This fortnight's Designer Focus is with Hattie Rickards, a bespoke jewellery designer whose coveted styles are instantly recognisable by those in the know.
Her signature silhouette is architectural yet soft, wearable yet unique - with the distinctive diamond arches and tapered custom cut stones standing out amongst the sea of solitaires on the market.
Hattie works primarily on a bespoke basis, with a small collection of 'tailor made' pieces that her clients can tweak to create their perfect design.
We love Hattie's work for its undeniable originality, along with Hattie's commitment to creating the ultimate bespoke journey for her clients; guiding and encouraging them to discover and delight in the details that will suit them perfectly.
Read on to find out more about Hattie's creative process...
How long have you worked in the industry and how did you get into the jewellery business?
I’ve now been designing and making bespoke engagement rings as well as collections for over 15 years now. I’ve always been a jewellery designer, I studied jewellery design at Central Saint Martins and have been honing my craft ever since.
Where are you based?
I consider myself a London based designer as this is where I meet all my clients and some of my best craftsman and suppliers are based. My client base is actually international and I do a number of remote projects as well. I do my design work from an airy studio in the Cotswolds near where I live.
How would you describe your style of jewellery?
Our engagement rings are beautifully paradoxical; feminine yet masculine, voluptuous yet angular, bold yet elegant.
Showstopping engagement rings with exceptional diamonds, highly technical custom cut stones, graduating gemstone arches, signature settings in modern gold frames. Our gifting pieces follow the same design aesthetic providing exciting jewellery for clients to celebrate major milestones.
What elements make for a great bespoke ring?
For me and my clients, the real understanding of bespoke comes in the ‘wow moment’ when they open their jewellery box and see their piece of jewellery for the first time. This is so very different from buying a ready to wear jewellery as it manifests all the work, the journey, the inspiration and stories that have been discussed together to design the piece and ultimately this means they get so much more than they ever believe is possible and it feels 100% them.
For me personally, the other joy of bespoke is encouraging my clients to participate and enjoy the journey of bespoke jewellery by inputting their stories and their history alongside my expertise and design aesthetic.
A bespoke jewellery purchase takes three months, which is much more luxurious and rewarding than an off the shelf purchase that might take 30 minutes.
If someone came to you looking for a bespoke ring but had no idea what they're looking for, how do you work with them?
This is really common. A lot of my clients start off not knowing what it is they want so it is a case me sitting down with them, finding out who they are, what their style is and what they want to get out of the piece of jewellery. I like to give the clients confidence to find their own design boundaries and use my intuition to create their dream design.
What's your favourite thing about creating bespoke rings?
My clients being happy and proud to wear a piece of my work and to feel like it represents them, their style and their stories.
How do you pick the gemstones you work with?
I have used a very small select handful of exceptional stone suppliers in the UK consistently for 15 years. Whether they be diamonds or precious gemstone suppliers, we have a understanding of the quality of work I am trying to achieve and I trust them implicitly to provide only the very best selection of stones that the client and I can choose from. I want the client to see in person every major stone in their piece of jewellery as it’s a very personal and fun part of the process.
