Silver Jewelry Design · 2025
Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet
- A' Design Award 2025 Silver Winner in Jewelry Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Maria Kotsoni
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 68,634
- Verification code 9065FBE7D7 · Verify this award
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.
Maria Kotsoni's Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet represents a distinguished contribution to contemporary jewelry design, merging technical virtuosity with conceptual playfulness in a piece that bridges minimalist restraint and sculptural exuberance. The work positions itself within the tradition of kinetic jewelry, where articulated elements introduce movement and transformative potential into adornment, extending lineages established by modernist jewelers who explored the expressive possibilities of mechanical connection and flexible construction. The technical achievement evident in the bracelet's construction demonstrates sophisticated metalworking expertise, with seven precisely formed spherical elements connected through articulated joints that permit fluid adaptation to the wearer's form while maintaining visual coherence as a unified sculptural statement. The designer appears to engage with longstanding symbolic associations of spherical forms, which across cultures have represented wholeness, celestial bodies, and protective talismans, while the spike motif introduces associations with guardianship, strength, and assertive presence. The polished surface treatment achieves remarkable luminosity, transforming the bracelet into an active participant in its lighting environment, gathering and redistributing light in ways that shift with movement and viewing angle. The compositional decision to concentrate ornamental complexity along the lower arc while maintaining austere simplicity in the upper band creates sophisticated visual rhythm, inviting the eye to travel between zones of activity and repose. The flexible construction introduces an element of responsiveness, suggesting jewelry that collaborates with rather than constrains the body. One might contemplate how this piece negotiates the historical tension between jewelry as protective armor and jewelry as celebratory adornment, ultimately proposing that both functions can coexist within a single, elegantly resolved form.
Press Kit
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. - 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
Colors of Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet
Get Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet
Design Interview about Smiley Spiked Flexible Cuff Bracelet
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.
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.
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.
For this actual piece, it didn’t take longer than two weeks, though the idea of the Spike was already something that I had been working on since 2017.
This design came as a personal initiative through the pursuit of inspiration by the Spike.
At the moment the design is being produced exclusively by my company and is part of my latest line which can be found in selected stores in the U.S. and E.U.
I was driven by my fascination for the Spike of course but I wanted to create an innovative type of bracelet with emphasis on the adornment of the lower part of the wrist, visible under a sleeve in a relaxed position.
My inspiration comes from my cultural background and from my fascination with nature.
Any woman or man with a strong, independent personality and a keen eye on innovation.
It’s shape and function.
The Smiley Spiked, flexible cuff is ‘smiling’ when on , due to is articulated U shaped formation of seven spikes in the center.
My mechanical pencil and a ruler for measurements.
The design was the result of a collective effort from my team of specialised technicians and bench jewellers.
The articulated Spiked part of the bracelet was digitally designed.
The research on the Spike and its role in the protection of sensitive life forms was a pre-existing fascination of mine.
The mechanics. It took a few months of testing to resolve.
I believe the concept of the Smiley, flexible cuff bracelet is unique and I wanted to present it to the world through an international competition, connected to my name before being copied.
I believe, with every truly innovative design, the designer seeks the reaction of the public to it which fuels their creativity.