Emerald Strata Ring

Shivani Chorwadia is a modern fine jewellery studio creating pieces for every day wear. With a focus on intelligent design and sustainable practices, the collection is considered, carefully crafted, and rooted in a geometric aesthetic.

Emeralds are a green coloured precious gemstone, and one of the four most desirable gemstones worldwide, alongside diamonds, rubies and sapphires.

Emeralds fall below diamonds, rubies and sapphires in terms of hardness, due to the fact that most emeralds have a high number of inclusions in them - small splits and breakages visible in the stone - so they can shatter quite easily and are considered a fragile gemstone.

As emeralds are usually quite ‘included’ - where there are marks that are clearly visible in the stone - the colour and the clarity are considered to be the most important factor in determining value. So as with all gemstones the colour is king, and tends to determine price, with emeralds it’s also how clear the gemstone is. It’s normal to have a few inclusions in an emerald, so instead it’s important to choose a bright colour that sparkles and glows a deep green. Emeralds too pale will show the inclusions even more, and too dark will appear dull.

It’s also important to set emeralds securely, usually in a bezel setting rather than a claw setting, so the metal goes all the way around the stone, protecting it.

Emerald is traditionally the birthstone of May. View all emerald 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.