Hoorsenbuhs is back and better than ever. TWELV sat down with our favorite rock ‘n’ roll jewelry designer, Hoorsenbuhs founder Robert Keith, to chat about the re-launch of their delectable Chip Ring Collection and other upcoming goodies the designer has in store.

Since we last interviewed you for TWELV, your designs have had continued success and recognition, being worn by celebrities like Katie Holmes and David Beckham, and have been featured in magazines from Men’s Health to Vogue. How have you been handling the increasing popularity? Has it influenced your approach to design?

 All of the recognition has definitely been exciting —letting us know that this is something relevant to what’s happening right now in the rest of the fashion world. In terms of influence, it hasn’t really done much on that front because that’s not the way I design, nor how we develop projects. It comes like a giant flood. I’ll have a dry spell then all of a sudden, something will just come to me and I’ll bust out with a 30-piece collection in one day. Sometimes you wonder, “Wow, am I washed up?” and then all of a sudden you’ll be cleaning the sink and BOOM!

Your tri-link and phantom rings are so distinctive and recognizable. . Why did you decide to re-launch the Chip Ring collection? Can you tell me about the rings and what inspired their design?

 We did a soft launch of the Chip Ring a while ago, but sometimes your focus is on different things. Then people started to request it and we began to pay attention to it again. All the designs I do, I take from different proportions of [our] maker’s mark as a point of reference. It’s a very strange phenomenon because it keeps offering new things the more I pay attention to it. I love it. And with the Chip Ring—if you isolate one of the links of the chain on the maker’s mark, look down at it and turn it on its side, you’ll see that the negative space looks like the Chip Ring. When other people design rings, they design from the point of view of looking straight down at the fingers. For the Chip Rings, I designed for how your hand hangs naturally by your side.

Is Hoorsenbuhs planning anything special for the holiday season?

 No, we don’t roll like that [laughs]. It’s not “bah, humbug!” or anything, but it’s just that the pieces and inspiration come when they come. We don’t follow the hallmark calendar, trends or holidays. It happens when it happens and it’s available when someone wants it.

So, what’s in store for the future of Hoorsenbuhs and the direction of your designs?

In the near future, we’re launching our bridal collection at Barney’s in New York.  It’s been getting amazing reception from everyone who sees it.  I did some bridal pieces in the past for private clients, and now we’ve partnered with Forevermark Diamond so the conception really came into clarity.  The second thing is our new location at Just One Eye. That relationship is exciting because Paolo Russo, who is really interested in creating some one of a kind pieces and concepts, gives our company a chance to execute some of our ideas in other product realms, like our leather shoe buckle that was featured in The New York Times. There are 30 ideas currently on the table and we’ll be happy if three of them see the light of day as long as those three pass our, “is-it-classic-enough” test. See, that’s what we go for: classic rather than trendy. I have a ring that I made 5 years ago and its sitting on my desk unfinished, not cleaned—nothing.  A few weeks ago it caught the eye of a few people who asked about it and suddenly, it fired me up again. Sometimes, things just have to sit around and marinate for a while.

You can purchase Hoorsenbuhs at fine luxury retailers like Barneys New York, or by contacting the atelier directly. Visit Hoorsenbuhs.com for more info.

WRITTEN BY: TERRI TROVATO