Published on by Olivier Maupas-Sehikyan · Rings
Some appointments begin with a small box placed on the desk. That day, a client walked into my workshop in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, near Nantes, carrying family diamonds and a little gold that had travelled through the decades. She wanted to turn them into a ring for an anniversary. I did not talk about design or metal straight away. I listened first.
Family diamonds and a story worth hearing
From her very first words, her enthusiasm won me over. She spoke of her stones the way one speaks of loved ones. Handed down from generation to generation, these family diamonds carried a sentimental value that no valuation could ever put a figure on. My first task, then, was not a technical one: it was to understand the story hidden behind each stone, the memories it stirred, the emotions it brought to the surface.
We took our time. I looked at the diamonds, of course, but above all I watched my client looking at them. Little by little, the project took shape: a ring that would honour the past without being frozen in it, a piece of jewellery she would want to wear, that would look like her and tell something of her story.
Then she took the other treasure from the box. Gold that her family had passed down for decades. This metal had its own memory, and I saw in it a chance to give the ring even more meaning. The diamonds would come from the past, and so would the gold: everything that made up the piece would already be steeped in history.
Why a white gold ring with pavé diamonds
For a project like this, we spoke at length about the choice of a white gold ring. Its pale, cool tone sets the stones off to advantage: it does not compete with them, it extends them. As for the pavé diamond setting, it involves setting the stones close against one another, leaving the metal almost invisible, like a small floor of light. The eye does not settle on a single stone but glides across the whole surface.
This choice suited my client's story. Pavé allows several gemstones to be brought together in one movement, like a family gathered around a table. Each diamond keeps its place, yet the whole tells a single story.
The sketches, step by step
I drew several sketches. We explored different combinations of diamonds and gold, some more restrained volumes, others bolder, lines that hug the finger or stand slightly apart from it. Every detail was considered in relation to her personality, her style and her values. Some ideas were set aside with a smile, others imposed themselves, and in the end we recognised the right design, the one that looked like her.
From drawing to casting: the work of the workshop
Once the design was approved, the metal took centre stage. Melting down family gold is something I never do lightly. It must be prepared with care, alloyed to achieve the colour of white gold, then worked without losing what it represents. I knew that this tiny ingot carried years of family life, and my hands remembered it at every stage.
The form was first sculpted in wax, then transformed into metal by casting. The raw ring emerged from it, still rough, with all its potential. It remained to take it up again with the file, to smooth it, and to prepare each seat that would receive a diamond.
Then comes the setting, the moment when the workshop falls silent. Each stone is placed in its seat, then held by tiny beads of metal raised with a tool. In a pavé diamond setting, these beads must be even, discreet and strong. A badly seated stone would show, or worse, would be lost one day. So I proceeded slowly, stone after stone, checking the alignment and the hold each time.
Polishing completed the work. The metal regained its softness, the brilliance rose, and the ring took on its true presence. At that moment, a piece of jewellery ceases to be a project and becomes an object you long to slip onto your finger.
Handing over a bespoke piece of jewellery in Nantes
When I presented the ring to my client, she stood for a moment without saying a word. Then her eyes lit up. Her emotion and her gratitude were the finest reward I could have hoped for. She was discovering, gathered in a single piece, her family's diamonds and gold, now a new object that forgot nothing.
She left with a ring for an anniversary, but also with a piece of memory she could wear every day. A symbol of heritage and renewal, to borrow the words that came to me as I watched her. For my part, I closed the workshop door with the very clear feeling of having done my job.
A project like this reminds me that jewellery is not just about stones or metals. It is above all about weaving bonds between people, their emotions and their history. Every bespoke piece of jewellery in Nantes that I create carries a part of the person it is made for, and it is this encounter that pushes me, ring after ring, to look further.
If you too have diamonds, an old piece of jewellery or a little gold and are not sure what to do with it, come and talk to me at the workshop in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire. We will take the time to look at what you have, to understand what it means to you, and to see together what it might become.
