Brides Want A Unique Ring

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I just read a fascinating article that was sent to me by In Store Magazine. It originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle. The article was about engagement ring trends and the tastes of the modern bride. According to Antoinete Matlins, author of “Jewelry and Gems, The Buying Guide”, brides want their rings to be unique and reflective of their personal style. They are not as likely to want something that is found everywhere or seen on someone else’s finger.

Also, in this same article, David’s Bridal did a survey and found that 57 percent of newly engaged women would change something about their engagement ring if they could. That is huge! Over 1/2 of the people surveyed would change something about their engagement ring.

There are really two types of engagement rings now, and for that matter, two types of jewelry. Each has it’s own place in the market, and neither one is suited for everyone. First, you have the mass produced jewelry. This can be items that cost as little as a few dollars, or it can be an engagement ring that costs thousands of dollars. The fact is, if it is mass produced and advertised across the country, it is available across the entire country and hundreds or probably thousands will be sold. That does appeal to a large portion of the brides. They want a certain brand name or a look that is on TV and it will be recognized. However, there will be a good chance that it will be seen on someone else as well because it is produced in large quantities. Again, that appeals to some but others want a style that is more individual and built to reflect them.

That brings us to the second type of jewelry, custom jewelry or low volume jewelry. Custom jewelry can take many forms. First, it may require us to find the right mounting and then modify it to your taste or needs. You may want sapphires alternating with the diamonds or you may want aquamarines in a ring. You may want an Asscher cut diamond instead of a princess cut diamond. These reflect your tastes and your style, not someone else’s. Custom jewelry also can take the form of starting with a clean sheet of paper and interviewing the client to find out what they like and don’t like about a ring. We also look at their finger and hand to determine how thick a ring needs to be, how tall, how high off of the finger it can be and still be comfortable for that client. All of this is custom for just that one person. The ring is literally being built around her finger and her hand. The center diamond needs to reflect her tastes, not something that is advertised to everyone watching prime time television.

This type of custom can go different ways, but usually involves computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing. With today’s technology, we can design you a ring in CAD and email you an image of it before it is ever built!. Then, if you like the image, we can make a wax model of the ring for you to see. That way, you are involved in the entire design process. Again, this is not for everyone, but it is for the person that wants a look all of their own.

Low volume custom jewelry is simply custom designs that a jeweler has developed that are theirs and not sold to any other jeweler. We have a line of our own custom bridal which are designs that we made using CAD/CAM and then prototyped them in silver so that we can show the client how the ring looks and feels. Then, we can customize it with European shanks, different center diamonds or colored gemstones, and different types of metal finishes and colors.

Also, your tastes can change as you go through life. If you find yourself wishing that your ring was different after years of wear, you can remake it into something else. There are earlier blog posts on this site showing how we have taken one look and changed it to something totally different. And, custom is really not as expensive as people may think. Mass produced jewelry sometimes may not be as reasonably priced as people are led to believe. For a little more expense, you can make the exact ring that you want versus settling for a ring because it is what you see everywhere else.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at goodmanjewelers@embarqmail.com or call us at 276-676-3110. I will be happy to set up an appointment with you to discuss making you a ring all your own or changing the ring that you have now into something that you will like better.

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