Anna wanted an engagement ring that reflected her love of large jewellery and all shades of red. I found this beautiful Almandine garnet and Anna fell in love with it's luscious colour and chunky size but it's traditional bottom heavy shape meant that it would sit very high off her finger when worn. The solution was to flip the stone over and re-cut the bottom of the stone into a dramatic 'rose cut', this allowed me to create a stone that could be set low to the finger despite it's size.

Purple Sapphire

Mark wanted to create a completely surprise enagement ring using a blue or purple stone, a practical, smooth shape was also essential for his musician fiance. This beautiful two-tone sapphire was both! Originally oval, the sapphire was re-cut to a cushion shape to complement the Aascher-cut diamonds it sits between. A silver model was created that allowed Mark to see how the final ring would look before it was cast in yellow gold. This approach allows me to make any tweaks at the model stage and seeing the model first takes some of the apprehension out of commissioning an expensive piece. It also means that the final cast ring is totally seamless and is the first and only one of it's kind.

Blue Moonstone

Marc's girlfriend had admired a huge black moonstone ring I had made and he wanted to create a blue moonstone version that could be worn as an engagement ring. By scaling down the original ring and using bright white platinum to complement the stone, a bold not-so-mini version was born.

Large engagement rings can often cause problems when selecting a wedding ring - I avoided this by creating the setting in a way that allowed a wedding band to slide neatly underneath.

Diamond Ring

Paul wanted to propose as a surprise but knew his girlfriend, Lena, would want to be involved in designing her engagement ring. The solution? I showed Paul a selection of diamonds to choose from and he proposed with this beautiful 1.03ct emerald-cut and the promise of a handmade ring that she could help design.

After a design consultation a wax model was made for Lena to try on and see how the end result would look. Modifications were made to the model to give it a more angular look before it was cast in Platinum. This approach allowed me to create a complex angular shape in one piece with no wastage, a cost-effective and elegant solution.