LIZA & DAVE

Working with Liza and Dave on their engagement ring was like playing The Newlywed Game. Liza asked me to give her the spiel on engagement rings that I give my clients. We went over an introduction to diamonds and engagement ring styles and I took notes. Six months later, Dave asked me for the spiel, and I took notes. When I told him how similar his answers were to Liza’s, he laughed, excited that their compatibility included their taste in jewelry and he was all the more excited to work on the ring.

Both Dave and Liza were interested in using a colored sapphire for the center stone in their engagement ring instead of the more classic choice of diamond. Liza had told me “yellow and blue are ok”, Dave agreed. I pulled a number of blue and yellow sapphires to show Dave, with one purple sapphire as a wild card. Funnily enough, the wild card won out. Dave fell in love with how the stone looks more blue in some lights and a warmer orchid-y purple in others. What really sold Dave on this stone was when I told him it was newly mined in Sri Lanka and cut by women, as the environment and ethical sourcing are important to the couple. 

The elongated cushion cut purple sapphire is set in a simple four prong setting with a diamond studded 18 karat yellow gold band.

RACHEL & SCOTT

Scott came to me with his grandmother’s wedding set. She had a diamond solitaire engagement ring and a wedding band with five baguette diamonds set end to end. When I showed Scott images of engagement rings, a collaborative part of the process where I get to know my client’s taste, he always gravitated towards solitaire rings.

I knew then that I needed to create a design with Scott‘s taste in mind, keeping the feel of a solitaire by not overwhelming the center stone, while at the same time adding some playful details for Scott’s fiancée Rachel. Using the baguette cut diamonds from the wedding band, I laid out a pattern that felt elegant and interesting while still letting the center diamond shine.

Scott’s birthday is in January and his birthstone is a garnet. I wanted to put a little piece of Scott into his ring for Rachel, so we added a small green Tsavorite garnet on either side of the basket setting that holds the center stone. These garnets are visible to Rachel when she looks at her hand, but are not seen when you look straight down at the ring. Rachel’s ring is set into her favorite color gold, 18 karat rose gold, and is a gorgeous combination of old and new diamonds, and Tsavorite garnet.

ALI & ALEX

Ali needed help creating her dream engagement ring. She had found an image online of an emerald ring surrounded by an antique style diamond cluster halo, but when she went to look in stores for her ring she kept finding pieces that were close to what she wanted, but not perfect.

Using Ali’s inspiration image for direction, I brought a number of oval cut emeralds to the first meeting with Alex and Ali. The variety of stones were selected by how well they fit the couple’s color, size, and budget preferences. We talked through each stone, and Ali fell in love with a deep green Colombian emerald. She told Alex that was her stone, but that she would be hands-off in the process from there.

With the image of her dream ring and hand-picked perfect emerald, I found the perfect vintage inspired mounting and completed the ring. Alex enjoyed having Ali as part of the decision making process, but was excited that the final completed ring was kept a secret and the timing of the proposal was a surprise he could plan. After their engagement, Ali reached out to tell me how happy she was to have the ring she envisioned from the beginning instead of settling for the “almost perfect” rings she saw in store.

ELLEN & MARK

When Mark approached me to make an engagement ring for Ellen he had two things in mind: 
1. That he had a marquise cut diamond from his mother that he wanted to use in the ring. 
2. That Ellen had a ring from her Aunt that meant everything to her that she had lost during their relationship.

He knew that she had fallen in love with a ring before, and he wanted to make sure that the engagement ring we designed for Ellen would live up to the other pieces of jewelry she loved. Ellen manages the costume shop for the theater department at a large university, so I also wanted to keep in mind that she uses her hands a lot at work when creating a ring design that would fit into her life.

I sent Mark three initial designs using the marquise as a center stone, and we ended up modifying one of those original designs to create the final piece. Ellen’s engagement ring plays on the traditional 3 stone ring design by flanking the center marquise cut diamond, set very non-traditionally East-West, with two bezel set round diamonds. The center stone is almost entirely surrounded by a diamond halo, which adds extra sparkle to the 18 karat white gold design.

LYDIA & SCOTT

Lydia has always known that she wanted her engagement ring to be an emerald. She was born in May, so emeralds are her birthstone and Lydia is very taken with their beauty. Emerald engagement rings can be tricky because emeralds aren’t the hardest stone, so there is always a concern about their durability. Fortunately, when Lydia and Scott came to me to work on their engagement ring, they were well aware of the care emeralds need and were excited to see stones. They enjoyed seeing the color differences in emerald material from a light, bright emerald with a vivid color to a more traditionally deep toned bluish green emerald hue. Ultimately, they opted for a classic emerald cut, deep green, Colombian emerald.

Lydia’s personal style is classic with an eye for bohemian or vintage details and textures. Lydia brought a few small old mine cut family diamonds to the design process that she wanted to incorporate into her ring. With the emerald’s protection in mind, I designed a vintage inspired ring with the center emerald set onto a sturdy, solid under bezel with 4 claw prongs. The prongs are situated North, South, East, and West, on the stone which adds a contemporary feel. The emerald is flanked on either side by one of the round old mine cut family diamonds prong set into a square, which then tapers to a bezel set baguette cut diamond. The custom mounting is 18 karat satin finished yellow gold.

Lydia stayed involved in the design process up through approving the CAD design, and Scott was able to have the ring delivery and proposal details be a surprise.

MICHELLE & AXEL

When Michelle and Axel came to me, Michelle already knew that she wanted a pear shaped blue sapphire engagement ring. She was also pretty certain she wanted a vintage-inspired cluster halo setting - similar to Princess Diana’s classic blue sapphire engagement ring. It’s always a pleasure to work with clients who know exactly what they want. The process involves less narrowing down of options and more close attention to specific shades, shapes, sizes, and details.

Finding the perfect sapphire took some time, since we were on the hunt for medium to dark blue hue and a softer, wider pear shape, as opposed to a cut that felt too narrow and pointy. Once we found the perfect center stone, the rest of the process went quickly. I sourced a beautiful ring mounting designed as a contemporary take on the classic Diana setting. The halo of the ring is made up of three different sizes of round diamonds which both makes the style feel more modern and creates movement that draws the eye around the ring. The setting is 14 karat yellow gold and matches the pieces of yellow gold jewelry Michelle wears daily.