Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design
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We've decided to run another jewellery give-away for February - this time with a Valentine theme.

We have one of these beautiful sterling silver, shell, and fluorite heart pendants on a sterling silver cable necklet (about 16" long) to give away! The pendant is stunning and is around about 5cm long.

To enter you can either:-

FACEBOOK - Go to our Facebook page 'like' us, and then add a nice comment to the thread about the pendant.

or

TWITTER - Follow us and then tweet "Follow @HKBespoke and RT for a chance to win a Fluorite heart necklace http://.hkjewellery.co.uk/blog/default.asp?Entry=578"

I will choose the winner (at random) from all of the entries on both Facebook and Twitter at the end of February.

Good luck!

Harriet

My work in the Halls Green design studio means that I get to speak to lots of our lovely customers and I have found that more and more of you are coming to us for an engagement and wedding ring sets or coming back to us for a fitted wedding ring to fit a beautiful existing engagement ring.

The chance to have two rings made to fit perfectly next to each other is something which makes our approach to jewellery really special. Not only can you have a unique engagement ring made just for you, tailored to your likes, budget and lifestyle, but as we make our rings from scratch we can also create a wedding ring to mirror it's shape or to slot together like a jigsaw.

We have some brilliant galleries of fitted wedding ring styles on the website and I thought I could show you a few of my favourite slightly more unusual designs.

This wedding ring was designed by Jenna to fit perfectly next to the engagement ring, the wedding ring almost hugs the central diamond and creates a really interesting shape with stones set into the band to exactly mirror the stones in the engagement ring. I love this design because the rings fit so perfectly together and the warmth of the 9ct rose gold sets off the diamond and graduating side stones beautifully.

This bespoke palladium open wedding ring slots perfectly into the open twist style palladium and green sapphire engagement ring. The bands match in profile and I think the wedding ring really highlights the unusual and organic curves of the engagement ring. An open ring is a really interesting choice for a ring design and we have made quite a few open wedding rings to compliment unusual shaped engagement rings.

This stunning flower inspired engagement ring is framed beautifully by this open wedding ring with grain detail designed by Kerrie. The two rings slot perfectly together and demonstrate how we can create a ring to compliment the trickiest of shapes.

If you are thinking of commissioning an engagement ring, why not discuss designing a fitted wedding ring at the same time to compliment the design. Or if you are thinking of buying a plain straight wedding band come and have a chat with our talented designers to discuss options to make the ring even more special and unique to you.

I was just looking out of the window and thinking what a dreary grey day it is. The thing is grey isn't necessarily dreary at all. We have some wonderful pieces of grey jewellery in our Purple Label range which are so versatile as they will blend with many other colours.

We have this delicate necklace, which looks so pretty

And this beautiful necklace, that could be worn with a variety of outfits

These are just two examples from our extensive collection of Ready to Wear jewellery. Take a look on the website at our Grey Collection and see how you can cheer yourself up until Spring arrives.

Katy

x

With spring around the corner why not start thinking about a daffodil inspired engagement ring to surprise the one you love, perfect for any nature lover of florist out there, or maybe just treat yourself.

Mixed gold coloured diamond engagement ring inspired by daffodils designed by Harriet Kelsall.

This 18ct white gold engagement ring holds a 2mm brilliant cut H SI diamond. The band of the ring is 18ct white gold with the flower part being made from rich 18ct yellow gold

What makes this ring even more perfect for the spring is it has a H SI 2mm brilliant cut diamond set into it, diamond is the birthstone for the spring month of April.

I really like how well the yellow gold represents the daffodil head and is highlighted against the white gold band.

We have made many other flower inspired rings incorporating both customer and designer inspirations.

Modern daisy cluster with marquise cut pale blue sapphires and recycled diamonds

Bespoke Sterling silver rose inspired london blue topaz engagement ring.

Rhodolite garnet engagement ring inspired by a lotus flower

Stunning Allium flower inspired palladium and diamond engagement ring

There are many more on our website with many other inspiration ideas, you can search by clicking on inspired by or use the search option and type in flowers or whatever the inspiration is behind your future piece of jewellery.

Angela

TV presenter, radio DJ and model Lisa Snowdon, originally from Welwyn, has chosen Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design to design and make a bespoke pendant to mark her 40th birthday on 23 January.

The pendant, inspired by an ancient Sanskrit symbol the 'Aum', is made entirely from Fairtrade and Fairmined gold and features a laser optic cut garnet, Lisa's birthstone.

Lisa met Harriet Kelsall in July 2011 at the UK Jewellery Awards when she presented her with the award for Business Initiative of the Year and the company's base in Hertfordshire struck a chord with local girl Lisa. Harriet says: 'When l met Lisa we talked about my business as I had just won a UK Jewellery Award and I explained that I specialise in bespoke jewellery design and what that means. When I mentioned that our main design studio is in Hertfordshire Lisa was really interested as she is originally from the area. We got talking more and chatted about designing a pendant for her. Lisa had just started yoga and so we looked at different ancient symbols relating to yoga and found the Aum or Om as it's sometimes referred to.'

Harriet and Lisa met up again recently so Harriet could present her with the pendant. Lisa said: 'I am totally in love with my pendant, it's beautiful, and I love that it's totally unique. I wear chains a lot and l wanted a pendant I could wear on its own or layered with other chains and with a significant birthday approaching I wanted something to mark this important milestone in my life.'

Lisa and Harriet spent a long time discussing the design of the pendant as it was very important to Lisa that it should represent something and this, of course, is the beauty of bespoke jewellery.

Lisa's pendant is made up of two parts of the Aum symbol: the Id element, which holds the garnet and represents the 'self', and the Infinity or Dream element, which is represented by the swirl on the pendant.

The design of the pendant represents Lisa being in the centre of her dreams and her destiny, something that Lisa and Harriet talked about a lot in the early stages of the pendant's design.

'When Harriet presented me with the pendant I felt a real positivity and connection with it and could feel the energy and good vibes that had gone into it. The fact it was designed and made by hand and in my home county of Hertfordshire makes it feel really special and I am delighted with the level of workmanship that's gone into it.'

Another element of the pendant that's important to Lisa is that it's made from Fairtrade and Fairmined gold. Fairtrade and Fairmined gold was only launched in February 2011 and aims to help artisanal and small-scale miners earn a better price for their gold and improve the ethics of the jewellery industry. Having become aware of Fairtrade and Fairmined gold from Harriet, Lisa was particularly keen for her pendant to be made from it.

'It was a real privilege to design a piece of jewellery for Lisa and I am thrilled that she likes it. I was also really pleased that she opted for Fairtrade and Fairmined gold as it may encourage others to consider this for their jewellery. Lisa and I are now talking about other jewellery projects and I would love to design another piece for her in the near future.”

Hello and Happy new year!

In January, we are giving away this beautiful garnet and sterling silver pendant that I have made. Garnet is January's stone so it seems like the right choice! The pendant itself is beautiful - it is just under 5cm long and the chain is about 16 inches long.

To enter you can either:-

FACEBOOK - Go to our Facebook page 'like' us, and then add a nice comment to the thread about the pendant.

or

TWITTER - Follow us and then tweet "Follow @HKBespoke and RT for a chance to win a beautiful garnet pendant http://.hkjewellery.co.uk/blog/default.asp?Entry=573"

I will choose the winner from all of the entries on both Facebook and Twitter at the end of January.

Good luck!

Harriet

Hi - today (Saturday 7th January) they are doing some work in the roads between Weston and Halls Green, so the road between Weston School and Halls Green is closed for major work. Here is how to avoid the closed road:

When you come into Weston up Hitchin Road, the Red Lion pub will be on your left. Turn right (instead of left as usual) at the Red Lion pub and keep going straight on past the Cricketers pub (on your right) and all the way out of Weston. Keep going straight on along the country road for about a mile or so. Eventually you will come to a small turning on your left to 'Warrens Green'. Turn left here and go through the hamlet of Warrens green (quite a twisty road!) and after about a mile you will come to a T juncion into Halls Green. Turn left here and the Rising Sun pub will soon be on your right followed shortly by the turning to Fairclough Farm and our studio.

Going this alternative route might add an extra 5 or 10 minutes onto your journey i'm afraid. If you are coming via Stevenage you can alternatively come in via Walkern.

I hope this doesn't hold you up look forward to seeing you later.

We have a very talented Goldsmiths team in our Halls Green Studio and as much pleasure as they get from making wonderful bespoke jewellery items, they are very keen to receive feedback on how 'bowled over' the customer is by the item of jewellery they have made and they really do get a buzz out of the customers satisfaction.

When you visit our Halls Green Studio you can observe our talented Goldsmiths in action and it is a wonderful experience watching true craftsmen and craftswomen at work using traditional tools and methods. Our Goldsmiths not only make beautiful jewellery but they are a tremendous help to the Designers by providing advice and ideas on a variety of factors that will influence how either a engagement ring, wedding ring or eternity ring is made. This is really helpful when the design is exceptionally unusual or could be made different ways.

This shooting star inspired ring is an example of the wonderful way our Goldsmiths interpret inspirational ideas into beautiful and unusual bespoke engagement rings. This unusual palladium engagement ring has a 2.5mm brilliant cut H Si diamond which has been grain set into an elongated star shape and is followed by a pair of invisibly set sapphires which get darker as they move away from the diamond enhancing the feeling of movement. Our customers are inspired by a variety of wonderful moments, inspirational objects and locations and you will be surprised how many of these can be incorporated into a beautiful bespoke ring that will be part of your unique story.

Our Dress Jewellery sale is now available online at our sister site www.purple-label.com. We've got up to 50% off some of our popular items so its well worth a browse.

View our Dress Jewellery Sale

We are all busy here in our halls green studio all getting ready for the exciting time of Christmas, I hope you have all under way with your Christmas shopping and are all starting to unwind, The studio here is full of exciting opportunities of Christmas presents to the surprise Christmas proposals from presenting the engagement ring, a commission in a box or even some design sketches all in time for the special day, the reason why I wanted to share this next customer with you was because this is something that many of you may share and is a wonderful opportunity to look at in the new year.

I have been working closely with one of our lovely customers, Marilyn for a few projects now so wanted to share with you her journey through the designing of her bespoke pieces of jewellery. I wanted to take you through the process that Marilyn and I took to create a unique item of jewellery she will enjoy for many years to come, by using some of her existing jewellery Marilyn had in her jewellery box for a few years. Marilyn visited us in the studio and we sat down to see how we could design a piece of jewellery that enhanced the beauty of the stones she had. The rings we chose to create the first piece of jewellery were:

While talking through the design styles it was clear Marilyn loved the green stone seen in the above ring, this green stone is absolutely stunning so it was clear that it would suit a twist style design to emphasise the shape and the gorgeous colour it displayed, Marilyn was guided through the finger size, the widths of bands which suited her finger, the profiles and the metals which suited also, once these details were decided I sat down and sketched out some design ideas which would suit the central green stones either side.

The deign chosen was design number 4, the design where the green stone was set in an end only setting and the band which twisted symmetrically around the central stone, Marilyn also had some gorgeous small brilliant cut diamonds to use to, so upon sketching out the design the smaller diamonds from the wish bone shaped ring above were used in a channel to give the band a little sparkle enhancing the central stone.

Now the design was perfect for Marilyn we then progressed onto the making of the ring, I sat down with our chief goldsmith Richard and we talked through the design we have agreed on o Richard knew the style Marilyn liked and how she wanted the ring, we then worked out the metal we needed to order ready for the design to come to life. Richard worked away in our workshop and start to create the beautiful design Marilyn fell in love with by working the metal into the twist style design and making the setting to fit her stone perfectly, the next time I looked at the ring it was initially constructed awaiting form me to check to ensure all the elements of the design both Marilyn and I discussed were just perfect.

Now we have the design all constructed the ring then will continue the journey to our assay office so the metal can be tested and stamped to say that the metal is what we have made the ring out of, once we receive the ring again the next journey then ring undertakes is the initial polishing stages before the ring is completed with the stones settings, the stone are then carefully worked on and set with such precision by our stone setter vic, The side channel set diamonds were set first then the beautiful central stone brought a new lease of life to the ring. It was amazing to see such lovely stones being worked into a design that was going to be worn with such pleasure from pieces of jewellery which had history to them, myself and all our designers here at Harriet Kelsall jewellery design love working with existing jewellery that many of you have, we loved to see a piece of jewellery which has such sentiment and history start a new story and life for the future, So if you have some old jewellery you have and don’t know what to do with it come and see us here in the studio and we can talk through some ideas of re designing it into a piece of jewellery you will wear whether it is a dress ring, necklace, earrings or maybe as an engagement ring, get in contact and we would love to work with you to create a unique design for you.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful new year and we all look forward to seeing you soon

Best wishes Kerrie-Ann