[AMENDED] New Episode Drop: Jewelry, Dinosaurs, and Music with Jeweler Joseph Ramsay
Rough Cut's first bougie candle is here: NIGHT MOVES smells like heaven and supports the pod (thank you!)
We have a really entertaining new episode for you: Jewelry designer, artist, and polymath Joseph Ramsay stopped by this past weekend to chat with us about his distinctive work, collaborations, thoughts on the jewelry business, and his undying love for dinosaurs and music. It was so much fun!
You can listen to the new episode here:
On Spotify
On Apple Music
And you can follow Joseph at @jwramsay20 and see more of his work at @wallyjewels.
We asked him to share his thoughts about how music influences his creative life for this newsletter, and he did not disappoint. He’s truly a thoughtful guy! And he even made us a special ROUGH CUT PODCAST PLAYLIST of his favorite upbeat listen-while-he-works songs. Check it out below—and thank you, Joseph.
Joseph Ramsay on Music
Music is an art form that I feel benefits from near-endless consumption— unlike jewelry. With that, I can only take in so much at a time before I have to shut off the valve.
As a designer, I like to indulge in music because it changes feeling and thought— brings me to new stones and settings and silhouettes. I make playlists for new jewels when they're nascent and juicy and good...a topaz and color-change garnet ear clip has the best playlist of the last year for me... The music on this list elevates the heart rate—it turns me up.
When I listen to Food House, I am much more in the Wally mode than the Joseph. As opposed to when I listen to Kylie Minogue. Pay attention to the sampling and references in the songs—especially Food House and 100 gecs—and consider sampling and reference in design, as I do. How would Leen Heyne mount this Chrysoberyl? How would Etcetera anchor this Emerald? How would Suzanne Belperron treat Paraiba? I bet she would have loved it...
Can I work these samplings into my own work? All designers build on what came before them, like musicians. The design itself should not be theirs, but mine, even if I sample....what is mine? You have to design and make to know. Can I dance the line between novel and derivative? Get a little cheeky with it? I try to—this is a designing playlist—and I implore you, reader, to grab a pad of paper and your favorite pen and to sketch some earrings. Sketch a few. Rhodochrosite and aquamarine and dark grey spinel and jadeite. You won't regret it.
Rough Cut’s First-Ever Merch: The ‘Night Work’ Candle
Why is a jewelry podcast selling a candle? To help support our day-to-day operations! And we’re excited to deliver to you a heavenly scented candle with REALLY GREAT throw (smell distribution). Also, we waaaaanted one.
You can BUY THE CANDLE HERE. Your purchase means JB and Emili can travel to NYC for weekend recordings more often and the whole gang can do more special episodes, which we would love to do. Thank you for considering a candle. We called it NIGHT WORK because the best work happens at night. 🌙
Details:
Jasmine, black amber, and musk collide to create a deeply intriguing, sexy, and sophisticated fragrance. Are you in the Maltese port of Valletta on a hot and dewy summer’s eve? Maybe, but you could be working at your bench into the twilight hours while burning this baby, letting the aroma transport you somewhere far away. And with an over 50 hour burn time, you can stay as long as you need to get the job done. We’ve spent a lot of time designing this and we hope you love it as much as we do.
Top: Jasmine, Mandarin
Middle: Orchid, Exotic Woods, Ylang, Rose
Base: Patchouli, Black Amber, Musk
Size: 8.5oz
Burn Time: 50+ hours
Contains Essential Oils of cedarwood from Texas, mandarin from Italy, patchouli from Indonesia, and ylang from Madagascar.
Alain’s Playlist
In response to Joseph’s playlist, Alain sent Joseph this playlist (below). They’re both killer!