Process

The Part Nobody Sees

Every piece starts as an idea. Before anything is made, that idea has to be resolved completely — every proportion, every curve, every setting position. I work through the design digitally first, because if something isn't right on screen, it won't be right in metal.

When the design is ready, it goes out for casting. It comes back raw — rough surfaces, sprues still attached, nothing pretty about it yet. That's exactly where I want to be. Because what happens next is the part I care about most.

I take the casting and work through it by hand. Cleaning, filing, shaping — refining the metal until it starts to feel right. Until the weight is there, the surfaces are true, and the piece is ready for stones.

Stone setting is where everything either comes together or falls apart. Under the microscope, working at a scale most people never see, I cut each seat individually and set every stone by hand. Micro pavé, channel, bezel, prong — each technique has its own logic, its own demands. I've been doing this for fifteen years and I still approach each piece as if the standard is something I have to earn, not something I already have.

After setting comes the final polish, the last checks, the corrections. Then hallmarking at the London Assay Office — a mark that confirms the metal purity and records the maker.

That hallmark is the last thing that goes on. Everything before it is my responsibility. I take that seriously.