Published on by Olivier Maupas-Sehikyan · Signet rings
Some requests arrive at the workshop with a weight that no scale can measure. This client's was one of them. She pushed open the door of my workshop in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, near Nantes, with a Mexican 10 pesos coin in the hollow of her hand and a very clear idea: to give it to her daughter, transformed into a piece of jewellery, for her birthday. Let me tell you how this bespoke yellow gold signet ring came to life.
A 10 pesos coin from the family
This coin did not come from a collector's case. It came from my client's family, who had inherited it and kept it with the respect reserved for objects laden with memories. She no longer wanted it shut away. She wanted it to be worn, seen and passed on.
I took it in my hand, turned it under the light of the workbench and studied it for a long while. One does not design around an object like this as one would around a new stone. There is a history to respect, a relief to protect, a presence that must never be overwhelmed. My client explained what she hoped for: an elegant, understated piece of jewellery that would keep the coin at the centre of everything, and that would speak of a mother's love for her daughter as much as of a family's memory.
This kind of commission, the coin ring, always moves me deeply. It rests on a simple gesture: turning a family keepsake into a piece of jewellery that can at last be slipped onto the finger, every day if one wishes.
Designing an 18-carat yellow gold mount
Very quickly, the choice of metal became obvious: 18-carat yellow gold. Its warm hue naturally answers an old coin, and its durability suits a piece meant to be worn for many years. It polishes beautifully, it ages with dignity, and it suits stories that are handed down.
The design came next, first in pencil, as I talked it through with my client. A signet ring has its own codes: a broad face, a band with presence, a confident look. But I did not want a heavy or showy piece. The challenge was to find the balance between the robustness of a 10 pesos signet ring made to last and the delicacy of work that shows the coin to its best advantage without hiding it.
I searched for that balance for a long time, and with pleasure. The mount had to hold the coin securely, surround it discreetly, and leave the band comfortable to wear. Understated, but never austere. Refined, but without flourish for its own sake.
At work in my workshop-boutique
Every stage of this creation took place here, in my workshop-boutique. Nothing was sent out. I designed the piece, shaped the band, adjusted every volume, then checked that the coin sat in its mount with no play and no strain. It is patient work, made of small repeated gestures: one files, reworks, tries, corrects.
I often thought of the future owner, my client's daughter. I did not know her, but I wanted every detail to be hers, so that she would recognise in this piece an attention paid to her and to no one else. That is the difference between a piece of jewellery bought and a family heirloom created in the workshop: the latter bears the trace of the hands that made it and the intentions that guided it.
Polishing was one of my favourite stages. The yellow gold, at first matt and rather austere after the shaping, awakens pass after pass. The surfaces become smooth, the light glides across them, and the band takes on its lustre. I polished the gold with care to achieve that look, at once understated and refined, which leaves all the space to the 10 pesos coin.
Diamonds and sapphires around the coin
During the design process, an idea came to me: to suggest small stones around the central coin. I put it to my client with caution, as I did not wish to distort her project. She agreed, and we chose diamonds and sapphires.
Setting is a stage that demands absolute calm. Each stone is placed in its seat and held by the metal, which is gently closed over it, grain by grain. One movement too forceful and everything must be redone. But when the stone finally settles into place, one feels it at once: it is secure, it is right.
The diamonds bring a lively, almost playful light. The sapphires add a darker, calmer depth. Together, they draw a discreet halo around the coin, which underlines the centre without competing with it. The signet ring remained faithful to its original idea, with the addition of a touch of brilliance that makes it truly unique.
Handing over the ring, passing on a story
There is always a special moment when I place a finished piece of jewellery in the hands of the person who commissioned it. I have just spent hours with it, I know it down to its smallest details, and suddenly it no longer belongs to me. It goes off to live its own life. In this particular case, I knew it was about to cross a far greater threshold than the mere handing over of a birthday present.
For this yellow gold ring will not simply mark a date. It brings together a mother, her daughter and a coin that has come from further afield, having travelled through the years within one family. Every time the daughter wears it, she will also be wearing that bond. And perhaps one day, in her turn, she will pass it on.
It is for such stories that I love my craft. I do not simply make objects in gold: I give form to what we long to keep, to protect, to say when words fail us.
If you too are keeping a coin, a damaged piece of jewellery or a family keepsake that you would like to make something of, come and see me at the workshop in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, near Nantes. We shall take the time to talk it over, simply, and to see together what is possible.
