Rings to mark single status

Being single is an art, especially when you hit the "marrying" age.

This is your mid to late 20s, when nearly everyone you know has an engagement or wedding ring and your grandmother starts getting worried that you're going to end up a lonely old hag.

Being single during this period takes practice and cunning and attitude. According to a Swedish entrepreneur, it now takes jewelry, too.

The Single Ring, or Singelringen, was thought up by Johan Wahlback while on an airplane. He was reading an article about Lance Armstrong's "LiveStrong" bracelets. Having just sold his company, Wahlback was looking for something else to create.

"I thought to myself, what could I sell that's small and functional? Jewelry, a ring. I wanted to see if I could come up with something for both men and women," he said by phone from his Stockholm pad.

Being somewhat of a ladies' man, Wahlback flaunted his happy single lifestyle and thought maybe other people out there were proud of their unattached status, too. The ring was born.

Wahlback and partner (and fellow singleton) Asa Revland found a jeweler to design the ring. It's silver with a turquoise glass fiber and has a semicircle cut in the covering to show that something — or someone — is missing. It retails for about $50 and the best bet is to find it online at www.singleringen.com.

Sorry, before your brain melts, here's how it works:

You put the ring on, head to a bar or the movies or newsstand or something and other people can see the bright color and know you're someone open to talking, or a relationship, or whatever.

It's a revolution. Or so Wahlback said.

"It's a lifestyle product. To wear one is to say, 'Hey I'm cool with being single.' It's a power statement. An act of choice," he said.

The singelringen Web site also serves as a sort of mini-Internet dating venue, where people can send anonymous messages to one another to see if they're interested in a relationship. (Think passing a note in study hall, just with keyboards.)