Created with the goal of “flipping the script on bridal jewelry,” Frank Darling entered the market in 2017 led by husband-and-wife duo Kegan Fisher and Jeff Smith. At the time it was a surprising launch by the couple, who came to the jewelry space from the world of health tech.
Formerly known as a founder in the tech space with 11 years of experience in mass customization and 3D printing at Shapeways and SOLS, Fisher originally studied industrial design and manufacturing at the Pratt Institute. She told WWD that she had always felt like “an artist who ended up in tech,” making her move into jewelry design an exciting change.
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With Frank Darling, Fisher’s goal is to put creativity, customization and radical transparency at the center of the experience for a couple’s engagement ring shopping. Today the company has eight showrooms across the U.S. with a team of more than 20 designers. In 2024 the brand sold more than 16,000 carats and has designed rings for more than 10,000 proposals to date.
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Taking into consideration the needs of every couple and with more than 1,000 showroom appointments every month, the brand’s motto has become: “low-profile rings for hands that do things.”
Here, Fisher talks about her career as an entrepreneur, her move from health tech to jewelry and her advice for anyone getting a start in their career.
WWD: Can you tell us about that major shift you made from health tech to jewelry?
Kegan Fisher: I always joke that I’m an artist who ended up in tech — but it’s true. [My husband and I] both found ourselves in the world of 3D printing around 2014, when MakerBot had just been acquired and Shapeways was giving independent makers the tools to launch their own 3D-printed product shops. That led me to start a company in the health tech space, where we built software for podiatrists to design and manufacture 3D-printed orthotics.
We knew we wanted to do something more creative — something that brought us back to working with artists and designers and just being around beautiful things. When we looked at the engagement ring space, both as a couple and as entrepreneurs, there was nowhere we would’ve wanted to shop. On one side, you had the dated dot-com brands; on the other, the legacy luxury houses. Neither of which resonated with a younger, modern consumer.
That’s when we got excited about building a brand that combined the transparency of online shopping with the luxury and personalization of a boutique experience. Plus we saw lab-grown diamonds as a major disruptor and the idea that you could 3D print a literal diamond was very in line with our experience in bringing custom products to market.
WWD: Why is it important to have complete control over how Frank Darling’s jewelry is made at every step and how do you ensure this?
K.F.: We launched our first workshop in TriBeCa [in Manhattan] in 2024, and in 2025 we’re expanding into [an over] 5,000-square-foot space [to in-source] a significant percentage of our production.
Jeff and I both come from maker backgrounds, and we believe that hands-on experience with how things are made leads to better design and better products. In jewelry. That means creating rings that are lower profile, more durable, and push the limits of what’s possible in terms of materials, design and craft.
WWD: What is the best career advice that you would give someone starting their career today?
K.F.: I know we’re in the work/life balance era — something I’m only now starting to figure out post-baby — but the truth is, building a company takes a lot of brute force. It’s sheer willpower, doing things that don’t scale and figuring it out as you go.
When we started Frank Darling, I wrote over 100 blog articles myself just to kickstart our SEO. I took all the product photos. We met clients in our apartment and rented Breather spaces by the hour so we could be wherever was most convenient for them.
WWD: What is a retail/tech trend that you’re excited to see coming to life right now?
K.F.: To me, the future of retail lives at the intersection of online and offline — the full omnichannel experience. I don’t buy anything without researching it online first. But when it comes to a major purchase, I want to see it, touch it, try it on.
WWD: What inspires you?
K.F.: Our customers. Jewelry is such an incredible format for storytelling and memorializing life moments and there’s nothing better than seeing how our customers use our designs as jumping-off points to celebrate their own stories, styles and moments through a bespoke piece. No two pieces are ever alike, and the breadth and diversity of the types of rings we make is pretty incredible.