White opal
This was the design that started it. The yellow gold worked naturally with the flashes of yellow and green running through the opal.
Discover Colour at Paton’s
We’ve always had a thing for colour.
Sometimes we start with a stone. Sometimes we start with a design we’ve made before and wonder what would happen if we changed it.
A different colour, metal, proportion or setting can take the same idea somewhere completely different.
There isn’t one right way to design a piece. That’s the fun of it.
One idea, three ways
A good design can go in a lot of directions.
Peach morganite
We came back to the design with a peach morganite. Rose gold brought out more of the soft pink already in the stone.
Client’s blue opal
Our client wears white gold, and the cooler metal also worked beautifully with the blue in her opal.
Same idea. Three completely different looks.
Start with the stone
Sometimes the stone makes the decisions.
01
Diaspore
This stone already had enough going on.
Its colour changes in different light, so we left the diamonds out and set it east-west instead. The stone does most of the work.
02
Peach tourmaline
Work with the colour that’s already there.
Rose gold brings out more of the peach-pink in the tourmaline. We kept the diamonds to the shoulders so the colour stays the focus.
03
Cabochon tanzanite
Sometimes the stone decides what the piece becomes.
This tanzanite felt too large for a ring, so we made it into a pendant. The setting stays simple, with just a few diamonds in the bail.
How much is enough?
Sometimes the answer is more.
Sometimes it’s less.
01
More
Sometimes the centre stone can take it.
This sapphire has enough depth of colour to hold its own against a dramatic surround, so we went further with diamonds in different shapes fanning out around the centre.
02
Less
And sometimes adding more would make it worse.
This heliodor already has the size, colour and long, clean cut, so we kept the setting simple and used yellow gold to keep the whole piece warm and golden.
Design ideas
Some ideas are worth coming back to.
01
Split bands
The width changes more than you’d think.
A split band divides into two as it reaches the centre stone. Make the split wider and it becomes a bigger part of the design. Keep it narrow and the effect is much quieter.
Add diamonds, leave it plain, change the proportions — same idea, very different rings.
02
The band
There’s so much you can do with the band.
It can split, twist, taper or curve as it reaches the stone. Add diamonds, change the shape or keep it completely plain.
Sometimes the band stays quiet. Sometimes it becomes one of the main things you notice.
03
Halos
There are so many ways to approach a halo.
A halo is simply a surround of smaller stones, and they don’t have to be diamonds. With the aquamarine, we kept the colour going and surrounded the centre with more aquamarines. We later came back to the same idea with grey spinel.
Or you can go in a completely different direction — clean and geometric, close to the shape of the centre, or much more ornate. Same idea, completely different look.
04
Milgrain bezels
A tiny edge can change the whole ring.
Milgrain is the tiny beaded texture along the edge of a setting. We started playing with it on the three-stone spinel ring, then carried the idea into studs, five-stone rings and other designs.
The ruby is much more understated, but that little milgrain edge gives the bezel more definition without needing to add anything else.
It’s the kind of detail you might not notice first, but you’d notice if it wasn’t there.
The other direction
And sometimes we leave the edge completely smooth.
The peridot, prasiolite and black spinel all use a clean, polished bezel instead. Same part of the setting, but a much sleeker finish.
Your turn
Make it yours.
Every design you see in store or online can be custom made, adapted or used as inspiration. Change the stone, change the metal, keep one detail or rethink the whole thing.