Conjuring up connections

Earlier this year, I wrote a story about Pittsburgh-based designer Paul Michael Bierker’s jewelry take on the classic film franchise Star Wars. Connected to a New Jersey couple through the website CustomMade.com, Bierker, of Paul Michael Design, came up with a very creative way of turning the droid R2D2 into an engagement ring.

Recently, Bierker landed another job through CustomMade.com, which connects consumers and companies with artisans in a variety of fields, including jewelry design.

This time, it was the movie company Warner Bros. that contacted the designer about creating a locket for the new horror movie The Conjuring. Directed by James Wan, of Saw fame, The Conjuring is based on the allegedly true story of a family possessed and terrorized by spirits in their home, an old Rhode Island farmhouse.

Actress Vera Farmiga, who was nominated for an Oscar for Up in the Air and plays real-life ghost-hunter Lorraine Warren in the film, is the one who dons Bierker’s creation.

Bierker said the studio requested something that was “somewhat period,” resembling jewelry from the late 1800s to early 1900s, and completely unique in order to avoid trademark issues.

He only had about nine days to come up with a design but he did it. He made several versions of the same locket in multiple metals including one in sterling silver, which is the one, he believes, Farmiga wears in the movie. He also sent the studio the CAD geometry for the piece, which enables them to do special effects if needed, such as making the locket melt.

“What we had to do is look at the totality of the lockets on the market and come up with something that would be stylistically appropriate but completely unique. As a designer, it’s actually a pretty difficult task to look at something and then pull something out of thin air,” Bierker says. “It’s really cool when you have to think outside the box like that.”

Due to potential copyright issues with Warner Bros., the designer was hesitant to send us a picture of the locket but Farmiga can be seen wearing it in this scene.

Bierker says he hasn’t seen the movie, yet. He is not sure if the locket is intended to possess some special sort of powers, though he does believe it plays a prominent role in the movie’s end.

“Of course, I have to,” he