From 2005–2018, I founded and led byAMT, a product brand based in New York. The studio created iconic fashion and home objects that found their way into shops, museums, and homes around the world. I created everything from product, material innovation to manufacturing, marketing, and global sales—building a brand that was as strategic as it was creative.
byAMT Products + Brand
Services
Design Concepts, Product Design, CMF, Packaging, Manufacturing, Online Retail, Global Sales
Select (Retail) Partners
MoMA, Louisiana, Victoria & Albert Museum, Selfridges, Moderna Museet, Cooper Hewitt, Target, and more.
Credits
Lisa Klappe
Freunde von Freunden
Mimot
and so many more… :-)
The byAMT brand reached a global audience through e-commerce and retail partners such as Selfridges, Target, Louisiana, Moderna Museet, Future Perfect, and Matter. Along the way, I created product collaborations with the MoMA Store, Victoria & Albert Museum, Shinola, Cool Hunting, and Dwell Magazine. Over the years many byAMT products became recognizable staples.
Techniques & Material Innovation 〰️
We developed custom packaging that redefined what was possible in paper production. For the Acrylic Collection, which (including the Diamond & Pearl Rings), we used laser-cutting as the primary production method.
With the Jointed Jewels Collection, we turned to 3D printing—specifically SLS (nylon sintering)—as it was the only way to produce complex forms like a ball inside a joint in a single piece. At the time, 3D printing was still emerging, and we worked with leading companies to push its applications, from coloration to building an API for galleries that enabled customers to personalize jewelry—choosing colors and customizing components—well before on-demand design became mainstream.
Jointed Jewels Collection
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Jointed Jewels Collection .
Strap Collection
This collection began with McMasterpieces, a design exhibit curated by Sight Unseen, where designers were challenged to create objects entirely from hardware parts from the McMaster-Carr catalog. Inspired by the simplicity and utility of Shaker furniture, I designed the Strap Baskets, Totes, and Trivets—combining birch dowels, leather strapping, and copper-plated hardware.
The result was a collection of Strap Baskets, Totes, Planters and Key Chains that balanced refined craftsmanship with a rugged edge, later we collaborated for special editions with Dwell and Kaufmann Mercantile
The Diamond Ring Collection
The Tiffany-setting diamond engagement ring: design classic, symbol of marital bliss, emblem of our status-obsessed culture. byAMT’s jewelry line puts a playful spin on this icon. The Tiffany ring’s silhouette and basic shape remains intact, but rendered in different materials, colors, and widths.
byAMT created them in acrylic, sterling silver, 14-karat gold, and platinum versions of the ring. These metals have been deemed “precious” because they’re relatively rare, they’re shiny, and they last. We value diamonds because they’re even more rare, shinier, and durable (and often fraught with human rights concerns). No wonder they are so expensive. Do we really need one to prove our love? byAMT rings are precious for their creativity, ingenuity, style, and wit–not their glittery bits.
The metal rings include a “too-thin-to-be an engagement ring” (2mm), “perfect diamond ring size” (4mm), a square 9mm size. The thinnest rings hint at the fragility of marriage and commitment. The largest is a sly commentary on our culture’s competitive nature when it comes to conspicuous consumption: “my diamond is bigger than yours.” The Diamond Rings invite us to step back, get some perspective, and even laugh at ourselves.
