Bespoke Designer Engagement Rings and Unique Wedding Rings

Choosing your bespoke unique engagement ring

Engagement rings don't have to be all about diamonds. Within reason you can have any stone you choose (although we'll advise you if a stone is not hard enough to sustain day to day wear or is otherwise unsuitable in any way).

Things to consider when choosing your bespoke engagement ring include:

DESIGN:   An engagement ring will need to fit with your lifestyle and personality, as well as fitting your budget. Like clothes , jewellery is a statement of your personal style. Would you like your ring to be:

• Traditional - perhaps a symmetrical cluster head or prong/claw set solitare
• Contemporary modern symmetrical - a tension style set stone or perhaps a bezel set solitare
• Contemporary asymetrical : A pattern or stones scattered across your finger in a random style, or a single stone offset in an asymetrical band

METAL:   Another important consideration for your choice of wedding or engagement rings is metal. Your choice of metal will be down to colour preferance, durability and budget.  See our metal guide for the main types of metal used in jewellery, along with come basic facts about them.

GEMSTONES:   Here at Atelier, we have a great deal of knowledge about stones.  We can often show you stones that most jewellers don't even know about, let alone source.  We have a wide range of trusted and experienced stone dealers whom we use to get you the best prices, and the best quality stones available whatever your budget.  If you want a ruby, we'll find you at least four or five to choose from in varying shades within the price range you choose.  You want diamonds? Choose from white or "fancy" diamonds in yellow, pink, brown, black and orange.   Don't like modern cuts ? - no worries - we have cutters who can produce traditional or more subtle rose cuts  - or be daring and choose an engagement ring set with an uncut diamond in its natural state.  We can show you a world of star sapphires and rubies, rough diamonds and other unusual and hard to source gemstones.  See our gemstone guides by following these links - diamond guide , other gemstones , understanding gemstones , gemstone lore

HOW MUCH SHOULD I SPEND ON A UNIQUE ENGAGEMENT RING:  Now there is a question we get asked a lot. Various aspects of tradition dictate that you should spend at least one months salary, some say two or three months. We say, spend what is right and comfortable for you. Getting engaged is a time to celebrate, not be worrying about how much you've run up on your credit card. We've made engagement rings for as little as £250, and we've also had customers who have spent into the high thousands - which ever it is, remember, its the sentiment behind the ring that matters. Some couples even opt for steel or simple silver engagement rings more in keeping with a credit crunch engagement! So whatever your budget, talk to us, we can help you find the perfect solution.

With us, the world is your oyster - all we ask if you guide us along the way so we can produce the unique bespoke engagement ring of your dreams.

Designing your unique bespoke engagement ring

Many of our clients come to us when all else has failed - they've tried traditional jewellers, and even looked at jewellers who specialise in unique and unusual wedding and engagement ring design and drawn a blank.   Why?  Most jewellers still rely on hand drawn images to show you how your finished commission will look leaving a bridge between their drawing and your imagination.

Whilst we too can draw designs by hand, our state of the art CAD/CAM (computer aided design /manufacture) technology leaves nothing to your imagination - using our design knowledge and expertise we can create, with ease, jewellery that many master goldsmiths would find challenging or impossible - and most importantly, before we've even sat down at the jewellers bench to start work you'll have seen beautiful photographic quality images of your piece which will only be bettered by the real thing.

You might think this sounds expensive, but actually it saves our time and resources and in turn saves your money.  Additionally, you might be told by some jewellers that CAD/CAM is not used by real jewellers - anyone who tells you that "CAD is great for companies that only use pre-cast parts" is simply trying to hide behind a veneer of misunderstanding and fear. CAD/CAM systems are used by many of the worlds major high quality jewellers. The learning curve to using this technology is very steep and these extremely complex systems do not use pre-cast parts - all of our designs are drawn, if you like, not using pencils but using a mouse, entirely from scratch.

Design Your Own Unique Engagement Ring

Whilst we are more than happy to design a ring for you, we also encourage you to come to us with a ready designed concept of what you want. We've seen drawn sketches, and plasticine models, and anything you can put together works to give us a clearer concept of what you want. Whatever happens you'll be advised and involved with the design and manufacture of your ring all the way along. Clients sometimes ask if they can come in and watch their ring being made - we'd normally gently suggest you don't do this as making your ring may take many hours, but we will ask you to come and sit at the gallery whilst we put the finishing touches to your design. This may take some time, depending on the complexity of your design, so we will always keep you refreshed with a selection of organic teas, coffee, hot chocolate or any thing else that takes your fancy!

Bespoke engagement ring case study The Brief A couple came to see us for a unique engagement ring which they wanted to act as both engagement and wedding ring, combined Following initial direction from the couple which, in this case, involved them showing us pictures of rings they liked from magazines and from the internet, we discussed the possibilities of how the ring might look.  As there was to be no traditional style wedding ring, we suggested three separate bands combined in the same shank symbolic of an engagement ring, a wedding ring and an eternity ring.  They liked this idea, but wanted to include lots of diamonds in the design, and two colours of metal. Their budget was £7000

The Design

With their ideas firmly at the forefront, we used the computer to produce a 3D model of a three band ring with diamonds in a modern settng (see fig.1 below).  Then we prepared a series of renders (computer generated pictures - see fig.2 below) to show them what the finished ring would look like.

    

The clients loved the design and made an appointment to come and see us to finalise it.  They had decided to use just platinum instead of the mixed metal, but asked if we could suggest anything to add more colour to the ring.  We suggested coloured diamonds and re-rendered the ring with assorted coloured diamonds in different positions.  They settled on cognac diamonds as the best choice in the positions as you can see in fig. 3.  This left the symmetry of the ring unbalanced, so we added some smaller diamonds to the ring and it wasn't long before everyone agreed that the design was perfect - the final render can be seen in fig.4

The Gemstones

Now it was time to find the actual diamonds that we were going to use in the ring. We needed 12 diamonds for this design, nine white and three cognac, each one a different size. 

We sourced three sets of white diamonds which were matched to the exact sizes in the ring design.  A group of DEF VVS (best colour and very, very slightly included) diamonds were selected by the clients with our help to complete the ring to the best possible quality within the budget.

We also sourced about 30 examples of natural cognac diamonds directly from one of our sources in Antwerp.  We advised the choice should be made on colour intensity, and three diamonds, a 0.41ct for the centre stone, a 0.23ct for the top right in the picture and a 0.13ct  for the bottom left, were selected.

The Manufacture

So now we had all the components we could proceed with making the ring. We finalised our CAD design using the exact diamond sizes and made the ring casting in platinum. The ring was cleaned, set with the diamonds and finished at our workshop. As soon as they could, the lucky couple came over to see us to collect the ring, which was absolutley stunning and, even better, came in under budget

Engagement Ring Gallery - here are a few of our bespoke engagement rings

	Solitaire Designer Engagement Rings An unusual swirled eight claw solitaire designer engagement ring set with a 1.4ct solitaire champagne diamond.  This unique commission was made in 18ct gold for the customers own diamond,
	Tension set 0.7ct VVS white diamond solitaire in a double shank platinum unique engagement ring designed to the customers specifications.
	This contemporary solitaire engagement ring was designed around the customers own 0.2ct pink diamond bought from the Argyl diamond mine in Australia. The ring was made in 9ct white gold
	A contemprary engagment ring in platinum with a 0.5ct D/VVS diamond made as a special commission
	A 1.5ct diamond set in a wrap around modern solitaire engagement ring setting.  The setting was designed around the customers own diamond in 18ct white gold
	An unusual engagement ring with a solitare diamond set in an open wrap around setting.  This design used a 0.33ct diamond in 18ct white gold.
	We make bespoke solitaire engagement rings to unique specification in any metal and any design, claw, bezel or any other bespoke setting.  We will supply the gemstone that you want or we will set your own gemstone. Atelier supplies ethically sourced metal and guaranteed conflict free gemstones - see our metal and gemstone guides for more information.  As we make everything in house, we can beat any high street price and usually supply better quality materials and gemstones at the lower price.
	Contemporary Engagement Rings Commissioned three band contemporary engagement ring; 18ct white gold outer bands fused with 18ct rose gold centre band with a 0.07ct cognac diamond bezel set in rose gold as the centre stone and two flanking bezel set 0.03ct white diamonds.
	This white gold modern moonstone and amethyst wrap around engagement ring was made for a couple as a gift from him to her on her 30th birthday (moonstone is her birthstone).  When they collected the ring - she was so pleased with it, he decided to ask her to marry him.  So the birthday ring became an engagement ring - unique and for her only - we will never repeat this design exactly
	This 18ct white gold contemporary engagement ring was made as a special commission.  A series of organic "branches" were created and then diamonds and sapphires were set within the branches.
	These unusual designer contemporary engagement rings were made by us in a limited edition of five - 2 in 18ct yellow gold, 2 in 18ct white gold and 1 in platinum.  Three colours of diamonds, white, canary and champagne were used totalling 0.93ct all set in soft cup shaped bezels. Prices from £3750 in gold and £4500 in platinum
	A platinum contemporary engagement ring with 3 small diamonds made as a special commission
	Unusual Engagement Rings and Unique Engagement Rings An unusual engagement ring with a 5ct rough balas (ball) diamond set in 18ct rose gold flanked by two brilliant cut diamonds set in rose gold.  The main ring shank in 18ct white gold, a solid 17g worth without the stones.
	Engagement rings don't have to be all about diamonds.  This beautiful art deco vintage style engagement ring has a large 6 carat flawless natural blue aquamarine set in 18ct white gold with 4 flanking baguette white diamonds
	An unusual engagement ring commissioned by a US client whose fiance was an ornathologist.  He asked for a ring with a feather design in platinum with 4 small diamonds, this is our interpretation of his ideal ring, which she adored when she said yes
	We were asked to design and mount several diamonds from three old rings belonging to the client into a unique engagement ring and matching wedding ring to be worn as a pair.  She specifically wanted a design like a ring in the shop that had gold balls melted into silver.  These rings were hand forged in silver, with 18ct gold balls on them and the diamonds set in 18ct gold bezels.  She never did decide which was the engagement ring and which was the wedding ring !
	Bespoke Designer Engagement Rings A 1.7ct fancy cut, SI cognac diamond with excellent brown orange colour set in 18ct rose gold and brushed platinum ring.  Each rising "claw" of the platinum ring  is set with a VS white diamond, two 0.15ct and four 0.04ct.
	This unique engagement ring and wedding rings set was made to the customers own specification in 18ct yellow gold (outer bands) and white gold (centre band and bezel) with a 0.65ct VS white diamond which we supplied.  Just before the wedding, the customer came back and commissioned the two separate 18ct white gold wedding rings which fit either side of the engagement ring to make it a 5 band engagement-wedding ring set.
	This two tone designer engagement ring was made for a customer in 18ct white and yellow gold with a bezel set 0.4ct VVS white diamond as the centre stone and seven 0.03ct VVS white diamonds bezel set to join the split two tone bands