5 Ideas for Remodelling Jewellery

Many of us end up with precious metal jewellery in our lives that we don’t wear for many reasons, both practical and emotional. Whether it’s a loved engagement ring that has been damaged over the years, or a sentimental family heirloom that’s no longer in style, remodelling is a great way to turn a treasured piece into a piece you’re excited to wear again.

Here are 5 ideas to inspire your jewellery redesign.

1. Re-create an heirloom design

Heirloom jewellery that has become too worn and fragile to wear is often banished to a drawer, from fear of damaging it if you wear it. If you love the design, and want it to be part of the jewellery collection you wear, it’s possible to re-create it so that it’s strong and sturdy once more. The existing gemstones can be reworked into a new ring frame, to the same design as the original piece. Re-creating an heirloom in this way means the piece you love so much is strong enough to wear as part of your jewellery collection, instead of stashed away.

A loved original ring with worn out settings, before it was recreated.

The recreated ring is now strong and ready to enjoy wearing, without fear of damage.

2. Modernise your heirloom jewellery

Although fine jewellery trends aren’t as season-bound as clothing, jewellery designs do shift in styles over the years. Styles that were once very common decades ago may no longer be to your taste. Perhaps the setting style or band width is no longer what you like to wear, or your tastes have shifted to prefer more minimalistic or minimalist designs. This is very common for pieces we inherit as family heirlooms - the meaning of the piece may be hugely significant, but the style of generations past may simply be nothing like what we like to wear today.

Whatever the shift, it’s possible to reimagine the gemstones into a more modern jewellery design that better suits your current taste. The new piece keeps its sentimentality by including the original gemstones, except now you find joy in wearing them.

An heirloom emerald piece before it was remodelled.

The emerald ring remodelled into a more modern design that better suits the new owner.

3. Merge multiple jewellery pieces into one

For many, we end up with multiple pieces of jewellery in our unworn jewellery collection, with no specific attachment to any given one. Perhaps you’ve acquired a jewellery box of old treasures where the story of each piece individually isn’t significant. Or, you have smaller items that are made of precious metal, but your tastes have moved on as you’ve added others to your collection. A ring here. A pendant there. And it feels like a pile of gold and gems we don’t want to simply discard, but have absolutely no idea what to do with.

Remodelling these pieces into one single piece you love to wear, can transform these items into an everyday piece that becomes a beautiful part of your collection. It can be tricky to visualise a design that could possibly incorporate all the pieces you have, which can be the biggest barrier to making this happen. Though with a bit of inspiration from a jewellery designer, you might be surprised at what beautiful pieces can be made from old jewellery that become an irreplaceable part of your life.

A collection of jewellery that was no longer worn, before it was remodelled.

The remodelled piece, incorporating all the gemstones into one now loved piece.

4. Change the metal colour of your jewellery

Many of us have a strong preference for the metal colours we like to wear. Although it’s perfectly fine to wear different metal colours together, we often lean strongly toward yellow, white, or rose gold tones in the jewellery and accessories we choose to wear.

Sometimes our fine jewellery sits unworn because it’s not the colour we prefer - either because our tastes change over the years, or because we inherit pieces from loved ones who had a different preference. If you love the design of a fine jewellery piece, but hesitate to wear it purely because of the metal colour, remodelling it into your preferred metal will get you reaching for it as part of your everyday treasures.

An original white gold engagement ring, before remodelling.

The remodelled engagement ring, now with a rose gold band.

5. Create a replica of an original piece

For some jewellery pieces in our collection, remodelling the original piece isn’t the right option. There are many times where creating a replica may far better suit your reasons for not wearing a piece in the first place.

Sometimes we have such a strong attachment to the history of the item in its original state, and want to keep it as it is. We not be wearing it because it’s damaged (or we’re scared of damaging it) but can’t bear the thought of remodelling it. If it’s a design you would otherwise love to wear, commissioning a replica allows you have a version of the piece and the story it holds that you can wear as part of your everyday life, while preserving the original.

Other times, a piece may be an heirloom that has been passed down in a family with multiple children, who all have a strong attachment to the piece, and would love to wear it. Gemstones can be sourced that match the original piece, and brought to life in a piece that matches the original design, so that they all have a version of their own to treasure in their lives.

An heirloom handed down to two sisters, who both love the ring and memories it holds.

A replica of the heirloom, incorporating coloured gems, and shaped the way the original would have looked when new.

That wraps up 5 ways to remodel jewellery, to inspire you. If it’s time to get those heirlooms out of the drawer, book an appointment to explore your options for making you excited to wear them.

What is Fine Jewellery Really About?

I showed this Ruby to someone, but not for a jewellery project.

I had a young boy come into the studio with his mum for her appointment, and they were enjoying the pictures of coloured gems on our wall. Looking through all the colours and gem names, he settled on a favourite. Ruby. So I pulled out this beauty here, so he could see one not just in the picture, but in real life.

Natural fine Ruby, from our Harlequin Jewellers gemstone collection

We talked a bit about the gemstone. We talked about how it was found in Mozambique (“Whaaaat!?”, he said). We talked about why Rubies, especially ones like these, were so special and rare.

I recognised his reaction.

It was the same reaction I had when I was 9, when my grandfather introduced me to his hobby of opal cutting. The awe at seeing something magnificent that you’ve never seen before. Something that takes you by surprise, and has a story you can’t believe is true.

So often, jewellery is shown as a world of riches. Of glamorous models, draped with expensive diamonds and gemstones, that you wear to show off how luxurious you are.

That portrayal couldn’t be further from the core of what it’s all about.

The real magic? Is witnessing marvels like these. It’s seeing something with your own eyes, holding something in your hands, that you've never seen before. The colour, the sparkle, the incredible stories of discovery, and worlds so far from our every day life.

I loved seeing that spark in this little one.

It’s the same spark I’ve had since I was 9. After all these years, gems have never lost their magic on me. It’s incredible to create jewellery that shares the wonder of gemstones with clients who love that magic too.

Jewellery Gifts for Wedding Anniversaries

When you’ve been with your partner a while, it can become tricky to know what to get them for your wedding anniversary. Jewellery is a beautiful sentiment for a gift. Over time, a jewellery collection becomes a treasure trove of the many chapters in your life together. Though, what do you choose for a perfect anniversary gift?

Create a unique jewellery anniversary gift with your own meaning

There are traditional and modern anniversary gift traditions that can help you come up with ideas. Though, you don’t need to follow these rules. Your relationship, and your marriage, is yours alone. If following prescribed rules doesn’t feel right for you, you can find meanings of your own to inspire your ideas.

In fact, the most beautifully personal gifts often come from the most unique meanings you have as a couple. For example, for one client of mine, the number 23 was hugely significant. It’s my client’s birthday, and their wedding anniversary date. So, for their 23rd wedding anniversary, on the 23rd of the month, in the year 2023, it called for an extra special gift. A timeless, unique gemstone piece, that his wife to wear for many years to come.

You may have something that’s personally meaningful to you two alone, be that a number, colour, country, special interest, symbol, or other little quirk that’s meaningful to you two and your lives together. I love a great challenge in finding the perfect gemstone and jewellery design to celebrate anniversaries in a way you’ll never find on off a shelf in a store.

Take inspiration from traditional wedding anniversary gift lists

If you’re stuck for ideas, traditional anniversary gift lists can be a big help to narrow down your choices. For centuries, people have come up with these themes for choosing gifts for their partner on their wedding anniversary, some of which include materials that can be turned into jewellery. The traditions have been formed in many parts of the world, so there are many variations, with many meanings behind them. Here are the anniversaries where jewellery materials are featured.

Jewellery anniversary gifts by year:

1st wedding anniversary - Gold

2nd wedding anniversary - Garnet

3rd wedding anniversary - Pearl

4th wedding anniversary - Blue Topaz

5th wedding anniversary - Sapphire

6th wedding anniversary - Garnet

8th wedding anniversary - Tourmaline

10th wedding anniversary - Diamond

14th wedding anniversary - Gold

15th wedding anniversary - Ruby

20th wedding anniversary - Emerald

30th wedding anniversary - Pearl

40th wedding anniversary - Ruby

45th wedding anniversary - Sapphire

50th wedding anniversary - Gold

55th wedding anniversary - Emerald

60th wedding anniversary - Diamond

If your partner would love a jewellery gift for an upcoming anniversary gift, having a jewellery help turn your ideas into reality is a wonderful way to celebrate. Getting creative, and gifting a unique piece of jewellery for your wedding anniversary will become a treasured keepsake that captures the story of your lives together.

Is there such thing as coloured lab grown diamonds?

However you feel about lab grown diamonds, there’s no denying that they’ve been the biggest newcomer to the engagement ring scene in the last few years. Lab grown white diamonds for jewellery have gone from unheard of, to being a very common gemstone used for engagement rings, in less than a decade. An incredible pace of change.

All the attention so far, has been been on lab grown diamonds that are white in colour.

Natural diamonds can be found in all sorts of colours, though, not just white. In fact some of the most valuable diamonds around are in vivid shades of pink, red, and blue. Bright yellows are also a popular choices for statement coloured diamond engagement rings.

So if manufacturers can create white lab grown diamonds, can they create coloured lab grown diamonds too?

To answer this, let’s take a step back to how lab grown diamonds emerged.

The technology to manufacture diamonds has actually been around a lot longer than the recent boom of lab grown diamond engagement rings in the last 10 years. Manufacturers have been creating them for decades, with the earliest lab grown diamonds seen as early as the 1950s.

At the time, it was possible to create diamond material, but not of the quality needed for use as gemstones. So the diamonds they made then were used for industrial applications, like creating machining and cutting tools - which strong diamond material is perfect for.

Gem quality lab grown diamonds followed a few decades later, but it has only been in recent years that a ‘breakthrough’ has allowed fine quality white lab grown diamonds to be produced in a way that’s properly feasible for the jewellery industry. The gems are beautiful in colour just like natural bright white diamonds.

When it comes to coloured lab grown diamonds though? That breakthrough hasn’t quite yet been reached.

A lab grown pink diamond, which doesn’t quite match the ‘essence’ a natural pink diamond.

As the moment, the technology to create coloured lab grown diamonds exists, but isn’t quite the same as natural diamond colours.

In nature, colour in diamonds appears for a range of different reasons - like changes in the diamond’s atomic structure when it forms (which can create pink and red), to chemical impurities in the material (which can create yellow and blue), to natural irradiation processes in the Earth’s surface (which can create green). These complex processes that produce the uniqueness of gem quality coloured diamonds, are yet to be properly replicated in a laboratory.

Attempts have certainly been made to create coloured diamonds, some rather successfully. I’ve had the opportunity to examine some of the latest pink lab grown diamonds around. Though even the manufacturers agree that colour of these, while still nice, haven’t captured the same ‘essence’ as a natural pink diamond.

If a coloured diamond is what you’re after? A natural coloured diamond is the way to go.

As it stands, there’s a fair way to go for the technology to create lab grown diamonds to catch up, to create coloured lab grown diamonds for jewellery that are as beautiful as natural ones.

So, if you’re looking to add a coloured diamond to your collection, the best way to find a great one, is to look for a natural coloured diamond. Only time will tell if technology can duplicate nature’s wonders in coloured diamond gemstones.