Bespoke
A commission is four steps and you see every one of them. Nothing is owed until you have seen a drawing; the deposit is paid at the wax; the piece is shown to you in metal before any stone goes in. Below: the four steps, six pieces we made this year with what they cost, and wedding bands side by side.
Who it is for, how they live, the stones you have, the metal, the budget, and your hands on the table so we can see them. Elin sketches while you talk. £60, which comes off the price, and refunded if we say the idea will not work.
A scaled drawing by email within a week, with the price in writing and the stones listed. Usually two more drawings before everyone is happy. Nothing is owed yet.
A model carved or printed at the exact size, tried on at the table. Half of our clients change the width or the height here, and that is what it is for. The deposit, a quarter of the price, is paid now.
Cast and finished upstairs, hallmarked at Birmingham, and shown to you in metal before any stone is set. The stone goes in while you watch if you want. Six to eight weeks from the first hour; four for a plain band.
This year
All six owners said we could show them. Prices as invoiced, including the hallmark and VAT; stones the client brought are not in the figure.
Engagement ringAn engagement, Pontcanna
A Ceylon sapphire he had bought on a trip with two of her grandmother's diamonds either side, drawn three times until the shoulders were right. Platinum, 2.2mm, with a low setting because she is a vet. £3,150 with her stones.
RemodelA daughter, Llandaff
Her mother's engagement ring, eternity ring and a thin band she never took off, into one eighteen-carat ring with the nine small diamonds set in a scattered line. The gold refined and set against the price. £1,180.
Signet ringA fortieth birthday, Penarth
A heavy oval signet in nine-carat yellow gold, the family crest cut by hand in reverse so it seals, and a date inside. Made in five weeks for a party. £920 including the engraving.
Wedding bandA groom, Canton
He wanted a wide flat band with a brushed finish and a polished edge, and had been told four times it was not in the range. Nine-carat white gold, 7mm, made in four weeks. £460.
PendantA sixtieth birthday, Roath
The best eleven pearls from a strand that had broken too often to re-thread, in a nine-carat cluster pendant on a new chain, with the rest returned in a box. £540.
EarringsA Christmas present, Cathays
Two matched garnets from a Victorian brooch nobody wore, re-set as drop earrings in rose gold, the brooch frame kept for a future piece. £410.
Wedding bands
Made upstairs in the profile you choose. Court is rounded inside and out; D-shape is flat inside; flat is flat; flat-court is flat outside and rounded inside, the most comfortable wide band. Including VAT.
| Band | Nine-carat | Eighteen-carat | Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2mm court | £240 | £390 | £560 |
| 3mm court or D-shape | £270 | £450 | £650 |
| 4mm court, D-shape or flat | £310 | £520 | £740 |
| 5mm flat or flat-court | £350 | £600 | £860 |
| 6mm flat or flat-court | £390 | £680 | £980 |
| 8mm flat | £420 | £720 | £1,050 |
| Shaped to sit against an engagement ring | +£40 | +£60 | +£80 |
| Brushed, hammered or two-tone finish | +£25 | +£25 | +£35 |
| Engraving inside, to 20 characters | £30 | £30 | £30 |
| Time to make, including the hallmark | 4 weeks | 4 weeks | 5 weeks |
At the table
The design hour is slow on purpose. Who the piece is for and how they live comes before any talk of stones or metal, because a nurse's ring is not a pianist's and a ring for someone who gardens needs a low setting and a shank that can be resized. Elin sketches while you talk; by the end of the hour there are usually three or four pencil ideas and one you keep coming back to. That one becomes the drawing. The £60 comes off the commission, and is refunded if we tell you the idea will not work in metal, which happens about once a month.
From £650 in nine-carat, £950 in eighteen-carat and £1,400 in platinum, including the design hour, the drawings, the wax, the making and the hallmark. Stones are on top at cost plus setting, and we show you the invoice for the stone. The six pieces above ran from £410 to £3,150.
Yes, with a caveat we explain at the table: old gold is refined and its value set against the price rather than melted straight into the new piece, because old solder makes a porous casting that cracks. You lose nothing in value and gain a ring that lasts.
As many as it takes within reason; the usual is three. The first arrives within a week of the hour, by email, scaled and with the price in writing, and nothing is owed until you say yes to one.
Then it changes, which is what the wax is for: half of our clients alter the width or the height of the setting at that stage. If you want to stop altogether at the wax, the design hour is all you have paid and it stays paid.
Tuesday to Saturday, with Thursday evenings until seven by arrangement. Bring pictures you like, the stones if you have them, and the hand the ring is for if that is practical. The form takes two minutes and we reply within the working day with a time.