Teal Octogon Bezel Ring

Shimell and Madden occupy the space where craft, art and fashion intersect. High quality and hand-crafted, their jewellery explores themes of science, nature and time. They have been creating jewellery in their London studio since 2010. Emma Madden’s expertise is in craft and conceptual design, inspired by the universality of mathematics. Luke Shimell’s extensive experience as a goldsmith enables him to develop their designs into intricate pieces of exactitude.

Tourmalines are found in almost every colour - from greenish blues, to peachy pinks and electric violets. The main source of tourmaline comes from Brazil, with the rarest kind - paraiba tourmalines - found in a specific region of Brazil being highly desirable due to the radiance and bright, unmistakable colour.

Some tourmalines also display a colour phenomenon where two distinct colours appear next to each other, these are known as watermelon tourmalines, and are often cut in rectangular shapes.

Tourmalines are a relatively hard material, similar to emeralds, but are more stable due to fewer inclusions. They are popular in engagement rings for lovers of unusual colour, with peach tourmaline and teal tourmaline gemstones remaining the most desirable.

Tourmalines are traditionally the birthstone for October. View all tourmaline rings here.

Emerald cut diamonds feature the distinctive step cut - where the facets of the diamond are long, open and straight, rather than short and close together as found in brilliant round cuts. This means that emerald cuts should be reserved for high quality diamonds where there are few inclusions and a bright white colour, as the unforgiving step-cut reveals imperfections to the naked eye. Combined with a large 'table' (the flat top facet of the stone) you can literally peer into the centre of the diamond and see through it, like a window.

Serious and geometric, the emerald cut diamond works best in larger shapes where they create a real impact, and we love them set east-to-west for a contemporary vibe.

See all emerald cut diamond rings here.

Gold is a naturally occurring metal with a warm, glowing finish when polished, and remains the most popular choice for engagement rings due to its natural beauty and hard-wearing strength.

Pure 24k gold is naturally a soft material, and considered too soft to create jewellery with, so it is mixed with small amounts of other metals to create an alloy.

As well as increasing the durability of the gold, adding alloys can also change the colour of the gold to produce rose or white gold, for example.

18k yellow gold is made up of 75% pure gold, and 25% alloy, which would usually include silver and copper.

18k rose gold is made up of 75% pure gold, 22.2% copper, and 9.2% silver.

18k white gold is made up of 75% pure gold and 25% palladium or platinum.