Maru Almeida was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and has lived in the United States for 14 years. From the time she started school, Maru always embraced art. She concentrated in one-of-a-kind pieces of artistic jewelry while studying fine art in college (Maru holds both a BA and a Masters in Jewelry and Metalsmithing). After college, Maru started showing her work in galleries and as part of group exhibitions. When friends and family started asking her to make wedding rings, she realized how much she enjoyed making them. She particularly loved the challenge of crafting rings that were not only artistic and original but that invoked the essence of each couple. This led to the idea of starting Circle Studio.

“I want to design rings that match the lifestyle, ideas, and connections between a couple. I want to give couples the opportunity to go beyond the idea of just selecting a pre-designed, mass-produced ring. By working so closely with the couple on the design, I can offer them something more personal, something with true meaning that is symbolic of this new commitment between them. I want to stretch their idea of what is possible.”

Rings have been exchanged as a symbol of the bond of marriage for so long, and in so many different cultures, that the origin of the practice is obscure. Certainly, the circle of a ring represents undying love and the continually renewed vows of the married couple. Circles have long been archetypes for not only timelessness, but also wholeness and homecoming. The circle also speaks to the constant round of the heavens, as well as the eternal return of the seasons, marked by cyclical ritual and celebration.

Wedding rings capture the full range of the ceremonial, symbolic, and communal aspects of marriage, and preserve these many levels of significance as a durable and constant reminder. Ancient yet contemporary, steeped in lore and mystery yet almost universally exchanged, wedding rings combine the art of the jeweler, the reverence of the betrothed, and the beauty of love and partnership in a single, resonant symbol.

From Peter Breslin's article.