The Excitement of Commissioning a Ring

I have always understood that commissioning a piece of jewellery is an exciting process. Having worked my way through the company to become the Senior Designer Manager here in our Cambridge studio I have worked with lots of customers. I’ve shared their excitement as we’ve designed engagement rings, wedding rings, eternity ring , pendants and everything in between, enthusing in the designs that we come up with together. Admiring how each piece is so perfectly matched to the individual who will be wearing it. Until a few weeks ago I believed that I understood how exciting it is to get a piece designed.

I didn’t.

Just over a month ago my boyfriend proposed to me with my grandma’s engagement ring. A few years ago I had had a dream that that is what he would do but when it actually happened I couldn’t believe my luck. Dreams don’t normally come true in real life, do they? He had already booked an appointment with the Senior Designer in our Hertfordshire studio, Becky Howarth, for the next day. So that evening (after a fabulous dinner) we went home and spent a few hours browsing through images of rings on our website so he could get an idea of the kind of things I might like. Really, I think he has known for a while, but it’s always nice to confirm these things! I have always said that I wouldn’t want anything to do with the actual design of the ring as I want this to come entirely from him, so the lovely Becky is now helping him realise this.

I have effectively given them a brief along the lines of “use the main stone in grandma’s ring and perhaps the little shoulder stones too if this will look nice… Please can I have a natural chocolate / cognac coloured diamond to match your skin, and can the design have a bit of movement in it? Oh, and if it’s not too mad, perhaps it could be in a combination of white gold and yellow or rose depending on what works best with the chocolate diamond? I don’t want it to be too fussy or too chunky, just pretty and different…” Luckily, we HK bespoke designers are well used to working within just such parameters and I know that Becky will have taken all this on board to help guide my lovely fiancé.

So now the ring is being made. And I’m so excited I don’t know what to do with myself. I want to just check on our system to see how things are going but at the same time I can’t bear to look in case I do see how it’s doing and then it’s not a surprise any more! We often have customers who call us a week after we have started work to see how things are going, when the metal has only just arrived and we haven’t even had the opportunity to get the ring into the workshop to start work, and we love the fact that they’re so excited… now I’m that person! I have contained myself so far. And I definitely won’t look to see how things are going as I really don’t want to spoil the surprise. But now I’m the other side of the table my understanding of my customer’s excitement has reached a whole new level.

Guys – if you’re worried that involving your girlfriend in the design process might be a bit of a cop-out, don’t be! It really isn’t. The way we’re doing it means I know that whatever I end up with will be stunning, but I get to be involved in this fantastic process too. And is just brilliant to know a surprise is on its way.