Sophie Thoerner and Vice Versa: The Jewelry Brand She Co-Founded

Sophie Thoerner and Vice Versa: The Jewelry Brand She Co-Founded

Sophie Thoerner co-founded Vice Versa with Hannah Traulsen, a Barnard alum with a background in sourcing and production. Thoerner is a Savannah College of Art and Design jewelry graduate, and I go through the 14K yellow gold pieces.

Collage of rings, earrings and layered necklaces worn up close, in the spirit of Vice Versa

Jewelry

Thoerner designs, Traulsen sources and produces, and that division of labor is what let Vice Versa launch with pieces engineered as carefully as they are styled. The jewelry here keeps returning to the brand's core trick, components that separate and recombine, so a single piece can read three or four different ways depending on how it is worn.

Yellow gold for daily wear

The label favors 14 karat over 18 karat gold, partly for the color and partly for durability, a practical choice from two people who came up doing the unglamorous production side of the industry before designing for themselves. This part of the edit leans into that same practicality, pieces meant to be worn daily rather than saved for one night.

The ring that makes modular work

Modular jewelry is a gimmick in a lot of hands, but Vice Versa earns it because the engineering behind the Versa ring was the actual founding idea, not a marketing afterthought bolted onto a normal ring. The collection is more convincing when it leans into that puzzle-piece logic than when it drifts toward more conventional gold jewelry. For a closer look at Vice Versa's inventive ring designs, I would browse rings, necklaces and charms.