A pair of hand carved cocktail rings

One of our most recent commissions was for a pair of spectacular carved cocktail rings. The first of these is the ring above, set with an impressive oval cabochon cut mandarin garnet, which tips the scales at 27.8 carats. The mandarin garnet is set in 18 carat rose gold, which compliments the deep orange colour of the stone beautifully.

The second ring, below, is the first of our carved rings to be set with a rectangular stone. The deep pink stone is a 2.7 carat emerald cut spinel, which is set in 18 carat white gold.



We began by sketching ideas to find the ideal design for our customer:

Both rings were hand carved from wax in our workshop. Carving allows us create sculptural, elegantly proportioned rings to exactly fit the large coloured gemstones that we work with, many of which are unusual, asymmetric cuts.

After carving the waxes were cast in 18 carat gold. Below are the finished waxes ready for casting, shown with the gemstones sitting in place.

This was a very enjoyable commission and we were delighted with the outcome of the rings. The mandarin garnet is the largest stone we've used in one of our carved rings to date, and the spinel was the first rectangular gemstone that we've set in this style. Commissions often pose creative challenges like this and give us an opportunity to explore new ideas - it's through commissions like this that our collections evolve.