4 Solitaire Engagement Ring Styles

Solitaire diamond rings are a timeless and versatile choice for engagement rings, particularly when made with a round brilliant cut diamond. They’re perfect for those who don’t ordinarily wear a lot of jewellery, as well as those who have a large jewellery collection because they’ll match seamlessly with any style, every day.

There are many solitaire styles you can opt for when designing your own engagement ring. Here are 4 solitaire designs with a round brilliant cut diamond to inspire your ring design.

1. Classic 6-claw Solitaire Engagement Rings

Classic designs are classics for very good reason. When it comes to solitaire engagement rings, the classic 6-claw setting has long been a true classic, and will likely continue to be for generations to come. Six claw settings work beautifully with a round brilliant cut diamond shape, and allow for so many options on when you’re choosing a wedding ring and eternity ring to match with it.

2. Modern 4-claw Solitaire Engagement Rings

The 4-claw setting is as versatile as a 6-claw setting, with a modern style. It’s an excellent choice of engagement ring for wearers who take a minimalist approach to jewellery, and it makes the diamond the star of the piece. Four claw settings are an excellent choice for smaller gemstones because they ensure the metal doesn’t overwhelm the stone.

3. Bezel Set Solitaire Engagement Rings

While claw settings are common in engagement rings, they’re not the only option for setting styles. Clawless engagement rings are possible. Bezel settings offer a sleek, modern appeal and look amazing with round brilliant cut diamonds. They’re perfectly suited to wearers who need a secure, safe style to wear to work or day to day life, and are a popular choice among healthcare workers, and mums with active young children.

4. Half Bezel Solitaire Engagement Rings

For those wanting just one single diamond in their engagement ring, but also a unique engagement ring design, half bezel settings allow you to have both. With settings that cover half but not all of the diamond, half bezels allow for more unique shapes in an engagement ring structure. A wrap around engagement ring design like the one below hugs the feature diamond, creating an elegant and bold style. A matching fitted wedding ring to wear alongside it when you say “I do” further adds to the uniqueness of this ring style.

Design your own solitaire engagement ring with an Australian jeweller

These four solitaire engagement rings are just the beginning when it comes to creating a timeless yet personal design. Subtle changes to setting styles, band types, claw shapes can change the whole look of an engagement ring, while maintaining a versatile appeal. Find more design inspiration here: What is a solitaire engagement ring?.

If you’re ready to design your own solitaire engagement ring, book an appointment directly with our jewellery maker, to get all the advice you need for your design.

You may also like

Why Sapphire Engagement Rings Are A Popular Diamond Alternative in Australia

While diamonds are often the default option for engagement rings, there’s one other gemstone variety that’s a strong favourite for engagement rings in Australia: Sapphire. This incredible coloured gemstone variety is an increasingly sought after option for engagement rings, particularly for couples looking for a locally sourced Australian gemstone.

Here’s why.

1. Sapphires are one of the strongest coloured gemstones.

For a ring you’re going to wear on your hand every day, you want a gemstone that’s strong. Diamond is the strongest of all gemstones, and it’s this strength factor (rather than any rarity factor) that makes diamond the most popular gemstone option for engagement rings.

While no other gemstone is quite as strong as a diamond, there are other gemstones that are still strong enough to use in an engagement ring. So, diamonds aren’t the only strong option. Sapphires are one of the strongest coloured gemstones around, and they typically hold up very well in an engagement ring.

The infamous Sapphire is one of the few coloured gemstones that are strong enough for engagement rings.

2. Sapphires are found in a huge range of colours.

While sapphire is strongly associated with the colour blue, this gemstone variety isn’t exclusively blue. Fancy sapphires are available in many more colours than the traditional deep blue we’re all familiar with. The world’s sapphires includes colours from pale pastels through to bold colours in every shade you can imagine (except red, because a red gemstone with sapphire’s chemical makeup is classed as a ruby). There are even that display different colours in different lights as you go about your day, known as colour shift sapphires, or colour change sapphires.

If there’s a colour you love, chances are you’ll be able to find a sapphire in that shade. Locally in Australia, sapphires for engagement rings can be found in blues, greens, yellows, teals. Australia is particularly famous for gemstones that display multiple zones of these colours, known as parti sapphires. Other sought after favourites around the world include the peachy pink Padparadscha Sapphire, and the pastel ocean-like colours of Montana Sapphires.

Sapphires can be many colours other than the familiar Blue Sapphire, including peachy pink shades of the rare Padparadscha Sapphire.

3. Each Sapphire is wonderfully unique.

If you’re looking for a ring that’s unique, a coloured gemstone like sapphire is a wonderful way to know that no one has a ring exactly like yours. Natural sapphires have subtle variations in the colour, colour distribution, and patterning that gives each individual gemstone its own unique character. This uniqueness goes even further when you add your choice of shape and faceting style.

It’s a true joy making each and every sapphire engagement ring we create here at Harlequin Jewellers, and seeing how the uniqueness of the gemstone creates a personalised engagement ring for every client.

Colour variations in Natural Sapphire, especially Australian Parti Sapphires, make each gemstone wonderfully unique.

4. Sapphires are one of the few Australian gemstones suitable for an engagement ring.

If you’re looking to support Australia’s local industries instead of choosing an engagement ring with a gemstone from overseas, an Australian sapphire engagement ring is a wonderful way to achieve that. Australian sapphires are one of the few gemstone varieties found in our beautiful country that are strong enough for an engagement ring. We’re so lucky that the colours of Australian sapphires are breathtaking as well.

Choosing a local Australian jeweller to create the piece for you goes even further to support our local industries, and you’ll start your next life chapter with a unique, beautifully made piece to celebrate it.

Australian Sapphires are exceptionally beautiful, unique, and one of the few local gemstone options strong enough to consider including in an engagement ring.

Design your own sapphire engagement ring with an Australian jeweller

To bring your on unique Australian sapphire engagement ring to life, book an appointment directly with our jewellery maker, to explore some incredible gems, and get all the advice you need to create a practical and beautiful design.

You may also like:

6 Unique Diamond Shapes for Engagement Rings

When it comes to engagement rings, round brilliant cut diamonds have been the most popular choice of diamond shape for decades. However, diamonds are cut into a wide range of different shapes. Some are familiar, though there are many diamond shapes that very few people know about. If you’re looking for a unique diamond shape for your engagement ring, here are 6 beautiful alternatives to the round brilliant cut diamond.

1. Oval Shaped Diamond Engagement Rings

A shape that is almost round, but not quite, oval shaped diamonds have been an increasingly popular diamond shape for engagement ring designs throughout the 2020s. They’re elegant, flattering on the finger, and work beautifully alongside small brilliant cut diamonds if you want to add extra sparkle. While they’ve been popular, each oval diamond has unique variations in the proportions and curving of their specific oval shape, making each one unique. This makes an oval shape diamond a beautiful choice that is both on trend and uniquely personal in one.

2. Asscher Cut Diamond Engagement Rings

A style that has been around long before the round brilliant cut diamond soared into popularity, the Asscher cut diamond makes for a beautifully unique engagement ring. Step cut faceting in these diamonds creates a ‘hall of mirrors’ effect in the stone. Asscher cut diamonds have a beautiful vintage style feel to them, yet can also be designed into modern engagement ring designs like the bezel set signet-inspired ring below.

3. Radiant Cut Diamond Engagement Rings

The radiant cut is so rarely used in white diamond engagement rings, that we’ve only had a few of these made into rings at our studio. Here’s why almost no one knows about them.

Radiant cuts are common for coloured diamonds, because the way the faceting reflects light within the stone enhances the colour within it. For a coloured gemstone, this is an excellent property, enhancing the colour in the stone. However, apply this logic to white diamonds where a lack of colour is the goal, and you can see why radiant cuts pose a problem. Jewellery makers who use anything below the very highest of white colour grades avoid them because they’ll enhance any yellow/brown/grey shades within the stone, even if they’re subtle. With the highest colour grades in a D-F diamond though, like the ones we use in our jewellery studio, radiant cut faceting showcases a colourless diamond beautifully, and creating incredible white light reflections in the stone. To me, it’s one of the very best hidden-in-plain-sight secrets of the fine diamond jewellery world.

4. Emerald Cut Diamond Engagement Rings

The emerald cut diamond is one that brings an elegant old world style to an engagement ring design. They’ve been around for hundreds of years, but soared to popularity in the art deco era, when design was dominated by geometric, streamlined shapes. Due to its smaller number of facets than a brilliant cut - many of which are long and rectangular - be sure to look for excellent clarity and colour to get the most out of this beautiful shape.

5. Cushion Cut Diamond Engagement Rings

Before modern diamond faceting advanced, cushion shaped profiles known as ‘old mine cuts’ were one of the few shapes of diamond around. The modern cushion cut diamond takes this shape and applies modern brilliant cut faceting techniques, to create a sparkly beautiful blend of modern and traditional styles. Cushion cut diamonds work marvellously in a wide variety of engagement ring designs, giving you the flexibility to get creative with your piece. They’re available in square or more elongated cushion shapes, which both make for beautiful engagement rings.

6. Kite Shape Diamond Engagement Rings

I'll finish my list with a diamond shape that’s so unique, it doesn’t even have a consistent agreed upon name among jewellers and gemmologists. This last diamond shape on my list can be called a ‘kite cut diamond’, ‘shield cut diamond’ or ‘pentagon diamond’, depending on who is naming it. Though whatever you decide to call it, it’s a unique and beautiful diamond shape for an engagement ring that almost no one knows about. Each diamond faceted in this way has significant differences in its shape and proportions. So if you’re looking for a kite shape diamond, be prepared to find diamonds that look quite different from one to the next, and enjoy the process of choosing the one you like best.

Design your own unique diamond engagement ring with a jewellery maker

These 6 diamond shapes are a few of many available alternatives to the popular round brilliant cut diamond. If you’re looking for a unique ring, there are many options around to incorporate into your engagement ring design. To begin exploring the shapes you love, book an appointment directly with our jewellery maker to get personal advice and support with designing a beautifully unique piece.

You may also like:

Should you still surprise your partner with their engagement ring when you've designed it together?

It used to be the case that all engagement rings were bought as a complete surprise, and presented to a completely unsuspecting recipient. These days, relationships are far more varied, and each couple’s journey is very different.

Some couples still have one partner buy a surprise ring.

Some couples design their ring together.

Some couples design a ring each for eachother, with eachother.

Most of the time, marriage - and the engagement ring - has been talked about in some way beforehand.

So, it begs the question: Should you still surprise your partner with their engagement ring when you know it’s coming?

My answer is yes.

Even for couples that have come into my studio and designed their engagement ring (or two) together, I still find ways to make sure they can have their designed-together-ring and their surprise too.

Why?

It’s not to perpetuate the Hallmark moment we’ve been fed for decades. Real life is far more beautiful than any movie-scene fantasy we’ve seen on our screens.

Rather, it’s because the moment you put that ring on your finger, is the moment that begins a new chapter for you and your partner. Even if it’s a chapter you’ve both talked about, and know about, and have in many ways agreed to beforehand, it marks a change.

A change in your story. A change in your lives. A change in the journey you’re on together.

It’s a hugely personal moment. So as your jeweller, I always give you the option of making that moment one you’ll remember in your own truly personal way, rather than in a jewellery studio’s walls. Looking back, you’ll want to remember the day you gave your partner that meaningful ring. So even if you’re designing it together, I encourage you to create your personal moment, and surprise your partner with the ring. I promise you it’ll be a special one, even if your partner knows the ring is coming.

A jeweller that respects that moment, beyond the ring itself, knows how to support you in making that happen in a way that’s perfect for the both of you.

If you’re looking for help to involve your partner in the ring design, but keep the proposal magic, book an appointment with our jewellery maker to get your first conversation started.

You may also like:

The Biggest Engagement Ring Trends of 2023

As the year draws to a close, it’s that time to pause and reflect on the year of jewellery making that was. Given we’re a jewellery studio that specialises in custom engagement rings, our designs are shaped entirely by what are clients are looking for, not by styles we’ve decided on beforehand. So, it’s interesting to see the ebbs and flows of trends and changes in what people look for in their ring designs.

Here are the biggest shifts we’ve seen in engagement rings going out the door from our Canberra studio in 2023:

1. Traditional Yellow Gold Engagement Rings

Platinum has been the most popular choice of metal for engagement rings for the last couple of years. With pricing basically on par with white gold for the first time in history, clients have been jumping on the chance to bring platinum to their jewellery collections.

Though this year, we’ve seen a huge interest in more traditional yellow gold for engagement ring designs. Almost half of our engagement rings have been handmade in yellow this year, which took me by surprise, but is a wonderful metal to work with. In timeless designs, yellow gold is a classic that will be worn an enjoyed for many years.

Almost half of our engagement rings in 2023 were handmade in yellow gold; a huge swing from almost-all-platinum designs last year.

2. Quiet Luxury Engagement Ring Styles

One of the biggest trends in fashion this year has been the ‘Quiet Luxury’ movement. People have been shifting away from statement clothing, with prominent brand names, and unique features. The shift has been more toward timeless designs, in understated styles that can be worn and enjoyed for many years to come.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ll know that this has always been the style I veer toward here at Harlequin - ring designs that you can love and enjoy for many years, without the impact of passing trends and fashion tastes. So it’s wonderful to see this ethos bubble up in the fashion world too.

In 2023, we’ve seen a growing interest in classic, understated styles like solitaires using a variety of gemstone shapes, which blends ‘unique’ with ‘classic’. What a joy it is knowing my handmade rings will be loved and worn with pride for many years to come.

Timeless solitaires with thoughtfully chosen gemstone shapes have been big in 2023, aligned with the ‘Quiet Luxury’ trend in the broader fashion world.

3. Thoughtful Engagement Ring Purchasing

This year, more than ever, the people that have walked through my doors have been more conscious of the choices they make when they buy.

The idea of ‘sustainability’ and ‘conflict-free’ sentiments have been strong for a number of years, but the interest in thoughtful purchasing has gone much deeper than that this year. My clients are far more in tune with where their materials comes from, who makes what they buy, and the process of how it’s all made. Couples are more conscious of who they’re supporting with their purchase-of-a-lifetime. Be that their local makers, talented Australian based faceters, and miners that they can hear about.

As a jeweller, with a passion for old fashioned manufacturing techniques, skilful gem faceting, and unique gemstones, this shift has been wonderful for my work day. My days have been filled with deep chats with my clients about jewellery and gemstones, and it has been a great joy sharing the stories behind the making of all our pieces.

There is a growing interest in who couples are supporting with their purchases, and how things are made, which makes this custom jeweller very happy!

Each year - even each day - at our studio is entirely different. I can’t wait to see what projects and trends 2024 will bring through my doors.

You may also like:

The best part of choosing a handmade engagement ring for your partner

When you’re buying an engagement ring, there are a pros-and-cons you weigh up with your choices.

Most of them focus on price and quality. After all, it’s human to seek out the very best ring you can get, for the least amount of money possible. At the time, these can be very compelling, and consume your entire thoughts until you have that ring in your hand. Though if you’re considering a handmade piece, the real magic is a little more human than that.

Sure, handmade rings are great quality.

Sure, handmade rings are a great choice, given how long they can last.

Though the very best part is far more nuanced.

Whenever I meet new people, and our small talk turns to what we each do for a living, I can tell right away the people who’ve been through the process of having an engagement ring handmade, before they even tell me so.

Their eyes light up, even before they’ve said a word. The magic is still there, whether it’s been 1 year or 30 years since that ring was made.

The joy I get to see when they me things like: “I got to design the ring” and “I had someone actually make the ring by hand”. That joy never fades. That experience is one that leaves its mark long after the proposal moment.

Knowing that a pair of human hands created a timeless piece for you from scratch, and that you played a part in bringing to life - down the track, that’s the real magic of choosing a handmade ring.

You may also like:

The 3 Biggest Engagement Ring Trends of 2021

As a custom engagement ring specialist, each year brings exciting new projects to bring to life in the Harlequin Jewellers workshop. The clients that walk through our doors bring sensational new ideas, and unique styles to keep my creative soul buzzing, and this year has been no exception. So, as we wrap up the final days of a memorable year, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on the year that was, and the engagement ring trends I’ve seen through my Canberra jewellery workshop.

1. Platinum engagement rings

One of the unexpected changes the last couple of years has brought about, is fluctuations in the price of precious metals, including gold and platinum. In my entire career as a jeweller (and for that matter, most of the last century or so) platinum has been far more expensive than gold. White gold has dominated as the metal of choice for white toned jewellery, as a more affordable yet durable alternative to platinum.

This year, however, took a turn. With soaring gold prices, and plummeting platinum prices, platinum jewellery has instead matched the price of white gold jewellery here at Harlequin Jewellers. As a result? It was ‘the’ year for a platinum engagement ring. Couples wanting a white engagement ring largely chose platinum over white gold. Handmaking jewellers across the board, myself included, very much enjoyed a year of fabricating rings in luscious platinum.

Platinum diamond engagement rings were highly sought after in 2021.

2. Bespoke coloured gemstone engagement rings

The last year has brought a ‘pause’ moment for many, and abundant idle time to consider what they really want in life. It seems that engagement rings have been part of his deep contemplation. Many couples have given much thought in 2021 to finding ways of bucking traditions and making their engagement ring uniquely and meaningfully their own.

By far, my favourite result of this deep thought on their engagement ring design has been the increasing desire for coloured gemstones. Many clients have come to me with hyper specific ideas on what they’d like in their engagement ring, be it a gem variety they had their eye on, a specific shade of a colour, or a truly personal meaning they hope to capture for their fiancé. And I can tell you, it makes this gem loving jeweller incredibly happy to find them the perfect gemstone.

Couples selected highly personal gemstones for their engagement rings in 2021, like this Aquamarine (first ring) and Australian Parti Sapphire (second ring).

3. Simple diamond engagement rings

In somewhat of a contrast to the second trend, the final trend I’ve seen in engagement rings has been a shift to simple, classic designs in diamond engagement rings.

In the past few years, clients seeking a diamond engagement ring have largely chosen designs with smaller diamond accents, such as sparkly diamond halos and diamond set bands. Throughout 2021, I’ve seen diamond engagement rings trending more toward traditional classic designs like trilogy rings and solitaire styles. These styles are true classics for good reason, and make for versatile, timeless, heirloom engagement rings.

Diamond engagement rings trended toward classic designs like trilogy rings (first ring) and solitaire rings (second ring).

All in all? The year 2021 brought many beautiful engagement ring designs through the Harlequin Jewellers workshop that were a privilege to create. Keep your eye out in January for my thoughts on what trends 2022 may bring.

You may also like: