As J.R. R. Tolkien says in his famous trilogy, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in the fire of Mount Mordor one ring to rule everyone. But the magic ring shown on the screen in the films of Peter Jackson was forged in a modest workshop on the corner of an ordinary street in Nelson, New Zealand.

Jens Hansen's workshop was founded by a Danish jewelry master of the third generation. It became famous all over the world, making 15 rings of various sizes for the films “Lord of the Rings”. Peter Jackson's team asked the jeweler to design a magical artifact from Tolkien's story in March 1999. He made fifteen prototypes. Their feature was the sculptural simplicity of Hansen's design, but the weight, finish, and calibration were different. The director personally chose the final ring design. For the shooting, he needed forty variations of one jewelry piece - from a version of gold for miniature hobbit fingers to a spinning ring, filmed for the prologue of the first film.

There was no elven inscription in the ring. The words appearing in some episodes of the trilogy were created at the post-production stage.

Unfortunately, the master died in August 1999, before he could see his rings on the screen. His work was given to his sons, Halfdan and Thorkild. They created the new “set” of rings for the Hobbit trilogy almost ten years later.

You can buy copies of the legendary ring in the shop or on the official website (there is also an  information about the creation of the famous artifact).

Even though the jewelry workshop is known all over the world, it remains a modest studio, hidden close to the main street in the center of Nelson. Just several signs mark it as “The birthplace of the most powerful ring of Hollywood”.

The store is located at the end of Nelson's main street and open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.