5 things to know about designing your own engagement ring

There are so many options when it comes to engagement rings but if you want something truly personal, why not work with a jewellery-maker to design your own? The possibilities are limitless when creating a ring from scratch, but it’s important to find a skilled designer to work with. This ring will be worn for life, so it needs to be expertly designed as well as looking beautiful. We caught up with expert London jewellery designer Simon Wright to get some helpful hints and tips (for both brides and grooms!).

“The world of luxury jewellery can seem pretentious and off-putting, but it doesn’t have to be. An appointment at our small studio in Clerkenwell starts with an honest chat. We’ll give you a tour of the workshop and hear what jewellery you have in mind, followed by a sit down design session to create initial sketches and select the finest stones that work within your budget. No hard sell, no judgement; just heartfelt design that reflects you and your personality.”

“It might be tempting to go on a Pinterest spree and decide that a really intricate and rare padparadscha sapphire design is THE ONE for you, but there’s no point designing something that’s going to cost £10,000 if you’re looking to spend £2,000. We ask customers to come with a rough idea of their budget to help determine the parameters within which we can work. A rough idea of shape and colour is good too.”

“Yes you need to stick to your budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative! We create lots of sketches with you in the room – bouncing ideas back and forth and testing out a multitude of options – there’s endless possibilities for something really unique. Explaining what you don’t like is actually very helpful too, so don’t be shy.”

“After you’ve decided on a rough design from the sketches, you can have a plastic model made of your ring. We create this using innovative computer software which is then printed out on a 3D printer. You can try it on, get a feel for it, and make any more changes you like.”

“Some people are happy to buy a diamond from the internet and assess the quality without a trained eye. I’m not comfortable with that as a way to do business, as you are putting the responsibility for the quality of the stone on the consumer and saying, ‘if you don’t like it I’ll give you your money back’. This is quite a bit different to me viewing stones offered to me by my trusted suppliers, accepting some to show my clients and rejecting others. I stand by the quality of my goods and I don’t ask my clients to decide on the quality.”