Eclipse of the Heart 002- my passion project

The Eclipse of the Heart series is a passion project of mine, that follows along my journey as a luxury jewellery brand designer. This collection began with my love of spinels, an unknown stone of antiquity. As a stone setter, I love spinels. They are clean, and colourful stones that are rarely treated due to their obscurity. They produce a very high quality, durable gemstone, which results in a stone that can handle daily wear, even better than sapphires. Cleaving/chipping or surface inclusions, are more common in sapphires than spinel due to their crystal structures even though sapphires are slightly harder than spinel. I see this. first hand as many of these sapphires come to me for repair or replacement. 

Sapphires usually take centre stage in the public eye, but in my opinion spinels are the unsung hero. They exhibit exceptional clarity and bold colours from black and grey to electric reds and blues. This coupled with their hardness produces brilliant, sparkling gem cuts, that can outshine many gemstones. 

Throughout my jewellery career, I have worked with many different stones but the majority of my work involves diamonds, particularly diamond engagement rings. However, for my bespoke boutique collection, I wanted to let my imagination be boundless and unrestricted. I want to experiment with shape and colour to break from the saturated look of white, round diamonds.

With The Eclipse of the Heart series, I flipped the script and build everything around a solid black stone; a contrast to the traditional white diamond. Next, I took the chance to infuse a playful, colour palette. My goal was to create a ring that demands attention. It's a piece of art for a trendsetter; an individual who knows how to use jewellery as a powerful form of self-expression.

My collection of work takes from my years of training as a stone setter mastering the micro-pave technique. I use gemstones on metal, as a pointillism painter would use oil paint on a canvas; glittering dot after glittering dot wrapped in gold. While this work can be demanding and tedious, I find it rather meditative and relish the demands of precision and thought required for its completion.

When it comes to creating these masterpieces, there is no rule book; there never was. It shimmers into my mind, and then I engineer it once and never again. Each custom piece of jewellery carries a piece of the artist with it, carrying the love of creation waiting for its worthy owner. The Eclipse of the Heart collection is not for the faint of heart. Like the unique colourful gemstones within, only those that understand the hidden gem, are worthy to wear them.