Glowstone: Origins
Glowstone: Origins of a Glowstone Ring
The other day I was riding in the car with Patrick on our way to lunch. I was going through orientation training at Patrick Adair Designs. I've been following Patrick since the beginning and have a few of his first ever products. I wanted to tell Patrick's story, from my point of view, as at first, a supporter/customer, then eventually a friend, and now part of the PAD Team.
Years ago I ran across a scrappy little company called Carbonverse on Instagram that made these super thin carbon fiber rings. Being a carbon fiber fanatic myself, I fell in love with the ring design. Carbonverse was an enigma to me, launching small kickstarter projects for the thinnest carbon fiber ring I've ever seen, to carbon fiber knuckles to carbon fiber cubes. I fell in love with everything this maker was doing. Little did I know at the time, it would soon turn into the phenomenon that is now Patrick Adair Designs, let alone that I'd be writing this blog post or that I'd be working for him.
Like many great brands, Carbonverse was started out of garage. A pimply kid with a love for inventing, composites and pushing the limits of what's possible in rings and in jewelry. I remained friends with Patrick Adair as he transitioned his small small company from Carbonverse to the more official brand, Patrick Adair Designs. The transformation was nothing short of brilliant.
What really set Patrick Adair Designs off was his glow in the dark ring called the glowstone ring. It took time to develop and went through various iterations before becoming huge hit that it is now. Patrick Adair started by developing a carbon fiber ring with a glowstone inlay comprised of carbon fiber, glow powder, and crushed stones. He cut his own carbon fiber blanks and got the channel so thin it seemed impossible. It's the first time I saw a glow in the dark ring that was actually bright. It nearly knocked me over. It glowed so much brighter and longer than any glow in the dark ring I had seen.
Glow in the Dark
Patrick used some aqua and blue glow in my ring. It's not even the brightest color, green glow is even brighter, which was hard for me to believe at the time. It had a nice comfort fit. The glow in the dark effect lasted over 8 hours and blew away any other glow ring I have ever seen. It glowed in the dark brighter and longer than my watch even, which had a super expensive, swiss super-luminova glow in the dark dial. Just like my watch, the sun would charge up the ring so it would illuminate when I stepped indoors. I often used a UV light to charge it up when the sun wasn't out. To say I was super impressed was the understatement of the century. I receive many compliments on it's luminescent appearance, especially during lunch meetings with clients walking indoors into a dark restaurant.
Filming the Process
I immediately fell in love with all things glow in the dark thanks to Patrick. He continued developing his craft. He released various designs that featured glow in the dark materials. In addition to the carbon fiber ring that he first produced, (I have one of the first he ever made) he began branching out into titanium inlays, tungsten rings, and more. I was mesmerized by his craft. He dove into his glowstone ring concept with both feet.
He films video after video on his YouTube Channel making wedding bands, all are unique to what has historically been used as men's wedding bands. His transparency in how he makes each ring was a little surprising. He not only made the rings I was wearing, but he gave up the secret sauce too. Patrick had nothing to hide. I enjoyed watching him carefully pour in glow powder into the channel of a ceramic ring or tungsten ring or meteorite ring paired with stones and other materials before finishing it up. I love it. The transparency is very refreshing, exciting and engaging. Patrick doesn't hold back on his craft. I found myself showing other people the videos where he makes the glow in the dark ring just like the one I was wearing. Normally, when you buy a product, there's a major disconnect in how that product came to be. Patrick recognized there was a story to tell and he did an incredible job telling it.
I immediately fell in love with all things glow in the dark thanks to Patrick. He continued developing his craft. He released various designs that featured glow in the dark materials. In addition to the carbon fiber ring that he first produced, (which I have one of the first he ever made) he began branching out into titanium inlays, tungsten rings, and more. I was mesmerized by his craft. He dove into his glowstone ring concept with both feet.
He films video after video on his YouTube Channel making wedding bands, all are unique to what has historically been used as men's wedding bands. His transparency in how he makes each ring was a little surprising. He not only made the rings I was wearing, but he gave up the secret sauce too. Patrick had nothing to hide. I enjoyed watching him carefully pour in glow powder into the channel of a ceramic ring or tungsten ring or meteorite ring paired with stones and other materials before finishing it up. I love it. The transparency is very refreshing, exciting and engaging. Patrick doesn't hold back on his craft. I found myself showing other people the videos where he makes the glow in the dark ring just like the one I was wearing. Normally, when you buy a product, there's a major disconnect in how that product came to be. Patrick recognized there was a story to tell and he did an incredible job telling it.
I immediately fell in love with all things glow in the dark thanks to Patrick. He continued developing his craft. He released various designs that featured glow in the dark materials. In addition to the carbon fiber ring that he first produced, (which I have one of the first he ever made) he began branching out into titanium inlays, tungsten rings, and more. I was mesmerized by his craft. He dove into his glowstone ring concept with both feet.
He films video after video on his YouTube Channel making wedding bands, all are unique to what has historically been used as men's wedding bands. His transparency in how he makes each ring was a little surprising. He not only made the rings I was wearing, but he gave up the secret sauce too. Patrick had nothing to hide. I enjoyed watching him carefully pour in glow powder into the channel of a ceramic ring or tungsten ring or meteorite ring paired with stones and other materials before finishing it up. I love it. The transparency is very refreshing, exciting and engaging. Patrick doesn't hold back on his craft. I found myself showing other people the videos where he makes the glow in the dark ring just like the one I was wearing. Normally, when you buy a product, there's a major disconnect in how that product came to be. Patrick recognized there was a story to tell and he did an incredible job telling it.
The Glow Niche
Do you remember that glow in the dark watch I mentioned two paragraphs back? Well my glow in the dark carbon fiber channel ring from Patrick matches the glow on that dial. I really enjoy pairing my glowing rings and glow in the dark watches. Thanks to Patrick offering multiple color options, I'm able to do that with every watch I own and I find myself trying to find watches to pair with my rings now. My only complaint is the watches don't glow in the dark as bright or as long as my Patrick Adair Designs wedding rings and there's often fewer color options in the watch dial world. They just can't quite make reds, oranges, and purples glow as bright as Patrick can.
Do you remember that glow in the dark watch I mentioned two paragraphs back? Well my glow in the dark carbon fiber channel ring from Patrick matches the glow on that dial. I really enjoy pairing my glowing rings and glow in the dark watches. Thanks to Patrick offering multiple color options, I'm able to do that with every watch I own and I find myself trying to find watches to pair with my rings now. My only complaint is the watches don't glow in the dark as bright or as long as my Patrick Adair Designs wedding rings and there's often fewer color options in the watch dial world. They just can't quite make reds, oranges, and purples glow as bright as Patrick can.
Growth as a Wedding Ring Company
Patrick Adair Designs continued to grow. Bigger and bigger as more and more people fell in love with his pieces. I have acquired several pieces of Patrick's incredible work. There are several rings that he has made that I love. His Halo Ring. The stardust ring. His work with meteorite and incorporating that into rings. Damascus rings. Mokume rings. Ceramic rings. Sterling silver rings. Gold rings. Timascus rings. The list goes on. I can spend quite some time checking out his luminous glow rings. I found my ring size for each finger and my collection continues to grow.
Patrick Adair Designs continued to grow. Bigger and bigger as more and more people fell in love with his pieces. I have acquired several pieces of Patrick's incredible work. There are several rings that he has made that I love. His Halo Ring. The stardust ring. His work with meteorite and incorporating that into rings. Damascus rings. Mokume rings. Ceramic rings. Sterling silver rings. Gold rings. Timascus rings. The list goes on. I can spend quite some time checking out his luminous glow rings. I found my ring size for each finger and my collection continues to grow.
Patrick Adair Designs continued to grow. Bigger and bigger as more and more people fell in love with his pieces. I have acquired several pieces of Patrick's incredible work. There are several rings that he has made that I love. His Halo Ring. The stardust ring. His work with meteorite and incorporating that into rings. Damascus rings. Mokume rings. Ceramic rings. Sterling silver rings. Gold rings. Timascus rings. The list goes on. I can spend quite some time checking out his luminous glow rings. I found my ring size for each finger and my collection continues to grow.
What's Next?
Watching Patrick's design prowess grow has been awe inspiring. Patrick Adair Designs continues to get bigger and bigger thanks to his incredible design work and the artists he has personally trained. I could not be more proud to own a luminous ring like the glowstone ring as my wedding band. They make great mens ring's and women's rings. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Patrick Adair Designs!
Watching Patrick's design prowess grow has been awe inspiring. Patrick Adair Designs continues to get bigger and bigger thanks to his incredible design work and the artists he has personally trained. I could not be more proud to own a luminous ring like the glowstone ring as my wedding band. They make great mens ring's and women's rings. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Patrick Adair Designs!