Marjorie Schick (1941-2017) was a contemporary American jeweller noted for her large scale, colourful jewels made from non-traditional materials such as fabric, papier maché and wood. She was born in Taylorville, Illinois in 1941 and studied jewellery design and metalsmithing at Indiana University, Bloomington under Alma Eikerman. She taught jewellery at Pittsburg State University, Kansas and was Professor of Art from 1967 to 2017. Although Marjorie Schick was very much an American jeweller, she had a strong association with London, spending sabbaticals at the Sir John Cass School of Art and at the Middlesex Polytechnic.

Her work is characterised by its scale and was influenced by abstract art and by the European ‘New jewellery’ of the 1960s which freed jewellers to imagine a wider range of materials and techniques.. She described her jewellery as ‘sculptures to wear’ and it is notable both for its large size and for the way in which it extends past the boundaries of the body. Her 'Ring of Fire' neckpiece, also in the V&A collection shares the scale, ambition and sense of colour of the 'Basic Geometry' ring sets.

The three rings with their associated stands in the ‘Basic Geometry’ set are wood painted in yellow, purples and greens, grey, black and white. The stands form an integral part of the work. In an interview for the ‘Art Jewelry Forum’ in 2016, she explained that her work ‘is art that can and should be worn but can also function independently of the body. My work isn’t supposed to be stored in a jewelry box or in a drawer but out in the open, on the wall, somewhere that it exists 24/7/365, not just when it’s worn.’ The three-dimensional geometry of the rings allows them to be worn but creates a bold, eye catching sculpture when resting upon their stand. The rings demonstrate the way in which contemporary jewellers have interrogated the basic form and function of the ring and used it to create artistic and sculptural objects.