We love working with natural diamonds and gems while creating our bespoke jewellery designs, often combining them to a striking effect. All gems we work with are handpicked for their beauty, quality and suitability to the design and how they will be worn.
We love working with sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, spinel, tourmaline, garnet, alexandrite, salt and pepper diamonds, aquamarine, morganite, citrine and natural zircon, among many others. Some are durable and perfect for every day wear, such as engagement rings and wedding rings - such as diamonds, sapphires, spinel and ruby (sapphire engagement rings and diamond engagement rings have been a firm favourite with many!), and others are best left for dress rings, earrings and necklaces as they are softer or more brittle and require more care - such as tourmaline, citrine, topaz, zircon and emerald.
Here we look at characteristics of some of the beautiful gems we love to work with.
The basic criteria determining a diamond’s value are the so called 4Cs: colour, clarity, cut and carat.
Diamond colour ranges from D to Z, with D being the most colourless and hence the most desirable grade. There is little difference detectable by the naked eye between the colours ranging from D to F which tend to look colourless face up. Metal colour of the piece a diamond is set into will also affect its appearance, with yellow and rose gold lending the diamond its hue, and white gold and platinum accentuating the crispness of a colourless diamond.
Some people like the ‘warmth’ of an I, J or K colour. Within a given budget, you should seek the best balance of clarity, cut and carat to find the perfect diamond for you.
Diamond clarity is the other important determinant of its value. The fewer flaws and inclusions, the more valuable the diamond will be, with clarity grade ranging from the extremely rare F (Flawless), to rare VVS (Very Very Slightly included), VS (Very Slightly included), SI1 (Slightly Included 1), SI2 (Slightly Included 2), SI3 (Slightly Included 3), and I (included), which will have inclusions visible to the naked eye. SI2 is a borderline clarity grade where inclusions may become visible to the naked eye. The character of inclusions plays a big role in determining the diamond’s value also – two diamonds of SI2 grade might look very different face up, depending on whether the inclusions are colourless (eg crystal needles, feathers, etc) or black. Two diamonds that are the same on paper may look very different in real life.
Cut has perhaps the biggest effect on a diamond’s beauty. The better quality the cut, the more brilliance and beauty the diamond will have. Diamond cut is highly technical, with given percentage ranges determining depth of crown, pavilion, their angle, facet length, etc. A diamond that is cut too shallow to maximise its face up spread will have poor light return. A diamond that is well proportioned and symmetrically cut, will have superior brightness (the measure of light reflected from a diamond), fire (the scattering of white light into all the colours of the rainbow) and scintillation (the amount of sparkle that a diamond has, and reflections inside the diamond resulting in a particular pattern of dark and light areas), resulting in a more beautiful diamond.
Diamond carat is the standard used to measure diamond weight. A carat equals 1/5 of a gram. As diamonds increase in size, their cost tends to increase exponentially. Weight does not always enhance the value of a diamond – particularly if it is cut badly. Indeed a good cut can enhance the perceived size of a diamond.
For more on diamonds, go to our blog White Diamonds: Beyond the 4Cs.
Lab grown diamonds are not to be confused with diamond substitutes, such as cubic zirconia or moissanite. Grown in a lab, man made diamonds are identical in looks to the natural, mined diamonds, and are governed by the same grading system of colour, cut, clarity and carat. Lab grown diamonds represent better value for money than mined diamonds, costing on average 30-40% less, and have been gaining in popularity as a centre stone of choice in engagement rings.
For more on lab grown diamonds, go to our blog, Lab Grown Diamond Engagement Rings.
Salt and pepper diamonds have become a popular choice in contemporary engagement rings. Each one is unique due to its distinctive markings – carbon particles that never crystallised into diamonds. Salt and pepper diamonds share the same characteristics as white diamonds (although they are not governed by the 4Cs grading system like their colourless counterpart) and make a beautiful and durable engagement ring centre stone.
For more on these beautiful gems, go to our blog, Salt and Pepper Diamonds.
Sapphire is a valuable, gem quality corundum that is hard wearing, measuring 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it an ideal alternative to white diamond in a piece of jewellery worn every day, such as an engagement ring.
Sapphire is a true rainbow gem which occurs in various shades of blue (vivid royal blue and cornflower blue being the most valuable), black, green, teal, white, pink, orange, yellow, purple and pinkish orange (Padparadscha). For more on sapphires, go to our blog, Sapphire.
Some crystals also display two or more colours in the same gem – most commonly blue and yellow. Some crystals are cut so the colours mix into shades of green and teal, while others are cut to display more distinct colour zoning. These stones are called bi-colour, or parti sapphires. Australia produces some of the best parti sapphires, with most material found in New South Wales and Queensland.
To learn more about sapphires in engagement rings, go to our Sapphire Engagement Ring Guide. For more on Australian parti sapphires in engagement rings go to our blog, Australian Parti Sapphires in Engagement Rings.
Spinel is a beautiful, valuable gem of excellent lustre and durability (7.5-8 on the Mohs hardness scale), making it a great choice for jewellery worn every day such as engagement rings. Spinel is often found in the same deposits as corundum (ruby and sapphire) but is more rare. Despite this, spinel is more affordable than sapphire or ruby. Spinel occurs in a wide array of colours, such as vivid blue, red, grey, pink, orange, teal, green, white, black and purple.
For more on spinel, read our blog, Spinel – a perfect gem for contemporary jewellery.
Emerald is part of “top three” coloured gemstone suite, along with ruby and sapphire. These highly coveted gems are prized for their beauty, exceptional colour and fascinating historical provenance.
Emerald, Be3Al2(SiO3)6, is the most precious green coloured gemstone and a member of the beryl gem family, whose members also include aquamarine, morganite, heliodor and goshenite. Trace amounts of chromium and vanadium give emerald its beautiful green colour.
For more on emerald, read our blog Precious Emeralds in Bespoke Jewellery.
Each sapphire is carefully hand-picked for its quality, beauty and rarity. We use only high-grade, conflict-free diamonds.
Exquisitely designed and expertly handcrafted rings and jewellery, to be cherished forever.
Ethically handcrafted in Sydney by our team of master craftspeople.
We ship worldwide and your parcel is insured in transit.
By appointment only.
Our appointment hours are
Tuesday to Friday 10.30am - 5.30pm Saturday By appointment Sunday & Monday closed
Level 5, Suite 6/74 Castlereagh St,
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia.
By appointment only.
We use Australian ring size measurements, which are in an alphabetical range from A-Z.
As your fingers contract and expand due to the temperature, humidity, exercise, etc, your ring will fit on your finger tighter or looser. Your ring should fit comfortably and you need to find a balance between too big and too small. It is recommended that you should have to push your ring on tightly over your knuckle and it should spin slightly around the base of your finger. There should be some resistance when the ring is taken off – this will help to keep the ring on when your fingers are cold or wet. The correct size is the one that you feel the most confident and comfortable with.
We suggest that you size the finger you intend to wear your ring on at room temperature – this should provide you with a size that should be close to perfect most of the time.
Top-heavy rings can tend to spin on your finger, as the base of your finger is usually thinner than your knuckle. We suggest when sizing your finger for a top-heavy ring, that you err on the tighter side, rather than a loose fit. This will mean that the ring will stay on the top of your finger and it will ultimately be more comfortable to wear.
If you’re choosing a wide ring, you will tend to go up a size. There is more surface area on a wider ring and therefore more metal to grip to your finger.
If you are interested in a ring that is 5mm or wider, we suggest going up a size (one size larger than the sizing gauge). We suggest going up another size if the ring you are interested in is 9mm or larger (two sizes larger than the sizing gauge).
If you are buying a ring as a gift for someone, we recommend that you measure the inside diameter of a ring the person you’re buying the gift for, regularly wears on the finger your gift will be worn on.
If you do not know your ring size you can use this guide to obtain an approximate measurement.
Before measuring the finger on which the ring you’re purchasing will be worn, please ensure the following:
The number that lines up with edges of the opening is the ‘interior circumference’. Please note this number and then refer to our Ring Size Chart to choose the correct ring size.
If you do not know your ring size you can use this guide to obtain an approximate measurement.
If you have a ring that is worn on the finger you need sizing, print out the ring size guide (take care to print it at 100%), and place the existing ring over the circles. Measure the inside of the ring against the outside of the circle. If you can hardly see the black line which goes around each circle, you have chosen the right size. Compare the ring to the adjacent circles to check that you definitely have the right size.
You can then double check this measurement by measuring the inside diameter of the ring, and matching that against the ring diameter measurements shown.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a ring available, you can measure the finger itself to obtain an approximate ring size. You can do so by wrapping a piece of string or thin strip of paper around the finger on which you wish to wear the ring, marking it with a pen where it overlaps. Measure the piece of string with a ruler to obtain the circumference of the finger, and compare that to the European Size measurement shown on the chart. We would recommend that in order to obtain the most accurate measurement when taking your ring size in this way, you do so at the end of the day when the finger is at its largest, and not when your hands are unusually cold as this would lead to a smaller ring size.
If you require any further assistance in obtaining your ring size, please contact us and we will be happy to help.