We love getting unusual jewellery commissions. It's a real thrill to give someone something a little different that expresses their personality.
Here are some of our favourite unusual commissions from 2015. Who knows? Maybe they'll give you some inspiration for your own unique design.
We are family – Laser engraved Titanium fingerprint rings
This was a lovely story. A family of four came to the shop and explained they spent a lot of time apart, mainly due to their talented children working overseas in the arts. They wanted to commission a set of rings to help them feel together even when they were apart.
What could more personal than a fingerprint?!
We designed a set of four titanium rings, each with four sections of fingerprints laser engraved – one for each family member. Each ring was made unique by anodising the wearer's fingerprint, making it slightly larger and more brightly coloured.
The finished rings – and the sentiment behind them – were beautiful.
A nice green pair – Emerald cut diamond engagement ring with pear cut emerald shoulders
Sometimes it only takes a simple change to make a ring unusual.
A lady came in and explained how she was going to pop the question. She knew her girlfriend liked green but still wanted a classic white diamond as the main stone. After looking through different types of diamond cut and shades of emerald, she chose an emerald cut diamond set horizontally. This is already slightly unusual because most rectangular cuts of diamond are set vertically.
What made the ring really special was incorporating a pear-cut emerald either side of the diamond. Although the choice and cuts of the gemstones were classic, the colours, orientation and placement of the cuts made this ring really stand out.
Game on! The Legend of Zelda engagement ring
A customer contacted us asking if we could make something really unusual. He explained that he and his girlfriend are huge gaming fans, and The Legend of Zelda was particularly special to them.
Within the game is a spiritual gemstone called Kokiri's emerald. Taking this as inspiration, we used an emerald as the centre stone. The ring had a wavy, shaped shank made from 18ct white gold and tiny laser engraved symbols all around the band with 18ct yellow gold detailing.
The final touch was a phrase from the game – with romantic connotations – engraved on the inside: “It's dangerous to go alone.” For that real geeky touch, we used a font that looks like the graphics from an old 8-bit Nintendo.
50 shades of blue: the sapphire & diamond engagement ring with fitted wedding band
A customer came to us on recommendation from her sister, who had already commissioned a bespoke piece of jewellery. The lady loved that sapphires come in so many shades of blue – this made them the perfect stone for an engagement and wedding ring set for her sea-loving partner.
She wanted the engagement ring to be classic, so three diamonds were used as the centrepiece. Five gemstones were added to the wall of the ring to start the aquatic theme: four sapphires graduating from dark blue to light, finishing with a single diamond.
To strengthen the theme, the wedding band was shaped to fit the engagement ring, and was then set with two blocks of bold blue (graduating again from dark to light), finished with a block of diamonds. All the stones were pave set.
'Til death do us part: laser engraved titanium skull ring
The phrase 'Til death do us part' is used in thousands of wedding ceremonies each year. It usually sounds romantic, dare one say, a little soppy. But what if you put a spin on it by illustrating it with a symbol of death… a skull perhaps?!
We made a wedding ring for a man in love with fantasy, dragons and skulls (luckily, so is his fiancé!) Using laser engraving, the skulls and gothic font were engraved onto a brightly polished titanium wedding band. The skulls and text are far smaller than you might expect, making the design quite subtle – it could be mistaken for a simple pattern from a distance. But on closer inspection, the detailing is amazing!
