Jewelry Redesign Story #22: A Mother’s Diamonds Show Sisters’ Bond

THE REDESIGN CHALLENGE:

Tess was holding on to two mine cut diamonds for years for her daughters, Joshi and Moirah. 

Although close, Joshi lives in Chicago while Moirah lives in California. The two sisters came to us to create something that would remind them of each other despite their distance. They figured the diamonds from their mother would be a great base for identical rings that would always remind them of each other. 

The sisters knew that they’d wear the rings on their right fingers and wanted to make sure that they didn’t look too similar to engagement rings -- a common sight for diamond rings. To do this Joshi and Moirah figured that a matte band would set it apart from engagement rings by giving the rings a masculine look featuring some feminine touches.

the diamonds and the sapphire bracelet

Before getting started, Tess also brought to us some additional jewels: blue sapphires from an old bracelet.

THE REDESIGN PROCESS:

Considering Joshi and Moirah’s interest in a masculine and non-engagement (yet possible for daily wear) ring, the sisters originally wanted something textured and chunky with a handmade look. 

For our first round of sketches we used subtle hammered textures and rounded rims on both sides to create something a bit organic and hand-made. We played around with a handful of ideas regarding double or single rims as well as different size bands and band shapes. 

The first series of sketches with the rims

The sisters decided they wanted to move in a different direction and focus on adding the blue sapphires to the ring design. The design concept was shifting towards something more contemporary and modern. 

We created a number of compositions using the sapphires surrounding the diamonds or across from the diamonds. 

Sketches with diamonds and sapphires

Ultimately, Joshi and Moirah decided to keep the concepts from the modern designs with the sapphire, including the offsetting of the diamond and the flat top of the band, however they decided not to include the sapphires in their final designs. 

We created some renderings of the 3D models of the final design before printing them out to make sure Joshi and Moirah were completely certain about the design before moving forward with 3D printing the castings and finalizing the finished rings. We wanted to make sure the sisters and their mother were all happy with the redesign! 

3D Rhino Cad

3D rendering of the final design without the sapphires

New ring castings

THE REDESIGN REVEAL:

The final design reveal was very different from where we had originally started but Joshi, Moirah, and Tess were all thrilled with how it turned out. 

The modern and minimal signet ring featured an offset diamond in a flush setting. The most personal aspect: Each sister had their own personal sisterhood inscription engraved on the inside of their bands. Joshi’s reads “Fire Rain Wind 2019” and Moirah’s reads “Wind Rain Fire 2019”. Even with a custom-made redesign, an engraving is always something extra-special -- not to mention the sisters won’t mistakenly take their sister’s ring. Afterall, taking things from your sister is for kids!

Final ring on customers

Final rings

Materials: Ring 1: 18k yellow gold with 2.32ct old mine cut diamond

Ring 2: 18k yellow gold with 2.21ct old mine cut diamond

Manufacturing Level:  Medium

Design Level: Medium

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