Peach morganite
Soft pink stone, warm metal, plenty of detail. This was the design that started it.
Colour at Paton’s
Jewellery is supposed to be fun to design.
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.
One choice tends to lead to another. Rose gold because it brings out more pink in the stone. A wider split band because the proportions need it. No diamonds at all because the centre stone is already doing enough.
There isn’t one right way to design a piece. That’s the fun of it.
We’ve pulled together some of the stones, designs and ideas we’ve come back to over the years — current pieces, past Paton’s designs and custom work — to show just how many directions one idea can go.
One idea, three ways
A good design can go in a lot of directions.
We first made this design around a peach morganite. It had such a soft pink colour that rose gold felt like the obvious choice. It brought out more of what was already there in the stone.
We wanted the ring itself to have a bit more going on, so we made the surround quite ornate, with different diamond shapes and fine detailing. The morganite is gentle in colour, but the setting gives the whole piece more presence.
White opal
When we found this opal, we came back to the same design. There’s quite a lot of yellow and green through the stone, so yellow gold worked naturally with those colours.
The design stayed the same, but the whole ring feels warmer and brighter.
Client’s blue opal
This version was made using our client’s own opal. She wears white gold, which was part of the decision, but it suited the stone too.
The opal is much cooler in tone, and the white gold lets that blue stay crisp rather than adding warmth around it.
Same idea. Three completely different rings.
Changing the stone isn’t just a colour swap. The metal, the details around it and the stone itself all change how the finished piece feels.
Start with the stone
Sometimes the stone makes the decisions.
We don’t decide what a ring should look like and then make the stone fit the idea. Quite often, it happens the other way around.
The colour, size and way a stone behaves can change everything from the metal we use to whether we add diamonds at all.
01
Diaspore
This stone already had enough going on.
We were drawn to this diaspore because we didn’t have anything like it. Its colour changes in different light and can look different again depending on the colours around it.
Adding diamonds would have given your eye somewhere else to go, so we left them out. Instead, we set the stone east-west and added detail around the bezel.
The stone still does most of the work. The setting just gives it a little more character.
Jewellery note
What does east-west mean?
Instead of running up and down the finger, the stone is turned horizontally. Same stone, very different proportion.
02
Peach tourmaline
Work with the colour that’s already there.
This tourmaline has a soft peach-pink colour, so rose gold was an easy choice. It picks up that warmth rather than putting a completely different colour around the stone.
We kept the diamonds to the shoulders instead of surrounding the centre. There’s enough detail to stop the ring feeling plain, but the tourmaline is still what you notice first.
Stone note
Why we love tourmaline
Tourmaline comes in an enormous range of colours, which is one of the reasons we keep coming back to it. Pink, green, red, black, watermelon, Paraíba — and plenty in between. It gives us a lot to play with.
03
Cabochon tanzanite
Sometimes the stone decides what the piece becomes.
This tanzanite felt too large for a ring. Rather than forcing it into one, we made it into a pendant.
The stone already has plenty of colour and presence, so the setting stays simple. A few diamonds in the bail add some light without taking anything away from the tanzanite.
Jewellery note
What’s a cabochon?
A cabochon is polished smooth rather than cut with lots of facets. You get less sparkle and more of the colour, depth and natural character of the stone.
The design responds to the stone. Not the other way around.
How much is enough?
Sometimes the answer is more.
Sometimes it’s less.
Not every coloured stone needs the same treatment. Some can hold their own with a lot happening around them. Others are better when there’s almost nothing competing with the centre.
01
More
Sometimes the centre stone can take it.
With a deep sapphire like this, we could put a lot around it without losing the centre.
The diamonds fan out in different shapes, so the surround becomes a big part of the ring rather than a neat little border. There’s plenty happening, but the sapphire still has enough depth of colour to hold its own.
We wouldn’t put this much around every stone. That’s why it works.
02
Less
And sometimes adding more would make it worse.
This heliodor already has the size, the colour and that long, clean cut. It doesn’t need a diamond surround to make it interesting.
So we kept the setting simple and used yellow gold around the stone. The whole thing stays warm and golden, and your eye goes straight to the heliodor.
The restraint is part of the design.
Knowing what to add is part of designing jewellery. Knowing when to stop is too.