Robin Callahan Designs’ Geo ring wins INSTORE’s best unisex design

Robin Callahan’s Geo ring won INSTORE’s Best Unisex Design by making unisex feel less like a label than a design logic: sharp geometry in yellow gold, a disciplined line of diamonds and a profile substantial enough to read as jewelry, not slogan. The ring’s balance is the point. It is 10.8 mm wide, built in 14K yellow gold and set with 1.0 carat of G-H-color, VS-clarity diamonds, a combination that gives the piece enough brightness to stand out while keeping the surface calm and architectural. At $19,000, it sits in the realm of serious goldsmithing, not decorative novelty.

That restraint is what gives the Geo ring its range. The yellow gold softens the angles and keeps the design from feeling severe, while the diamond placement adds punctuation rather than excess. It is the kind of ring that can work alone with a T-shirt and still hold its own against a tailored sleeve or a cocktail ring, which is exactly why it reads as both everyday and special. In a market where many unisex pieces lean on neutrality, Robin Callahan’s version is more persuasive because it has a point of view.

The judges responded to that tension between edge and ease. Catherine Fitzgibbon praised the juxtaposition of the angles, and Mary Murray said the ring’s striking geometry lifts it from an everyday accessory into a standout piece. John Mead also weighed in, underscoring that the decision reflected a broader jury conversation rather than a single aesthetic instinct. Callahan, a custom jewelry designer, metalsmith and lapidary artist, has built the piece around the kind of formal clarity that makes design memorable long after the category has been named.

The win landed inside a crowded field: INSTORE’s 2026 Design Awards drew 229 entries, matching the previous year’s total, and the publication said colored gemstones were especially hot, with entries in that category surging. Robin Callahan Designs also showed its range elsewhere in the competition, taking First Place in Men’s Jewelry for a Geo Men’s cuff in 14K yellow gold with 2.60 carats of G-H-color, VS-clarity diamonds priced at $49,500, and First Place in Ring Over 5K for an Aria Interchangeable ring in 14K white gold with 5.6 carats of diamonds, chrysoprase and chalcedony priced at $46,000. In an 11-year awards program, the Geo ring’s victory suggests that modern unisex jewelry is strongest when it feels built for real wear, real gifting and real self-purchase, all at once.