Today is a special post. If you’re such a jewelry addict as I am…you’ll adore!
I love Marrow (Jillian’s unique style is beyond beautiful for words) and the magic that comes with every single piece. Jillian shows her creations off on IG and it’s interesting getting to know how a piece can come to life such as picking gemstones etc. I’ve obviously loved following its process of today’s marvelous ring which started by stone selections and such via @Marrow Fine on Instagram Stories. (I even kept taking screenshots at the time…lol) I’m always obsessed by everything Jillian creates but this ring caught my eye even more than any other in the past. So I HAD to ask Jillian to share with us all on how this ring came to life. Keep on reading, you won’t be disappointed! You’ll be in awe, just like I am!
It’s so interesting getting to know how a custom piece is being created.
Jillian on the whole process of ring-making this piece for Louise:
Ahhh this was SUCH a fun piece to create! Louise was a dreamboat of a client to work with as she has a distinct design point of view. Girlfriend loves color, yellow gold and vintage Art Deco-inspired designs. She also is very familiar with the brand and my design aesthetic and had so much trust to really let me run with the palette and overall design.
We set up a Google hangout to discuss her likes and dislikes and chat about the everyday pieces that she currently wears as well. This is typical when our clients are not local to Southern California… we work through Google hangout, videos and email. This allows clients from all over the globe to easily work with Marrow. She also sent me photos of Marrow rings from the past that she had admired, which is always helpful!
We ultimately decided to create a modern spin on vintage Art Deco ballerina rings. Vintage designs such as this beauty via @coppercanary were the inspiration:
To make her feel like a Marrow piece, I wanted to keep the setting low profile with closed baskets and add in some unexpected color as well.
As with any statement piece, it all really begins and ends with the center stone! We wanted it to be juicy and saturated. We did consider a Morganite like this beauty, but it wasn’t feeling deep enough in saturation.
From the very start, we then decided that a padparadscha colored sapphire would be ideal and we wanted her more peachy than pink. Here are some examples of padparadschas via The Natural Sapphire Company.
We found a juicy 1.22 cts that she loved but was concerned that it might be too small. Once we started conceptualizing where we were going and the amount and size of the tapered baguettes to design around her, the size ended up feeling really good!! This stone was not certified as a padparadscha through GIA, BUT she has the characteristics we were looking for, so we snagged this beauty!
Next, we started laying out stones. I often use Clear Gel Coated boxes (designers, you can get these on Rio Grande) and sketches to show the client ideas when the design concept is coming together, like this:
Once the client approves the concept, we move to the CAD (Computer Aided Design) phase. Every custom design goes to CAD and our clients get a round of revisions if needed. CADs are an awesome way to ensure the client gets exactly what he or she wants because they can see all angles and the exact layout. Of course, it’s a computer model, so the stone colors aren’t perfectly matched to the real-life colors and the prongs aren’t folded over the stones yet. BUT this is how we guarantee our clients are thrilled every time because there are no surprises with what the finished piece will look like. I counsel clients if there is something they don’t like in the CAD, they probably won’t like her in real life. We need to pause and make changes until they love it.
The first CAD rendering looked like this:
She was feeling sparse in the center. We weren’t quite there yet, so we added in additional marquise diamonds and the angels started singing!! This was it!!!
Once the CAD was approved, we 3D printed her in wax and cast this beauty in 14k yellow gold. The finished piece absolutely blew me away! Take a look at this stunner and how she catches the sunlight…. we LOVE this modern take on a vintage era design. Thank you Louise and thank you Sophie for loving her too!
All info and imagery thanks to Jillian of Marrow | Thanks to Louise for letting us share about her gorgeous ring | Collages by MoJ