How Jewelers Achieve the Perfect Custom Engagement Ring

The days when clients would walk into a jewelry store and choose an engagement ring out of the case are now few and far between. Today, the majority of clients are looking for custom engagement rings tailored to their personal style.

Some jewelers draw up a computer-aided design (CAD) or create hand drawings of what the custom ring will look like, whereas others already have custom collections in store that clients can modify.

For wholesalers, the process is a little different, as they help the client to source the perfect diamond and then work with industry ring makers to bring the design to life.

Executing the client’s vision

For Carlos Zamora, co-founder of Couture Jewelry, the first step in creating a custom piece is understanding what the client is looking for.

“It’s mostly talking to the client and knowing what they want, learning about their taste or their style, how active they are,” Zamora said. “We try to design around them, so everything starts with them.”

Clients mostly have ideas or inspiration pictures of what they are looking to create; then Couture Jewelry helps them design the piece based on that, Zamora shared. Following this, the jeweler creates a CAD and sends the client pictures and videos of the proposed ring.

Once the design is approved, the jeweler 3D-prints the ring so the client can see the design live. This allows them the opportunity to try it on and wear it for a couple of days.

“I make sure they really like it,” Zamora said. “If there is a little doubt that I notice, I get into a conversation to try to get that out of them. Once we do the 3D printing of a resin, they can see if they’re going to like it or not.”

At Roman Malakov Diamonds, production manager Michael Malakov also emphasized the importance of understanding the client and asking questions to get to know their lifestyle. “Many customers that we work with generally have a knowledge of what they like and what they want,” he said. “If they don’t have an idea, we try to come up with some designs based on things that we show them from our inventory that they liked.”

Letting ideas grow

While the creative process is a little different for diamond wholesaler Henry K Diamonds, which specializes in custom engagement rings and is a member of New York City’s Diamond Dealers Club, it begins with the same drawing out of the client’s ideas. Owner Henry Kusjanovic explained that, in his experience, men will come to him with a picture or an idea of what their fiancée hinted that they are looking for in an engagement ring. He will then guide them to help bring that vision to life.

“It’s kind of a weird market because the person who’s buying the [ring] ultimately has no idea what he should be doing, what she [his fiancée] likes, because it’s not really a common conversation to talk about what style, what cut diamond or what style they want,” Kusjanovic noted.

Since Kusjanovic is a wholesaler, once the client chooses a diamond, he will send the stone along with the measurements and inspiration pictures to one of the ring makers he works with in the diamond district.

At Bond Diamonds and Timepieces, partner at the company Moshe Saadia explained that their engagement ring inventory consists of hundreds of custom designs. These are inspired by the top houses that they create with their in-house designer. However, they offer clients the option to tweak any part of their already-custom collection.

“I would say about 20% [of clients] are looking to modify things and 80% [of clients] are pretty much happy with the collection,” Saadia noted.

A natural shift

Saadia said that he is seeing a lot of people going back to natural diamonds for engagement rings right now.

“The prices of lab-grown diamonds have fallen so much that, basically, you could get a ring for the price of dinner,” Saadia said. “You can’t propose or plan to propose and give a gift to someone that you plan on being with for the rest of your life, for the value of something that would be less than what a dinner would cost.”

Like Saadia, Kusjanovic noted that the majority – he estimated 90% – of the diamonds he sources for custom engagement rings are natural.

He noticed that couples that are buying diamonds for a first-time engagement ring are leaning towards natural, whereas couples who may have been married before might opt for a lab-grown diamond.

“First engagement, first marriage, it seems they like to go natural,” Kusjanovic said. “They are willing to go down [in color] a little bit for price… but they are willing to pay up for the natural, for sure.”

In contrast to Saadia and Kusjanovic, Zamora said he is mostly creating custom engagement rings with lab-grown diamonds – he would estimate for around 80% of pieces.

Choosing the perfect cut and color

Kusjanovic said that the whisper diamond setting and bezel-set diamonds are very popular right now with yellow gold. The most popular cuts he is seeing are rectangle, radiant and emerald, but not a lot of rounds.

For Zamora, ovals are the most popular shape right now. “Ovals are very popular, but mostly because they’re elongated. That’s what people like,” he noted.

When asked if any clients were opting for lower-color diamonds for engagement rings right now, Kusjanovic said that he has not been asked for many.

“I’ve had some people turn down larger diamonds that are J to K for a smaller stone that is G, H or I basically,” Kusjanovic shared. “Maybe an E or F here or there. I haven’t really seen people looking for the more yellower colors.”

On the other hand, Saadia noted that he has some clients looking for these lower-color stones, to show the diamond is natural.

“What happens is, when they’re getting these near-colorless diamonds that do have some warmth to it, the customers enjoy the fact that people can actually see the difference; that the diamond is a natural diamond and not a lab-grown diamond,” Saadia explained.

Like Saadia, Malakov said he is also seeing clients opting for lower-color diamonds right now.

“We are selling a lot of lower colors and a lot of stones with certain inclusions, not like SI2s, like salt and pepper, things of that sort,” Malakov said.

Change of heart

The jewelers give clients the opportunity to approve the design of the custom ring before production starts, but they are willing to work with customers in case the finished product is different to what they expected.

Purchasing an engagement ring is one of the most important acquisitions a couple can make, Saadia acknowledged.

“We are looking to ensure that the ring is exactly how the client wants it,” Saadia said. “If our customers are not 100% satisfied with the ring that we made for them, we generally would remake it for them for free.”

Likewise, Malakov added that Roman Malakov Diamonds will also remake the ring if a client changes their mind.

“It’s not very common for us to have a customer say that, because we try to get it right the first time,” Malakov pointed out. “But in case they do have a change of heart on the design or it might be too thin or too thick, then we’ll definitely remake it for them.”

Main image: A diamond engagement ring. (Couture Jewelry)