Conflict Free Diamonds

Q: I have recently got engaged and, like many people, do not want to go down the traditional 'diamond' route - for a number of reasons. One of the main being that I would never be sure where the diamonds had come from.

I ADORE pearls, and love the rings featured on your website - particularly the settings with the diamonds. There lies my problem though. Do you know the origin of your diamonds? Could a setting be done similar to the Bonnie Collection Freshadama Pearl and Diamond Ring but without the diamonds? Or with different stones (not sure which though so totally open to suggestions).

A: The diamonds we use in these small-diamond pieces are melee diamonds and unfortunately there is no way to track the source of such stones, especially when the pieces are purchased from a findings supplier as finished settings. Melee are tiny stones that come from all over the world including Africa, Russia and India. They are sold in bulk to findings suppliers by the tens of thousands.

The piece could be recreated with different stones or with no stones at all, but would need to be recast through CAD software. This would unfortunately make the ring quite a bit more expensive because it would need to be recreated from scratch by hand. In the past when we have done this sort of thing, the custom jeweler costs can be as much as a thousand dollars just for the setting.