have a printable area of 25x25 mm this results in a printed resolution of approximately 600 dpi - far more detail than the human eye is capable of recognizing.
So whythe Kickstarter campaign? Creating the molds for the plastic JewelGrams will cost thousands of dollars which is what the Kickstarter is mainly funding along with the website’s e-commerce section. Folks choosing to back the project will be able to choose pledge amounts that allow them to buy the first wave of JewelGrams at a reduced price. Plastic rings and pendants are available for a $15 pledge (including worldwide shipping) against their future retail price of $17 and similar reductions continue up the pledge scale. There is also a special option of rings and pendants featuring small diamonds which are limited to Kickstarter pledges.
Of course Instagram is famed for being filled with pictures of coffee cups, people’s lunches and cats. If you particularly wanted to walk around wearing a necklace showing a picture of that amazing shrimp entree you had last month then that’s your choice, but as Instagram allows you to use any picture, new or old, the possibilities are infinite. Wedding photos, ultrasound scans or snaps of that amazing vacation you went on years ago could all be turned into Jewelgrams, as could photos of loved ones. Any memory you have ever photographed and want to carry around with you would make for a wonderful piece of jewelry.
If you’re interested in backing the project then the JewelGram website allows you to connect your Instagram account and generate an image of a Walden style plastic ring with your picture on it, giving you an idea of how your picture will appear. I had a go with a favorite photo of my son from last Christmas. Of course there’s only one problem with the JewelGram concept, and it’s a big one. Trying to decide which picture to choose.
