Oh, the excitement I felt when Kimberly Doyle shared (on Instagram) about her latest creation! I’ve always adored her Lucky Rabbit pendant and the Light pieces. And the Karat Jack concept, of course. Kimberly has such an amazing brain and imagination. But then… Hello GEMAGOTCHI! I couldn’t have imagined this even in my wildest dreams! I’m a 90s baby but I’ve never owned a Tamagotchi, but I for sure dig this piece. And I’m without a doubt not the only one.
She has put so much thought and time into creating the Gemagotchi. Even the ball bead chain is giving that perfect Tamagotchi feel. A detail that couldn’t be missed.
And then there is the packaging. My gosh. It is just perfect. Kimberly created the whole experiment. A 90s throwback but way more fun. Way much better.
Myself I never owned a tamagotchi but this design is sure next level…
Q&A with Kimberly:
Where came the idea from to design the Gemagotchi? Did you own a tamagotchi back in the day?
The inspiration for my gemagotchi was sparked one day while I was doing a little cleaning. I came across a stash of some of my old treasures. Amongst them was a plastic red hello kitty pencil box, a pochacco “crush book”, and a mini cell phone that’s about 3.5 inches big. This of course took me down memory lane. However one was missing- my digital pets! I loved digital pets when I was growing up. I think the first one I had was made by Casio and was almost like a PDA (personal digital assistant- we had these before we had these amazing do-it-all cellphones) called my magic diary and it had a little dog you could care for. I loved that thing! As I go older more digital pets hit the market and I collected so many from so many different brands. I especially remember having one that was a colorful clear plastic so you could see the inside- think those iconic first generation iMacs. These digital pet sparked so much joy for me and I decided I was going to make one in gold for myself. It’s funny because I posted a picture of my tiny cell phone on IG and one of my friends, Sahmie, said I should make a cell phone charm with gemstone buttons. I immediately replied that I wanted to make a digital pet charm and she thought it would be a great idea too! Once I had my idea it took me about a week to make a prototype I created it based on a memory which is why I think the very first one I made was with a rectangle screen- I remembered having one with rectangle screen but now I’m not too sure if I did haha. I knew the screen would be made from gemstones because now I am a gemstone collector (self proclaimed gem connoisseur) and all of my other jewelry designs are gemstone centric. Interestingly enough I sat on my prototype for months like over 1/2 a year!
What’s the processs of making a Gemagotchi?
There’s actually a lot that goes into each one of these tiny creations! They are quite labor intensive- there’s about 30 steps in making each one (if of course nothing goes wrong). I won’t go into too
much detail but all aspects of these little things are worked on by me from soldering a tiny ball chain together to forming wire to make the bail!
Did you face any challenges during the creation of it?
As for challenges for them I ran into a couple technical issues but nothing that’s crazy. Easy fixes but it just takes time and re-doing.
Why create a mommy and baby version?
I started with only the idea for a Mama version but your girl looooves miniatures so I thought I’d try and push it even further and make an even smaller version. I also knew that the babies would be at a more accessible price point which I also love! Buuut spoiler alert – Daddy is coming into town soon too!
How would you suggest to style the Gemagotchi?
I’ve seen sooo many awesome stylings of the Gemagotchi’s and there’s really no wrong way to do it- necklace, earring dangle, bracelet charm- you name it. The Gemagotchi’s play really nicely with others but also look great in their own. You’re only really limited by your imagination! This goes out to the people who have one- share how you style it! I want to see!
Tag me in your photos/ stories and use tag #gemagotchi
(keep reading below)
I suppose you made your very own Gemagotchi? At least, I hope you did!
I did have one for myself- the very first prototype! But one of my friends Imke had her heart set on it so it lives with her in Germany now! However I’m in the process of making a mama with a diamond and a few with Australian opal and I’m sure one of those will be mine. Oh wait actually I do have one, the prototype of the baby with an emerald screen!
How do you envision the wearer feeling when they wear this piece?
I hope that everyone who wear my jewelry in general feels joy and excitement!
All imagery by Kimberly Doyle | Edits and collage by MoJ