As if the common fear of stinging insects weren’t enough, in 2020 we started to hear about murder hornets—which prey on honeybees but have killed people, too.
According to an article in The New York Times, Asian giant hornets (their real name) kill as many as 50 people a year in Japan, though their true targets are bees. These murder hornets can wipe out a beehive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and taking their thoraxes to feed the hornets’ young..
No human deaths by murder hornet have been reported in the U.S., and they seem to have been contained to Washington state. So while the average American need not worry about being stung by—or even encountering—a murder hornet, the fear of them is totally real.
Facing your fears can be beneficial, though. And even more so when you do it through jewelry. Allison Quaid, a brand based in Chicago and London and headed by Allison Childers and her son Quaid, is embracing the beauty in the chaos caused by these villainous insects with a murder hornet ring, a masterpiece complete with a pear-shape diamond abdomen.
“Replacing the hornet’s abdomen—its instrument of death—with a diamond is a means of reclaiming its power and transforming it into a vehicle of beauty,” the designers say. “Crafting it in white gold and black rhodium underscores its menace. The hornet’s wings received extra attention, as we wanted to make sure the shadows they formed were both defined and elegant.”
Just three of the rings have been made, and with anatomical accuracy. “We ordered several preserved murder hornets and had an organic modeler study them intently for over a month,” says Childers. “We created a computer model that was then scaled to fit a human finger. This created a rough form to be cast, and from this white gold casting, the murder hornet ring was sculpted by the hands of the master goldsmiths in our London workshop. Murder hornet specimens were on hand as real-life references through each step of the creation process.”
But the real inspiration was the hornets’ prey, according to Allison and Quaid Childers. “In designing the murder hornet ring, we wanted to incorporate the inspiring story of the bees and the drama of their battle,” they explain. “The murder hornet is one of the most hostile insects known to man, wreaking havoc on bees and decimating entire hives with its powerful venom. Despite this specter of death, bees are able to defend themselves against this ominous creature by swarming the invading hornet. As one bee makes the ultimate sacrifice, the entire hive converges on the distracted murder hornet, creating a ‘bee ball’ that cooks the hornet alive. This demonstrates the bravery, resilience, and indomitability of bees, a creature we have long admired and embodied in the jeweled bees we have made for half a century.”
Top: Murder hornet ring in 18k white gold and black rhodium with 2.05–2.2 ct. pear-shape diamond (size varies depending on ring), $200,000; Allison Quaid
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