The Brooklyn Twins Behind The New York Liberty’s Championship Rings

Last October, the New York Liberty made history. After narrowly defeating the Minnesota Lynx 3-2 in the Finals, they won the 2024 WNBA Championship, making it the team’s first win since its inception in 1997. It was also New York City’s first professional basketball victory since the Knicks won back in 1973. 

Over the past few years, the league has undeniably reached a new peak. For one, viewership has soared. The Liberty’s record-breaking win was the most-watched WNBA Finals game since the 90s. Additionally, merch sales have hit record numbers, new franchises like the Golden State Valkyries and the Toronto Tempos (both founded just last year) are getting launched, and players are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, which will ensure salary increases across the league. And even the mascots are shining. The Liberty’s very own Ellie the Elephant, always decked out in her signature blue braid and seafoam crown, has become a full-blown celebrity in her own right.

With the new season set for tip-off this Saturday at Barclays Center, the Liberty is ready to run it back and earn another ticker-tape parade up the streets of New York City. But first, to memorialize last season’s achievement, the squad will be ceremoniously honored with their championship ring ahead of their opening game against the Las Vegas Aces. 

Like the effort to secure the chip, the design of the rings was a collective effort between Jason of Beverly Hills and Brooklyn-based twins Dynasty and Soull Ogun of L’Enchanteur—the duo behind last season’s one-of-a-kind team spirit hats. Every detail of 2024’s championship ring represents an important piece of Liberty lore. The team’s logo, the Statue of Liberty torch, is front and center, their infamous chant—”We all we got! We all we need”—is engraved on the inside of the ring, and over six carats of white diamonds represent six years under the ownership of Clara and Joe Wu Tsai. 

A few days before the opening game and ring ceremony, BKMAG caught up with the Ogun sisters to discuss the process of designing the rings, their personal connection to the New York Liberty, and the long overdue rise of the WNBA.

How were you approached to design the championship ring?

Soull Ogun: Clara [Wu Tsai, co-owner of the New York Liberty] reached out. She was initially introduced to us through Swizz Beatz. He was like, “You need to check out these ladies. They design really beautiful things. They’re from Brooklyn.” And when I got on the phone with her, she started talking about who she was and that they were in the very beginning stages of designing the championship rings for the New York Liberty. That’s how the conversation started. Dynasty and I have always wanted to design a championship ring, specifically for a New York team. That’s always been a vision. So, for this to be our first championship ring and the New York Liberty’s first championship ring, it felt like a perfect combination.

Being that you’re both from Brooklyn, this must’ve felt like a full-circle moment.

Dynasty Ogun: I played ball from junior high school up until college. I wanted to go pro, but at the time, it didn’t necessarily fit. As you know, women’s basketball has come a long way, especially in terms of being paid what you’re worth. At that time, you were expected to be paid pennies, and I didn’t know if I was willing to do that. But I was aspiring to play for the Liberty. So for them to have now won their first championship, with us being in the position that we’re in to design these rings, I think it was something that the universe had to bring together as a moment. We really joined forces. It was an amazing collaboration in so many different ways.

Talk to me about the inspiration behind the design of the ring. How did you conceptualize it?

Soull: I was thinking about many things. The beauty of making a championship ring is that there’s a lot of storytelling happening in one piece. For one, I was thinking about the giant flame of the Liberty’s logo. We wanted to make the flame a little bit bigger and have it spill over the ring on the other side. The other concept was to have something hidden inside the ring. We hid some earrings in there, so that the players would get this little special razzle-dazzle in the ring that they can also wear more continuously. Not everyone is going to wear their ring every day, but they might wear these earrings every day and have a piece of that championship with them all the time.

The other thing that was almost immediate in the design was the concept of growing through the concrete. You hear about the rose growing through the concrete, but we chose a leaf. Dynasty used to do this series where she would take pictures of these little pieces of grass growing through concrete around the city, and I always found it fascinating. Concrete is such a heavy, dense material, and then you have this delicate leaf of life growing through it. That’s our story, being from “The Concrete Jungle,” and I feel like that’s the story of the New York Liberty in terms of perseverance. No matter what, they will prevail. Incorporating that leaf breaking through the concrete was a special highlight because it spoke to both the Liberty story, our story, and the story of many New Yorkers who made it through.

What about the stones? There are black diamonds and other colors included.

Soull: The colors of the stones were also important. The Liberty color is a seafoam green, and one of the stones that I had suggested was something called Paraíba, which is a really unique tourmaline. It’s really sassy. It’s beautiful, and sometimes more valuable than a diamond. I wanted to introduce rare stones into the design of the ring. Numerology was also incorporated into the design process. The number of diamonds represents the number of wins that season.

How did you bring your own personalities and aesthetics to the design?

Soull: It was about taking the familiar and making it new, making it heightened. So, we took that logo and made it spill over the ring. With a lot of rings, they don’t necessarily change the logo so much. Taking something that’s identifiable, but then adding a twist, was important. Also, texture. There’s a lot of texture in the ring on the surface of it, and we’re known for texture on our pieces, whether it’s our clothing or our jewelry. On the ring, you can really feel it when you touch it. When we were working on the design, Clara was like, “I really want your guys’ hand on it, so that when you see it, you know that there’s something different about this championship ring.”

Also, creating the crack inside of the ring and using it as a design aspect isn’t something that’s really done.

You collaborated with Jason of Beverly Hills on crafting the ring. What was that process like?

Soull: [Jason] does such amazing quality production on championship rings. He’s known for that, and he was very easy to work with. He’s also a fellow Leo, so it was like “Boom, boom, boom.” He also added something that he’s known for, which is the court inside the ring. We blended our worlds together. And Clara’s a Leo, too. It was fab all around. Everyone played their roles to the T. 

Are you both the first women to design a championship ring?

Soull: I think we might be. There are a lot of firsts happening here.

Dynasty: Like they say, “Get a woman to do it.” I mean, the only New York championship of last year was a women’s basketball team. New York hadn’t had a championship in years. Los Angeles has been having a lot of shine, so it was great for New York. 

Does Ellie get a ring as well?

Soull: Oh, yes. We’re gonna do a fit for Ellie, too. She’s the most loved mascot, I think, in all of sports.

Dynasty: She’s fab.

Soull: That’s the reason why. She be wearing Telfar bags. She’s so Brooklyn.

Dynasty, being that you’re a former ball player, how does it make you feel to see women’s basketball reach these heights?

It’s a long time coming. I feel so happy and honored to witness the growth, the sponsorships, and the love from the fans. I go to games now, and they’re packed. I remember when you couldn’t even fill the stadium. I just see so much progress. I feel like it’s gonna be a shorter period of time before we see even more progress. It’s taken 20 years for women’s basketball to grow. Now, girls in high school who aspire to continue playing feel like they will monetarily benefit from it. I think that’s very important. The love of the sport is amazing, but you want that million-dollar contract as well. You don’t want $10,000 while your male counterparts are making multiple millions. But the energy of it all has been a beautiful thing to witness. It’s really amazing. I’ve always been a fan, so I’m glad people are finally hopping on. I’m not mad about that at all.

What are you most looking forward to in this upcoming season?

Dynasty: I’m hoping for a repeat. I want them to have the dynasty effect, like the Chicago Bulls of the ’90s and the Lakers of the 2000s. I want the 2020s to be about New York. And when they win the championship again, I want us to update the ring.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The post The Brooklyn Twins Behind The New York Liberty’s Championship Rings appeared first on BKMAG.