Q&A Session With Baron’s Technical Art Director Will Bigelow

What’s the most memorable moment of your Championship Ring design tenure?

I would say probably aside from being hired at Baron, the Cleveland Cavaliers design (2016 Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Championship Ring) and the experience was really special. Our first big pro account, a lot of learning, a lot of volumes, and a ton of pressure!

The LII representing a 52-year drought in Cleveland sitting below a bridge on the ring was one of those ideas I see being difficult to top! It was eye-opening, to say the least!

I have some love for the Toronto Raptors (2019 Toronto Raptors NBA Championship Ring featuring the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy, Toronto skyline, Scotiabank Arena), multiple Team Canada teams, Halo World Championship, and Toronto Marlies too but you asked for my number one only!

Our jump into 3D printing was huge as well, it really unlocked the future of the company and gave me bigger wings to fly with!

When you’ve designed as many Rings as you’ve had, how do you come up with something new?

It’s really thinking about how to push things further. How to go bigger? How to make it cooler? How to make it better? Sometimes I pause and ask the question again after I just asked it, to really push what can be small steps into bigger leaps.

I have a bit of an allergy towards standardization, I really avoid a copy and paste model whenever possible. Constantly following this path I think helps me come up with that ultra exotic piece when called upon.

Themes really help bring rings to some new places we haven’t gone before too. Some themes are easier than others but most have at least something you can do to either make it feel more relevant to the sport, or the team’s mascot.

A good example of how I think is how you would use a sword graphic on a ring. You can put the sword on the side of a ring. Now you can dial it up and have the sword break through the side of the ring.

You can crank it up more and make the sword bigger than the ring and the ring can actually hold it like a shield perhaps. Now you can cover the sword in diamonds maybe and have it be different colours.

What if the sword was removable and allowed a piece to be removable when it wasn’t there? It’s always humorous when the feedback can potentially be that the client didn’t want a sword at all!

Baron® Championship Rings Presents featured in Q&A Session With Baron’s Technical Art Director Will Bigelow:  Making the 2017 MLS Cup Championship Ring for Toronto FC – A closer look at the process, detail, and hard work involved in creating the 2017 MLS Cup Championship Ring for Toronto FC from ring manufacturer Baron Rings. Watch on YouTube

What are some things you are passionate about and how might they translate to your work at Baron?

My passions today start to tie in with my new daughter. I want her to grow up in a world without limits, I want her to know that she can do anything.

I do believe there’s a sense of pride or duty of sorts with what I do that comes with working both in creative and also doing this for Champions. You are making artwork for winners every single day, be it professional, amateur, fantasy leagues, police, fire, EMS, etc.

A lot of those moments and reasons to get a ring are huge to people, life-defining sometimes even. Doing your best for them is important to them. As an artist, you don’t always get a chance to see how much that means to them but I think it’s important to remember that.

To tie it all together, I want my daughter to see that jobs aren’t just jobs, that they do matter to others and it’s important to do your best or just make a difference when you have the power to do so.