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Tinsel’s Hidden Headphone Necklace: The Dipper

Even with all the options traditional jewelry offers as inspiration for wearables, tech companies are still stuck primarily integrating technology into wristwear/watches. It’s the easy, pragmatic solution. Yet, “fashionable” tech products are too often given the briefest of surface treatments, their design not always deserving of pairing with the best of outfits.

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Tinsel founder and CEO Aniyia Williams – a soon-to-be mother and classically trained opera singer – was also underwhelmed by current wearables, accessories that didn’t seem designed by or for women. So she designed her own: The Dipper Audio Necklace.

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The Dipper Audio Necklace is a fashionably chunky piece made almost entirely of metal – stainless steel and aluminum inside, and plated with 24K gold or gunmetal and silver for the exterior. The size isn’t just for dramatic flair: inside the tri-chevron exterior hides a pair of earbud headphones, with an adjustable length design for listening to music or taking a call. Open it up and a metal-plated headphone with built-in microphone, 3-button remote controls, and a no-sync/pairing/charging design makes for plug-and-play use.

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The Dipper is technology in discrete mode, a statement piece that says, “I love technology, but I don’t need my headphones to dominate my whole head and outfit” like something from Beats or other headphone manufacturers. If you like what you see, you can check out more about The Dipper Audio Necklace at their website, where early birds can help fund this concept to become reality.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.