Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design
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If you are thinking of proposing around Valentines, I'm very pleased to announce that:

we are additionally open on Sunday 13th February from 10.30am - 3.30pm.

in our Hertfordshire Jewellery Studio. I will be here with the team to do commissioned engagement ring appointments and answer any questions and or course our collection of ready to wear engagement rings will be on display.

If you haven't been to our studio before, we are set in a beautiful tudor barn set in the lovely English countryside. There can't be anything much more romantic than whisking your girlfriend out here for a surprise engagement ring consultation during the Valentine's weekend! There are some great restaurants and pubs around and I'm sure it would still be possible to book into some of the local boutique hotels for an extra special Valentine's weekend.

We are hoping for a really romantic Valentine's weekend and I hope to meet you and your future financee in the studio.

Best wishes

Antoinette

On Thursday 3rd February between 5pm and 9pm we are holding the grand opening party for our newly refurbished jewellery studio in Cambridge.

Harriet will cut the ribbon at about 7.30 and we are hoping that Andrew Lansley (Secretary of State for Health) will be saying a few words of encouragement.

We very much hope that you can pop along for a glass of wine and to see our amazing newly designed Cambridge jewellery studio.

Find out more about the launch party.

Tim

Hi there,

As I work up in the showroom I always get to see the new engagement rings before they hit the shelves so, I thought I would mention two new beauties that will be available very soon.

They are both 'mixed metal' engagement rings which means they could contain both yellow gold and white gold, white gold and rose gold or even all three metals? These two specific engagement rings are made of yellow gold and white gold. I've always loved rings which are made up of two colour metals as they can then be worn with any other jewellery, you could mix and match! You're never limited on other rings you can wear next to them and if you have a change of style, and decide you would like to change from a white metal to a yellow; this is fine as the ring wouldn't have to change!

This is one of the new engagement rings. It is a lovely Victorian style design and is made of 9ct yellow and white gold. The square setting actually holds nine diamonds! They have all been pave set, and this looks as though it is one large princess cut diamond rather than nine little ones. These diamonds are recycled and originally came from a 1950’s brooch, so a little added uniqueness to this ring as it has its own unique history!

This is the other new ring that caught my eye. This one is a slightly more traditional solitaire in design. The 18ct white gold setting holds a 0.34 carat baguette cut H SI/VS diamond. The 18ct yellow gold band tapers towards the setting drawing you eye into the beautiful diamond. The ring has that touch of elegance and tradition about it but with that extra twist to make it a little bit different to the norm.

Both of these rings have been designed by Harriet and will be out in the cabinets by the weekend. So, if you like the look of these stunning rings, come take a look and we would be more than happy to show you.

Just in case you already own a mixed metal engagement ring, here is a selection of our mixed metal wedding rings with may go perfectly.

This is only a select few of our vast range of ready to wear wedding rings, we have a lot more designs that have the mixed metal look.

Hope to see you soon!

Leanne

We are recruiting for a 'Sales and Front of House Supervisor' to be based in our Hertfordshire studio.

This is a very exciting opportunity to join the team at Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design for the right enthusiastic and motivated person.

A full job description can be found in the jewellery employment section of our website.

Tim

At the beginning of the month we cleared our Cambridge bespoke jewellery studio out ready for the refit and I can say what a thorough job we did too in recycling many items.

Having worked in many of the major shopping centres for a substantial part of my career and seen fixtures and fittings that were no longer required placed in skips ready to just be cast off, I found it a refreshing change that the company I work for now has a completely different ethos taking time to carefully remove light fittings, counters and cabinets; to name but a few things, so that someone can get the benefit of these perfectly serviceable items.

This approach to the way we do things is so important as it is not just about recycling things it is also about being able to help you with your ethical choices and advising you on matters such as conflict diamonds and fairly traded gold when we design your bespoke engagement ring or wedding ring with you.

We do also recycle stones and Harriet and the design team are absolutely brilliant at carefully selecting wonderful stones and can advise you on these matters in a no obligation appointment.

I am so excited with the opening of our refitted Cambridge studio later this week, please do come and have a look, it really does convey our bespoke jewellery service so beautifully, we will also have out wonderful bespoke ready to wear collection which includes a great selection of engagement rings, wedding rings, eternity rings and other jewellery items including bespoke cufflinks for men.

Don't forget if you are in Cambridge on the evening of the 3rd February we will be having our refit launch party so please do drop in!

Progress is well underway with our Cambridge Jewellery Studio refit:

After the mess of the first week things are tidying up a bit! - we are eagerly awaiting the new cabinets early next week.

Today we finalised the date for the launch party, which is Thursday 3rd February 2010 in the early evening - please drop in if you can.

Tim

After a lovely festive December, the start of the New Year always holds the infamous January slump of bad weather and dark days. But, fear not, I have the answer and the medicine for fighting those January blues and they are guaranteed to lift your spirits. Jewellery always sets a girls (and sometimes a boy's) heart into beating that little bit faster as the excitement builds at the sight of something sparkly. One thing that really makes my eyes widen are the engagement rings that are in the Hertfordshire showroom as they are so unique and eye catching. After having a couple of weeks off at Christmas, I came back to Halls Green and reinvented my love for beautifully coloured stones and our Victorian inspired tanzanite engagement ring has helped remind me why I love this business.

This engagement ring holds an oval tanzanite in a four claw setting and it weighs a whopping 0.80cts. (Not too big and not too small in my book). The colour of this stone is beautiful and suits all kinds of skins tones. The Tanzanite is a dark cornflower blue which looks gorgeous in comparison to the icy white colour of the diamonds that flank it. On the shoulders of the ring there are six brilliant cut diamonds, three on each side and they are graded as G VS and they measure at 1.75mm each. The band is 3mm wide and it is made from platinum too so the whiteness of the metal along with the whiteness of the diamonds all add up to a recipe of class and elegance. In the Mid Victorian era, filigree design work was incorporated into the metal around precious stones in jewellery and it was very popular for many years. Filigree was the use of either silver or gold wire which was twisted into shapes or patterns and was then soldered into a set position on the jewellery. It was a very decorative method of adding an intricate design onto the surface of a metal in order to highlight its shine, as well as to make the item of jewellery seem more eye catching. In today's design era, a simple way of replicating this method of complex detail is by employing the technique of pave settings. The image below portrays the design benefits to this creative goldsmith trick.

The small beads of metal sit a little higher than the diamonds which are set into the platinum. When light shines into the stones and sets off the fire in the diamonds, (their sparkle), the light also bounces off from the metal and adds to the overall vivacity in a lovely and classic way. Another aspect to this design that reminds me of the Victorian era is the way that the central stone is set above the rest of the band. In our contemporary world, we all use our hands a lot and so it is important to make things like rings useful and free from any obstruction. This ring displays the way that Victorian rings used to be set higher above the band but, in this case, Harriet, the creator of the ring, has designed it to make sure that this necessity stays true. The image below shows the ring from a side on perspective.

The claws at the corners of the ring protect the stone but also show off the pride of the stone too. Claw settings allow light to travel through the stone more so that the colour can be shown off to its full potential and so that everyone who looks at it can see how vibrant it really is.

If you are a fan of this colour, or even of this design style, why not come down to our Hertfordshire showroom and have a look at our lovely ring selection and don't forget that we have not increased our ready to wear prices in accordance with the new VAT rate. This is our gift to you to help you start off the New Year right. We have some other fabulous blue engagement rings if this is the colour for you, here are some more that might just tickle you fancy.

So, if you need to be cheered up and want to beat those bluesey days of Jan, come and visit us in Halls green and take a look at some of the most unique and tantalising designs and make this year your best one yet.

See you soon,

Sarah

Hello

Happy New Year 2011!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of lovely gifts and drank and ate as much as I did! I'm still feeling Christmassy and it has been very snowy over the last month, and it reminded me of all the beautiful white and ivory jewellery we have in our Purple Label Jewellery range, so if you want to get out of the house for a bit to visit one of our showrooms or have a look on our Purple Label website then I would recommend having a look at some of these gorgeous designs! There are so many different styles, something to suit everyone! There are rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces and bracelets that can be worn on casual occasions and also on a night out with a little black dress! I have picked out some of my favourite designs below:

The crackled rock crystal pieces are particularly lovely, and they have a hint of sparkle; they are unusual and make a wonderful gift and the bonus of clear/white is that it will go with every colour! We also have some stunning snowflake inspired jewellery which is so lovely to wear at this time of year! Here are a few pieces that we currently have in stock, and these designs are really striking which certainly catch the eye and are a great conversation starter!

Pendants with various finishes:

Polished and pin mop finished sterling silver earrings:

I hope everyone has a brilliant 2011!

Mel

I've just finished a days work on preparing the graphics for our new studio refit in central Cambridge.

We've decided to show lots of past commissioned rings as the main theme within the studio, focussing on the personal aspect of each ring.

Many of our customers have very kindly given us a bit of information about their life, their passions and what makes them tick that we are going to use to show how each of our bespoke engagement rings is designed to perfectly match each of our customers.

One particular example sprung out at me today so I thought I'd share it with you.....

Duncan wanted a bright and colourful design that would suit Rachel's bright and colourful style. Alice's design is certainly that!....

They both like funky and colourful things and this ring is definitely that – it seems to match their personality and style rather well don't you think!

Rachel very kindly said: 'The design is stunning and so many people have said how well it suits my personality. You did a brilliant job working with Duncan and have produced such a special ring for us'

The builders have arrived in our Cambridge studio to begin a three week refit!

Back in the summer of 2010 Harriet made contact with Callum Lumsden at Small Back Room in London to begin the process of designing our Cambridge studio. Callum (who works closely with Mary Portas) is one of the country's leading retail designers and so the exciting process of forming the design began.

After many visits, phone calls, emails etc the exciting new concept was born:

The result will be a contemporary design studio interior focussing on presenting and explaining our bespoke service to browsers as well as offering a comfortable and exciting studio for Alice and her team to work with couples commissioning bespoke engagement rings.

The studio will reopen in all its glory on Friday 21st January and Alice and her team hope to see you there!

Tim

PS. On going commission customers can still contact Alice and her team who are temporarily based at our Hertfordshire studio on 01462 790565, enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk or their usual email addresses.