13 June 2026
From the bench: a two-carat oval, for a yes in Istanbul
Two carats, chosen loose under the loupe and set by hand for a proposal in Istanbul — the stone, the bench, the five days.
Some commissions begin with a date. This one began with a question — and a two-carat oval, chosen loose, long before a single prong was drawn.
We read a stone in the hand first. Held in the tweezers, turned under the loupe, the oval comes up bright and clean, its length easy and flattering on the finger. Only when the stone is right does the setting begin.
It was set entirely by hand at our Istanbul bench — the same pair of hands from sketch to sign-off — and finished in five days, in time for the proposal it was made for.
The certificate travelled with the ring. That is the whole of it: a real stone, real work, made for one person in this city.