Frequently Asked Questions

In jewellery terms, a piece that is ‘design-led’ means that the quality of the design - the details, the uniqueness, how it has been made and the quality of materials - will be its main selling point rather than cost. For example, we’d always rather find the most beautiful example of a solitaire ring than the cheapest.

We believe that when buying an engagement ring or piece of fine jewellery, it's important to get unbiased advice and expertise to make sure you use a brilliant and trusted jeweller.

We also believe that you get the best value, quality of product, and originality of design when using an independent fine jeweller rather than something mass-produced from a big brand. It's for this same reason that we love 'design-led' jewellery - where the design, manufacturing and materials have been carefully considered rather than just finding the biggest and cheapest versions available.

As well as introductions to the jewellery designers best suited to your needs, we also offer the following:

• An ideas 'mood board' to inspire you and help you clarify and refine your ideas
• Transparent price breakdowns and advice on getting the best value for your budget.
• Urgent or time sensitive requests pushed through on request (our jewellers aways go above and beyond for people we recommend them to).
• Advice on insuring your ring from specialist jewellery insurers.
• Cleaning and maintenance - know where to go to bring your jewellery back to its original sparkly glory.
• Aftercare - if any issues arise after the sale we can help you speak to the jeweller to get it resolved.

Most of the jewellers we work with start at £3000 for a bespoke piece, and we have experience working with budgets from £2000 to £250,000.

Typically a piece of bespoke jewellery or an engagement ring takes 8 weeks to make after the design has been signed off. We recommend allowing around 3 - 4 months before you want to propose or receive the piece, and not planning a proposal until you have the piece delivered and in your hands.

We can occasionally fast-track requests due to our industry connections, so please get in touch via WhatsApp or email if you are on a very tight deadline and we will do our best to help.

All the jewellers featured on The Cut London operate fair and safe working conditions for their staff. We feel like this can be the biggest issue when jewellery is not produced in the same country as the location of the jeweller, where staff wages and working conditions are at best unfair, and at worst illegal.

Fair-mined metal or recycled metals can be sourced on request if they are not already used as standard, as well as fair-mined ethical gemstones. Diamonds are a lot trickier to guarantee ethical transparency, and despite adhering to the Kimberley Process this has proven to be a less than perfect system, and many stones remain unverified when bought new.

The Cut London’s designers have established relationships with trusted gemstone and diamond suppliers, and have worked with them for many years. If you still have concerns about using diamonds that cannot be verified as ethically mined, alternatives include recycled diamonds: pre-loved diamonds sourced from antique jewellery at auction.

Always ask your jeweller as many questions as you need to to find out the provenance of a diamond or gemstone you are interested in, as there are options of paying slightly more for a gemstone that comes from an Artisan mine where conditions are safe and profits go directly to the miners.

We believe the future of luxury lies in using smaller-scale businesses, where we save for and spend our money on ethically and beautifully designed products made by skilled workers who are rewarded for their expertise, over lesser quality, mass-made, cookie-cutter designs.

Getting a bespoke ring made by an independent jewellery designer allows you to check-in with each level of the business you're buying from, making sure the materials are ethical and the quality is high, as well as getting every detail just right. The value you are getting for your budget is much, much more than a financial saving alone.

If you are comparing different rings or bespoke options online, remember that it is very hard to compare like for like. Different jewellers have different levels of experience or outgoings, and therefore charge different amounts. It’s not an exact science.

We would always value the craftsmanship, safe working conditions, and sheer beauty of exceptional materials over something cheap you’ve seen online - and remember that the adage of something appearing ‘too good to be true’ will usually apply in the case of diamonds and jewellery that are for sale at a very low price.

We stand by the belief that the best value lies in getting a ring made bespoke from an independent fine jeweller. Kate talks about this more in the article ‘How to buy a Bespoke Engagement Ring.’

We know all of the jewellers featured on The Cut London personally and have worked with most of them for many years. It is this personal relationship that ensures the customer feels completely at ease with one of our jewellers, safe in the knowledge that they are recommended by a trusted source.

We select each jeweller based on their individual style, quality of craftsmanship and level of professionalism as a business, as well as ensuring their ethical credentials are in line with ours. We specialise in sourcing design-led jewellery so we make sure that each jeweller can bring something unique and distinctive to our network.

Yes, if you are based in London or the same country as the jeweller we can arrange for you to view rings that are available to buy, or meet with a jeweller to see more of their work. A lot of the rings shown on the The Cut London are previous bespoke commissions and so not available to be seen, but can be used as inspiration should you wish to work with that jeweller on a custom piece.

Don’t worry, we deal with these kind of enquires all the time. We can ask you a few simple questions and show you lots of images until you feel more confident in your requirements. We do find that most people have an idea of what they want or don’t want, they might just find it difficult to describe the different types of styles and options available. We can help you uncover these ideas by delving into lots of questions!

We don’t charge anything for recommendations and advice over the phone, WhatsApp or email. If you’d like to meet in person for a consultation the fee is £250. We come armed with potential ideas for designs and one-on-one expertise and advice. We can also accompany you to a jewellers for a second opinion or non-biased expert eye, or visit boutiques on your behalf to find the perfect piece.

Yes, we regularly work with overseas clients either via email, WhatsApp, telephone or Zoom. Your jeweller can arrange shipping as well as advising you on VAT reclamation. We also feature jewellers based in the US, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Part of our business operates as a referral service, so we earn a small commission from purchases made by the customer.

Every jeweller has agreed to the same terms so this does not influence who we recommend, and prices are the same when contacting the jeweller directly. As we strive to find the perfect piece for each client, sometimes we recommend jewellers or boutiques where we don’t earn commission, if it’s the best match for the customer. We’re always happy to share our knowledge.

We have invited our dream selection of designers to be part of The Cut London, so we have an extremely wide and varied pool of talent to choose from to fit your style and requirements.

Click here to visit our dedicated page to find out all about diamonds and what the 4 Cs actually mean, and how important they really are.