Built as Form

Mass, plane, void and repetition — four ways a small object of metal holds its shape with nothing added to the surface. Sterling silver allows all four: one and the same alloy varies in hardness by more than a factor of two, 77 HV annealed against 170 HV after cold work. Two families of STRUGA are built on exactly that, BRUTALISM and BLADE, and together they carry 27 of the 51 objects in the CODEX world.

In short. An architectural piece is one whose form is held by construction, not by ornament: mass gathers it, a plane cuts it, a void gives it shadow, repetition turns one element into a system.

At STRUGA there are two routes. BRUTALISM, the fourth form of the brand, works by mass: 7 objects in the catalogue, 2 rings and 5 ear cuffs, from 1.6 to 24 g. BLADE, the second form, works by module: 20 objects — 7 earrings, 5 ear cuffs, 5 bracelets, 2 necklaces and 1 choker — and in silver they run from 0.5 to 110 g, a range of 220 times on one repeated link.

The material is sterling silver 925 with no rhodium plating; hardness by GOST 30649-99 is 77 HV soft and 170 HV worked, which is why an edge keeps its angle. Two of the seven BRUTALISM objects are darkened in advance at the bench — that is a technique, not the patina uncoated silver grows on its own.

Ring-size here is the inner diameter in millimetres, 15 to 22; ISO 8653:2016 numbers the same sizes by inner circumference, roughly 47 to 69. Everything is made to order: about two weeks in silver, plus around seven days in transit.

• Form starts with construction, not with style
• Where an architectural ring is measured from
• Mass: BRUTALISM
• Module: BLADE
• Sculptural and constructed are not the same thing
• The material shows the construction
• How to choose a direction
• Built as Form at a glance
• Frequently asked questions

Form starts with construction, not with style

A ring does not have to imitate a building to be architectural. It only has to work as a small structure: hold weight, gather planes, leave voids, continue the line of the hand.

Four devices do that work, and none of them is decoration. Mass gathers the object around one centre, so it is felt on the hand before it is seen. A plane cuts the volume and gives the light a straight edge to break on. A void takes material away, and the shadow that fills it reads as part of the form. Repetition takes one element and states it again until it becomes a system rather than a detail.

So do not look at the pattern. Look at where the planes meet. The metal does not hold that boundary on its own: sterling is 92.5 to 93.0 per cent silver with copper for the rest, and its hardness is 77 HV annealed against up to 170 HV after cold work (GOST 30649-99, table B.1). The same alloy varies by more than a factor of two, and that is why a worked edge keeps its angle instead of rounding off in the first month.

This is what the CODEX world is for. It carries 51 objects and holds no stones and no insets at all: everything an object says there, it says with form. Two of its five families say it through construction most directly, and the rest of this page is about them.

Where an architectural ring is measured from

A signet gathers mass and plane into a single volume, and it is the oldest architectural object in jewellery. It is also the one where size is easiest to get wrong, because a signet is not measured the way a plain band is.

The standard is precise about it. ISO 8653:2016 defines ring-size as the circumference of the biggest cylinder that could be inserted in the ring (clause 2.1), and it is read on a metric ring stick with a measurement scale of 160.0 mm plus or minus 0.5, covering sizes 41 to 76, that is inner diameters from 13.05 to 24.19 mm with a tolerance of 0.02 mm (clause 3).

Then the profile decides the reading. For a rounded inside profile the contact point and the measurement point sit in the middle of the ring's thickness; for a flat inside profile they sit at the bottom of that thickness (clause 4.2). And for a signet specifically, the flat part of the ring is placed on the flat surface of the ring stick, after which the measurement follows the profile as before (clause 4.3.2).

In this catalogue the size option is the inner diameter in millimetres, from 15 to 22 — the same sizes ISO would number roughly 47 to 69 by circumference. If you already know your size in another system, the rings section of the Atlas holds the conversion and the fitting notes.

Mass: BRUTALISM

BRUTALISM is the fourth form of the brand: architecture in silver, an exploration of Soviet brutalist aesthetics and its lines, with Suprematist motifs present in it. It is the route to take when an object should feel gathered. Not large — gathered: the weight concentrates, the edge holds its angle, the recess drops into shadow.

The family is young and small on purpose. Seven objects stand in it today: two rings and five ear cuffs. The rings are the heaviest in the catalogue — sizes 15 to 22, from 9.6 to 24 g depending on the size, so the same design is two and a half times heavier at the top of its size range than at the bottom. The ear cuffs work at the other end of the same idea: 1.6 g in the medium size, 3.8 g in the large.

There is no fine detailing here to catch the eye piece by piece. There is a silhouette that reads whole from two metres away, and a relief that reads close up as a plan rather than a pattern.

Compare Ring Brutalism V.1 and Ring Brutalism V.3: one principle, two densities of volume, and two different surfaces — V.1 arrives in bright uncoated silver, V.3 arrives already dark. Both are made to order, so size and production time decide, not a stock badge. The long version of where the family came from is in the form story, and the definition sits in its own Atlas entry.

Module: BLADE

BLADE is the second form of the brand and it began with a link for a chain. The link is made in a CNC aesthetic — even planes, as if cut from sheet material — and it is assembled from two halves on copper pins, then soldered into one piece. That construction is the whole family: everything after it is the same element, stated a different number of times.

Count the objects and the argument becomes measurable. Twenty stand in the family: 7 earrings, 5 ear cuffs, 5 bracelets, 2 necklaces and 1 choker. In silver they run from 0.5 g for the small ear cuff to 110 g for the Mini Links choker at 50 cm — one repeated element stretched 220 times in mass, without changing the geometry once.

Size names in the family describe the link, not the object. Mini Links and Big Links are one form in two sizes: Mini goes into lighter bracelets, chains and chokers, Big into large bracelets and heavy chokers. That is why a Mini Links choker at 50 cm and 110 g outweighs a Big Links bracelet at 26 cm and 95 g — length decides the mass, the link decides the language. Both close on the same large No. 2 carabiner.

The compact entry is Cuff S BLADE at 0.5 g; the far end is the Mini Links choker. To see the system whole, start with the form story, then look at the family.

Sculptural and constructed are not the same thing

The two words get used as synonyms, and they describe different decisions.

A sculptural object is judged by its silhouette: what matters is the outline, and how it looks from the angle the photograph was taken. A constructed object is judged by what holds it: where the mass sits, which plane takes the light, what the void does to the shadow, how many times the element repeats. One is about the view, the other is about the structure behind the view.

The difference shows up in wear, not in photographs. A silhouette that only works from one angle stops working the moment the hand moves. Construction survives the movement, because the thing that makes it read — a concentrated mass, a sharp edge, a repeated link — is present from every side. It also survives time: a relief built from planes and recesses gets stronger as the metal darkens unevenly, while an even surface only gets duller.

That is the practical reason both families are made in one material and without stones. A stone would take over the role of the centre, and the construction would become a setting for it. Here the object has to hold attention on its own, which is a harder brief and a more honest one.

The material shows the construction

STRUGA leaves 925 silver uncoated — no rhodium plating — and calls the principle Living Silver. On raised planes the oxidation rubs away into bright metal; in the recesses it stays and darkens. A few months in, the relief reads stronger than on the day of purchase: wear develops the construction rather than wearing it out. The same patina will not appear on everyone, because skin, environment and care all change it.

Two objects in BRUTALISM are a deliberate exception, and it matters when you are choosing between them. Ring Brutalism V.3 and the Brutalism Ear Cuff V.3 Dark Treatment are darkened in advance, at the bench, by black oxidation. That is a technique applied by hand, not a property of the metal: the dark tone is there from day one, the raised ends and rims stay light, and the darkening can be applied again if it fades. Living Silver describes what uncoated silver does by itself; it does not describe these two.

The rest of both families — five of the seven BRUTALISM objects and seventeen of the twenty in BLADE — arrive bright and darken on their own. BLADE also has three objects finished in carbon fibre or in a carbon palette; carbon is made as an individual commission and takes about four weeks rather than two.

How to choose a direction

BRUTALISM — when you want one strong volume and real weight in the hand. Two rings and five ear cuffs, 1.6 to 24 g, one of each pair already dark.

BLADE — when repetition, movement and a system that works across object types matter more. Twenty objects across five types, 0.5 to 110 g in silver, all on one link.

Everything here is made to order: the object is made for you rather than picked off a shelf. Production in silver is about two weeks, and transit adds around seven days on top of it. Size, specification and production time are confirmed before payment.

If the task falls outside the existing forms, that is what Custom Order is for. And if you want the whole language this page is one branch of, the entry point is the CODEX world.