SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC — the Story of the Form

Where did the first form of the brand begin?

The first form of the brand. STRUGA began with it — and so did the project's central experiment: take one form and carry it across different types of pieces. Today that form lives in six categories of object: pendant, chain, bracelet, clasp and bail, ring, ear cuff.

It started with a pendant, and there were many. The first ones were carbon with inserts — copper, brass, steel, meteorite, patterns. The MOSAIC family grew out of that early work, and it was here that the carbon palette the brand still uses was chosen. Then came the smooth silver SIGNATURE Pyramid, then Asymmetric Destroyed — a broken version of the form in a dark register.

What does the family hold today?

Today it is the most widely represented form in the brand — it lives in more categories than any other. For STRUGA it is, above all, about beauty: one form you recognize everywhere.

• Pendants. From the smooth silver SIGNATURE Pyramid to Asymmetric Destroyed in a dark register.
• Chains. A carrier for a pendant or a line worn on its own: SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC links, BLADE links, beaded chains with the Heart Lock clasp.
• Bracelets. Chain bracelets on the wrist — SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC links, BLADE Mini and Big links, the THORN chain.
• Carabiners. Four sizes — #1, #2 Small, #2 Big and #4 — carrying the form inside the construction itself.
• Rings. Open rings built from links, and massive rings built for volume.
• Ear cuffs. One of the two forms the brand's ear cuffs began with.

Where does the language of sharp edges come from?

The aesthetic came from CNC-cut sheet material — sharp edges, even planes, recessed depth. STRUGA was the first to translate that language into a design of its own. The material of every silver object in the family is one: sterling 925, that is 92.5% pure silver.

This is about the look, not the method. The CNC aesthetic describes how an object reads to the eye: a plane looks cut from sheet, an edge holds a straight line, a recess makes a shadow. The making itself runs differently and is described plainly — wax model, silicone mould, 925 silver, hand finishing.

Where the form sits inside the brand

SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC belongs to CODEX — the world of everyday architectural form, the DNA of the brand. A world is a language of the brand, not a section of the catalogue: there are five worlds and eleven families of form, each family belonging to its world.

• CODEX. Everyday architectural form — where SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC lives.
• RITUAL. Objects carrying personal symbolic weight.
• LAB. Experiment, prototype, exception.
• DARK UNION. Rings of union — a world and a family at once.
• ISLAND ARTIFACTS. A selection driven by real Balinese demand.

CODEX is not an observation of the world but a workshop of forms: here STRUGA gives birth to a form that did not exist before and carries it through different types of pieces — from a chain link to a pendant, from a carabiner to an earring. That is how recognition appears: a style and a form that read unmistakably as STRUGA.

How did the form move from a pendant into construction?

The pendant was not the end of the road. From there the form moved into construction: a chain link, a toggle clasp with its counterpart, a carabiner bail.

• The chain link. The form stopped being a pendant and became a repeating element of a line.
• The toggle clasp with its counterpart. The closure is built from the same geometry rather than attached to it.
• The carabiner bail. Carabiners #1, #2 Small, #2 Big and #4 all carry the SIGNATURE Asymmetric form.

The form reached the ear as well: the brand's first two ear cuffs were made in the BLADE form and in the SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC form.

How does an open ring differ from a massive one?

The family's rings run along two paths, and the difference is not size but what holds the form.

• The open ring. A ring with a deliberate break; the form is held by compression. At STRUGA these are rings built from SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC links. The break is a decision, not an unfinished edge.
• The massive ring. Volume and sculptural presence without an obligatory plate. A plate marks a signet, not mass; STRUGA's massive rings live in the FUSED and SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC families.

How does the form sit on the neck, the wrist and the ear?

On the neck

Around the neck, silver turns into architecture. The SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC link assembles into a chain — a carrier for a pendant, or a line worn on its own.

On the wrist

BLADE and SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC chain bracelets carry the flexible language of the wrist: the line follows the movement of the hand rather than holding it rigid.

On the ear

An ear cuff is a form of its own, for a single accent or an asymmetric stack. STRUGA ear cuffs sit in the BLADE, SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC, BRUTALISM, THORN and CARBON families — oxidized 925 silver with carbon elements.

Why does the surface change with wear?

The family's surface is Living Silver, STRUGA's term for 925 silver without rhodium plating. Sterling 925 is 92.5% pure silver, the international standard; most silver jewelry is plated with rhodium to hold its shine, and STRUGA deliberately applies none.

The surface goes on living with the wearer, and it shows in three ways.

• Raised edges brighten. Friction takes the patina off where the object meets skin and clothing most.
• Recesses darken. Patina holds in the depth, and the pattern of wear brings out the geometry itself.
• Two identical objects diverge. On two different people they come to look different, because skin chemistry differs.

Whether bright silver can be brought back

It can, and it is the owner's choice rather than the correction of a fault. Patina comes off with a dedicated silver cleaning liquid. On a matte surface it is taken off with an abrasive — a scotch-brite pad or sandpaper: a thin top layer is removed, a new matte finish is set, and the patina goes with it.

How is an object of this form made?

The path of an object runs in four steps.

• Wax model. Either cut by hand or printed from a 3D model.
• Silicone mould. Taken from a silver piece finished to perfection; wax for the next pieces is poured into it.
• 925 silver. The cast metal every silver object of the family is made from.
• Hand finishing. The finish of any path is done by hand.

The character of the object follows from this. Silicone holds every detail — down to solder seams and tool marks — so every piece is unique. Slight unevenness and imperfection of the surface are part of the beauty here, not a fault.

Who is this form for?

STRUGA does not divide its objects by gender. Size here is read from the body, not from a section of the catalogue.

• Bracelet. Length to the wrist and how the chain sits on it.
• Ring. Band width and the weight of the object on the finger.
• Chain. Length for where the line should fall — at the throat or below the collarbone.

One form you recognize everywhere — the brand began with it, and it still carries STRUGA across categories. See the SIGNATURE ASYMMETRIC family.

Continue from the journal to a current STRUGA object: Signature Asymmetric Aged.