Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet by Maria Kotsoni is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Silver A' Design Award in Jewelry Design Competition Category.
SilverJewelry· 2025
Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet
Client: Maria Kotsoni
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Jewelry Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #172085The Design
About Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet
The Smiley Spiked flexible cuff bracelet is unisex piece of jewelry designed for everyday wear. Blending structure with fluidity, its design takes inspiration from spikes, ancestral elements of protection on sensitive life forms, while aligning with the natural contours of the human body. The articulated, U shaped spike formation adorns the back of the wrist, visible beneath a sleeve in a relaxed position; while the oval shaped, flexible tube back provides structure, ensures easy wear, and enhances comfort with a secure fit. The piece can be worn alone, stacked or paired with a watch.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Bespoke 18K Gold Jewelry Design
We craft sculptural jewelry that blends ancient inspiration with contemporary elegance. Each piece in 18K gold and natural diamonds embodies masterful artisanship and cultural heritage. Our award-winning designs forge sensual connections between jewelry and wearer, creating timeless expressions of individuality.
Commission DesignInterviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The design for the Smiley Spiked, flexible cuff, evolved from an on going collection which I started in 2017. The collection ‘Spiked’ draws inspiration from the element of the Spike, an ancestral element in nature for the protection of the delicate essence of life.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
The main focus in designing this work was to create an innovative type of bracelet for everyday wea, especially for the lower part of the wrist.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
The future plans for this, as with all my designs, is to be used as leverage for the generation of new ideas and a fresh perspective in contemporary fine jewelry.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet is a casual, everyday statement piece for men and women. Blending structure with fluidity, the design draws from architectural lines and organic spikes, ancestral elements of protection. The articulated, U shaped spike formation adorns the back of the wrist usually exposed under a sleeve even in a relaxed position while the oval-shaped, flexible double tube back ensures easy wearing, comfort, and a secure fit. It can be worn alone, stacked or paired with a watch.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The bracelet is made in 18K gold, hallmarked by the Cyprus assay office, a member of the international assay offices association. It weights 16.5 grams and measures 62 mm x 50 mm x 22 mm.
- Tags
- Smiley, bracelet , flexible cuff, flexible bangle, articulated bracelet, gold bracelet, spiked, unisex, statement, Maria Kotsoni
- Production Technology
- The bracelet is hand crafted in 18K gold and assembled using a combination of traditional techniques like tube forming, casting, soldering and 3D digital design and printing. The articulated U shaped spiked part with box and tongue closure was digitally designed using Rino then 3D printed and cast. After being assembled, it was soldered to the flexible tube made with traditional equipment, then hand formed and adjusted to an oval shape.The last spike, box, was soldered on one end of the tube while the rest, articulated part with tongue, on the other.
- Design Challenge
- The hardest part in the realisation of this project was like I mentioned above the coordination of the articulated U shaped spiked part with closure in the front and the flexible, depth wise, yet rigid, width wise, tube at the back. I also had to make a few adjustments to the joining of the spiked part to optimize movement so that it’s U shaped formation would be maintained even in an inverted positioning of the arm.
- Research
- The design theme and point of reference is the Spike, an ancestral element on sensitive life forms: plant, marine, insect or animal that I explored through research by putting on paper and developed by sketching and hand-sculpting wax model prototypes. Careful attention was given to soften the spike to a degree where it is visually recognized as such yet being muted as per its aggressive nature. A series of test models had to be made in order to coordinate the articulation of the spiked part with the flexible rigidity of the tube.
- Inspiration
- The idea about this design was to create a versatile, bold yet easy to wear bracelet for everyday use. I drew inspiration from organic shapes; spikes in particular, which I perceive as ancestral elements in nature, serving as guardians and preserving the delicate essence of life. Sensitive life forms manage to survive because of the spike’s protecting properties.
The structure is a combination of articulated movement in the front U shaped spike formation and the memory in resuming position property of the flexible double tube at the back which easily bends to allow the arm through yet maintains and supports its original oval shape. - Project Duration
- The project started in September 2024 in Cyprus and finished in November 2024 in Nicosia. It is part of my Spiked collection which I have been developing since 2017.
- Operation Flow
- The bracelet is oval shaped to better maintain its position around the wrist and consists of two parts each of which has different properties: The articulated U shaped spike formation in the front with a secure box and tongue closure and the flexible double tube back which easily bends to allow the arm through and automatically springs back in place. It is designed to adorn the back of the wrist, worn lower than any other wrist bracelet and interacts nicely with a large watch or other bracelets. It is visible below the sleeve in a relaxed position.
- Image Credits
- Image # 1: Photographer Nicos Louca, Smiley Spiked bracelet
Image # 2: Photographer Harris Kyprianou, Model: Kateryna Kremer, Smiley Spiked bracelet worn with assorted pieces from Spiked collection
Image # 3: Photographer Harris Kyprianou, Smiley Spiked bracelet worn on a man
Image # 4: Photographer Maria Kotsoni, Smiley Spiked bracelet worn with a watch and assorted bracelets
Image # 5: Photographer Maria Kotsoni, Smiley Spiked bracelet worn with watch and assorted bracelets
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