Boho Loves: RING Jewellers - Ethical and Sustainable Unique Bespoke Wedding Rings

Today I am absolutely delighted to introduce you to the most amazing jewellers, a company who pride themselves on their individuality, their bespoke designs and their sustainable and ethical way of working. Stuart Stanley is the founder of RING jewellers and he has been kind enough to come onto the blog today to tell us more about the way he works. Personally I love the ethos behind the brand, the way they care about the environment and their ethical policies when it comes to the stones and gold they use. I especially love their new ‘Tierra’ collection, a diamond made using green energy, really paving the way forward for other jewellers to follow. As for the Designs, wow! I am in ore with the way the wedding rings work with the engagement rings, not only fitting around the ring but creating a brand new design while doing so. I can highly recommend taking a good look at what RING Jewellers do, if you are looking for something that bit different then this is the jewellers for you.

RING jewellers specialises in bespoke wedding rings including rings made to fit perfectly around your engagement ring. We also make Mokume Gane wedding rings and work in a choice of 10 different metals. Our wedding rings can be Diamond or coloured stone set, laser engraved & textured. We do not charge an additional fee for one-off pieces and our consultations are relaxed, no pressure & free of charge.

RING Jewellers - Ethical and Sustainable Unique Bespoke Wedding Rings

What made you start your business?
I found bespoke jewellery at other shops was either very expensive due to all the ‘middle men’ involved or not truly bespoke. Many jewellers claim to make bespoke wedding rings when really behind the scenes it is just a supplier with limited options. I wanted to start a jewellery business that offered truly custom jewellery at an affordable price.

When did you start?
2005

Where are you based and where do you cover?
We are based in The Lanes, Brighton. We cover the whole world! We can work remotely via email consultations to create bespoke wedding rings. This means we have made jewellery for people all over the world but most of our clients are from the U.K.

What were you doing before?
My whole career has been in in the jewellery trade. Before that I studied product design at Buckinghamshire university.

How would you describe your style?
Contemporary classic. Our style is modern but at the same time we go to huge lengths to avoid designs that date. There’s nothing worse than seeing a ring & thinking it was just designed around a passing trend. We believe jewellery (especially wedding rings) should look good for life!

What is your biggest achievement so far?

We are proud to have just won Bridal retailer of the year at the prestigious U.K. jewellery awards. As well as this we have literally hundreds of Google reviews with a perfect average of 5.0 out of 5.0. We have also been entrusted by many high-profile celebrities to make bespoke jewellery for them. You can see some of these on the testimonials page of our website. There is also a website called ‘Three best rated’ that uses a 50 point inspection to grade local trades. We have been in the top three jewellers in Brighton (a city of around 50 jewellers) for the past ten years!

What makes you different to your competitors?
We have a vast number of ways to show customers what their final designs (or elements of them) will look like. These include: ‘The RING bar’ (a stand in the shop showing numerous wedding ring profiles, widths, shapes & finishes). Hundreds of wedding rings in our windows, models of different Diamond shapes & sizes, previous commissions on our website, videos & stands showcasing the choice of the 10 different metals we work in. Cabinets of wedding rings showing textures, laser engraving, grooves etc & many more!

What are you currently working on
One recent product we released was ‘Tierra’ – probably the world’s most environmentally friendly engagement ring. The jewellery trade has often been linked with bad practices in past like; damage to the planet through gold mining, unfair supply chains, pricing monopolies, human suffering & environmental damage through Diamond mining etc. The inspiration for this was hearing all the bad news & making an attempt to show that jewellery doesn’t have to be made in an unethical & damaging way. You can find out more about Tierra here – ‘Tierra’ – The Greenest Engagement Ring In The World

What do you enjoy most about your job?
Working through the design process with customers. Most clients need quite a bit of guidance & we love the challenge of helping them to narrow down the options until they have a design that looks stunning, that they love, that is practical & is as close to budget as possible.

What sort of couple do you think you attract?
We tend to attract couples that want something a little different. Although we do make lots of simple designs most of our clients like the idea of wedding rings that are more unique like incorporating some gold or gemstones from an inherited piece or subtly telling their story via a laser engraving.

What would be your ideal wedding to work on?
One type of wedding I love is the really geeky ones! In the past we have made some amazing ‘Geek Chic’ wedding rings that are engraved with personal messages & movie quotes in the languages of our customers favourite movies & shows like Aurebseh (Star Wars), Elvish (LOTR), Gallifreyan (Dr. Who) & Klingon (Star Trek). So I guess my answer would be a big fat geek wedding!

Can you give me some information on your pricing structure?
We base our prices on the elements that make up the ring like the metal, gemstones & engraving (if applicable). We DO NOT add extortionate fees on to a ring if it is a bespoke one-off piece. This means that our custom rings are the same prices as the equivalent stock rings.

What is your ideal way to spend a day off?
With my family going out for a nice lunch & then exploring somewhere new.

What can you never leave the house without?
I like to travel light & it might be boring answer but it has to be my phone. I find inspiration can strike at any time & by syncing my phone with my tablet I have an up-to-date record of photos & notes that I can then work on when I have my tablet.

Who would be your 5 dream dinner guests dead or alive?
Not including my family, it would be…Darren Brown, Robin Williams, Stephen Fry, Paolo Di Canio & Al Pacino.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
I love designing so I don’t think I would totally retire. I would instead reduce my hours & have plenty of holidays!

If you weren’t running your business, what would you be doing?
I would still be in design, maybe more 2D like graphic design. Probably within the field of advertising.