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Kate Beard
7th November 2007 14:45

From Old To New

 

I just wanted to tell you my own little story of my own beautiful chunky ring that Harriet designed for me a couple of years ago. I have been working with Harriet now for a few years and have admired the rings and have dreamed of owning one myself, it's a hard place to work surrounded by all these beautiful rings!

I bought my engagement ring nearly 13 years ago now and at that time didn't know about Harriet and her commissions service, so did what most people do and go along to Hatton Garden to pick out one of the many thousand rings that pretty much all looked the same. We didn't have much of a budget then so picked a pretty princess cut diamond engagement ring and off we went. The wedding rings (bought a couple of years later) took even less thought! – we kind of forgot about them in our wedding organisation madness, so went along to a high street jewellers and picked out 2 rings, unfortunately I paid no attention and bought a very poorly made, rather thin ring that didn’t even match my engagement ring!

Anyway, to cut a long story short and many years later, we were left some money from a relative and my husband announced that he would like to spend some of the money to buy me the ring I had always dreamed of (maybe I left a few hints around that this is really what I would like to do one day!) so I didn't waste any more time and got to work before he changed his mind and spent his money on a new car!!

I decided that, instead of making a new ring, I would take all the stones from my previous rings. The princess cut stone from my previous engagement ring and the 7 diamonds that were in a narrow eternity ring that my husband bought for me after the birth of our first child and combine them all to make one big chunky ring. I always had a couple of designs in mind (as you do when you work here and see all the amazing designs!), one ready to wear one that we had in our cabinet many years ago, and quite a few that were commissioned:

So I wasted no time in getting a time in Harriet's busy diary to speak to her about my design! – it was good to be a customer at last. She spent a lot of time talking to me about the sort of design that I would like incorporating my stones and in a few days produced some beautiful sketches of some ideas for the ring. I went for a chunky design that I knew I could wear everyday without having to worry about it, as I am known to be rather clumsy! It would be made from platinum with a courting inside and beautifully rounded edges and it would be lovely and heavy, it also incorporated all the ideas that I always loved from previous rings that I had seen in the past. I couldn't wait to see the finished product.

When I saw the finished product I couldn't have been happier! Even a few years later I still catch myself looking at it with admiration! – it has been the best thing that I ever did and I have had so many compliments about it! My husband also is so chuffed - that I am chuffed! that he announced recently that he would like to commission another one for my other hand for our 10th wedding anniversary! So I am in the process of commissioning another one, so that will be the finale of my commission story first hand, (though I still have many fingers free, and matching earrings would be nice too...)

Kate Beard
 
Jodie Newman
7th November 2007 14:25

Fab New Book!

 

I have just found the most fabulous little book "A Girl's guide to buying diamonds" By Randi Molofski. Randi started in the industry as the fashion editor at the "National jeweller" magazine and is now a committee chair for the women's jewellery association. It's been passed about amongst all the girls here at HK!

It explains all of the "4 C's" (cut, clarity, carat, and colour) with lots of helpful diagrams and photos before moving on to cleaning tips, style recommendations for different personality types ("the tomboy" "the romantic", "the rock star"), advice for buying, and ways to ensure that the diamonds you're considering are conflict-free. It's a great bit of fun and we do also have our own section on the website that is quite similar.

Of course we wouldn't forget about the boys!

The best part about the book is that although it's all a bit of fun it does recognise how important it is to find a reliable jeweller, and although recognisable chains are easy to go to first you should never overlook the smaller companies for specialist knowledge and personal attention.

Speak to you again soon!

Jodie Newman
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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