When women stroll into a jewellery retail outlet, Michelle Luchese states, they tend to get “the crimson carpet rolled out.”
But when she and her then-fiancé, John Ruggiero, went shopping for his marriage ring, Ruggiero states he read a thing extra like, “There’s a minor desk in the back of the retail store, go glance at these.”
He usually observed only 3 or four rings, all of which he commonly assumed were being unaffordable — and none that in shape his significant fingers.
“I’m like, ‘This is my wedding ring,’” Ruggiero reported. “I’m intended to have on this the relaxation of my life. Shouldn’t I be a minimal enthusiastic? And rather, it was just a enormous stress.”
That knowledge inspired the newlyweds to start their company, Manly Bands, in their garage in Rosemary Seaside, Fla., in 2016.
Today, following a go to Utah, Manly Bands presents men’s rings created from tungsten, wooden from whiskey and wine barrels, antlers, carbon fiber, meteorites and even dinosaur bone. In a armed service historical past sequence, they have built rings of steel from retired plane carrier the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, a Sherman tank and components of M1 Garand rifles.
“It’s amazing viewing men hook up to one thing other than a conventional gold or silver and white gold band,” Ruggiero explained. “They truly appear to be to want something that’s much more of their individuality than the standard models.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Johnathan Ruggiero and Michelle Luchese, founders and co-CEOs of Manly Bands in Lindon.
The firm has branded traces, with rings encouraged by Jack Daniels, Fender guitars — some featuring an embedded guitar string — and DC Comics.
Then, previously this 12 months, the organization discovered alone drawn to certain rings of electrical power.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A ring structure encouraged by Batman, at Manly Bands in Lindon.
1 ring to bind them
When Ruggiero heard Amazon Studios was setting up a new tv collection prequel to “Lord of the Rings,” he reached out to Warner Bros. “We asked them, ‘Hey, we’d enjoy to make the 1 Ring,’” he reported.
Warner Bros. replied that it couldn’t join the corporation to the television clearly show, but it agreed to license rings from the trilogy of guides and primary flicks, Ruggiero reported.
Manly Band’s designers begun brainstorming ideas for the selection back again in March. “We’re definitely striving to make it fun … a whole lot of the crew enjoy Lord of the Rings,” Ruggiero said.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A ring design motivated by “Lord of the Rings” at Manly Bands in Lindon on Dec. 5, 2022.
Of the nine rings designed, The Gandalf, The Frodo, The Aragorn, The Legolas, and The Gimli are dependent on figures that form the fellowship of the ring — who seek out to damage the ever-corrupting Just one Ring developed by the dark lord Sauron.
The firm is also generating rings for Sauron, the ringwraiths — corrupted guys who do his bidding — and Gollum, who obsessed over the 1 Ring to the issue of murdering to get it.
And, arguably a chilling decision for a marriage, the A person Ring alone, an evil gold band that empowers the wearer to control others “and in the darkness bind them.”
The rings are each individual designed from different materials — for case in point, The Frodo contains moss trapped in epoxy resin. The Gimli functions the pattern shown on the dwarf’s helmet in the videos. The Legolas has an embedded recurve bow string and The Sauron incorporates lava rock.
Warner Bros. had to approve each individual person design and style in advance of the launch about a thirty day period ago. Since then, The Lord of the Rings line “has been super productive for us,” Ruggiero reported. “It’s been amid our greatest sellers.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A ring structure inspired by “Lord of the Rings” at Manly Bands in Lindon, on Dec. 5, 2022.
Kaelin Douglas, who lives in Fort Truly worth, Texas, ordered the wedding day band dependent on Gimli for her lover.
“My fiancé was complaining about other options and how dull the offerings were being. Mainly gold or black easy bands,” Douglas claimed, “while there’s a world of diverse customizations and flash for gals.”
She liked the Gimli style and design due to the fact “it’s refined enough that no a person but a fan would know on 1st look,” yet was intricate and gave the impact that “they did their research on the people,” she said.
“My fiancé is a large Lord of the Rings fan,” she reported, “and we preferred a wedding day band that included that without getting much too overt about what it was.”
‘Who buys the groom’s ring?’
Manly Band’s headquarters and producing house is in Lindon, exactly where it has about 65 staff members.
Its employees machines rings from components that are more challenging than treasured metals, such as tungsten and Damascus steel. Rings made of wood, or with wood inlays, are carved on a lathe, and some rings are coated in Cerakote, a hardy ceramic complete that is applied to paint guns and airplane areas.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dave Suraez will work on a ring at Manly Bands in Lindon on Dec. 5, 2022.
Most of the rings in the greatest-advertising category run amongst $300 and $1,000 and the corporation would make a wide vary of measurements.
Manly Bands opened two retail suppliers in the past year, 1 at University Put in Orem past February and one particular in Style Place in Murray in September, explained Eric Farlow, the company’s chief working officer.
But the business even now sees most purchases created on-line, the place it commenced its gross sales.
Simply because some people hesitate to devote hundreds on a ring they simply cannot see, “we intensely invested in information creation,” Ruggiero explained, in get to demonstrate the solutions up close and describe the variations amongst components.
“We do a ton of YouTube material. We aid persons learn about rings, wedding rings, men’s marriage rings, we talk about the various supplies, the unique styles, why they ought to obtain from us,” he claimed.
In these videos, generally shot against a backdrop of sports activities machines, whiskey bottles and gaming gear, corporation reps demonstrate off closeups of rings, look at their composition (”Pros and drawbacks of wood rings”) and converse about marriage ceremony-related inquiries.
“Who purchases the groom’s ring?” will get into ring background — American males did not get started broadly wearing marriage bands until the 1940s — and “WTF Did They Set On Their Ring?” shares what new prospects questioned to have engraved on their bands. (Examples contain ”I’m in it for the intercourse,” “No more diet plans for me,” “Put me back again on” and “Don’t get rid of this 1,” and on the sweeter side: “Wife’s B-Day” with the day, and “Two wishes left.”)
Manly Bands strategies to make upcoming rings from a 1940s Willys Jeep fender and scrap metallic — with authentic injury — from a B-17 bomber.
Planning rings is “a entertaining problem,” Luchese mentioned, as they question with every single new project, “how can we be different, superior, a lot more interesting, additional innovative?”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jeep parts to be applied in rings, at Manly Bands in Lindon on Dec. 5, 2022.
