A 3.0 ct Round Brilliant in a Vine of Emeralds

@AnadiFuentes picked her stone before she picked her ring, which is the right way round and not the common one. A round brilliant is the most-set diamond in the world. That makes it the hardest one to do something with — everybody has seen a round in four prongs, and most people have stopped looking at it.

Fifty-seven facets all arguing for the same thing. A round is the least forgiving shape we sell: there is nowhere for an inclusion to hide and nothing in the outline to distract you from it. Which is also why, when a round is right, it is obviously right, from across a table, to someone who knows nothing about diamonds.

What we made

14K yellow gold.

Four bead prongs on the centre stone. Round, soft, deliberately not claws — a ring that gets worn every day should not catch on a sweater every day.

Then the part that took the time. Each shoulder is a vine, and each vine carries four stones: a marquise emerald, a marquise white diamond, a pear white diamond and a small round green stone, every one on its own branch of gold, every one set at a slightly different height.

Nothing is mirrored. The left shoulder and the right shoulder are cousins, not twins. That is the whole point of a vine, and it is also the reason this is bench work rather than casting — a mould gives you symmetry whether you asked for it or not.

The band itself stays plain and perfectly round, so a wedding band can sit flush against it later without a fight.

The result

Green, white and yellow gold is an old combination and a difficult one. Emerald is softer than diamond and sits lower on the finger, so the marquises had to be set deep enough to survive and shallow enough to still read green rather than black. They read green.

6 weeks from approved drawing to the box.

Every piece we make starts as a loose stone somebody chose themselves. If you have a stone, or want one, start a commission.