Jack had known for a long time that 2025 would be the year. He just needed to make sure the ring was ready.
How they met
The story starts in Hobart, where Maddy was visiting on a girls’ trip and Jack’s life changed without any warning. They met, something clicked, and then the harder part began: a year of long distance, of making it work across the kilometres, of deciding whether this was real enough to rearrange a life for.
It was. Maddy moved to Melbourne. They built something together - a home, a routine, a family. Their daughter Milla arrived, and the life they’d chosen to start became the life they were living.
By the time Jack walked into Micheli, he wasn’t there because he was ready to propose. He’d been ready for a while. He was there because he wanted the ring to be exactly right.
The design - with Alice
There’s a particular kind of trust that comes with designing a ring for your brother. Alice, Micheli’s Malvern designer, knew Jack, knew his taste, and knew how much this moment meant. Which made the collaboration between them something more than a typical consultation.
Jack arrived with an open mind and a good eye. He was drawn to the structured elegance of the Asscher cut and the softer curves of the oval. Two very different instincts, both entirely him. Alice’s idea was to bring them together: the step-cut geometry of the Asscher, with its clean lines and broad flashes of light, married to the elongated silhouette of an oval. The result was an old mine elongated cushion - a stone with an antique soul and a shape that felt completely considered.
Jack loved it immediately. Alice designed the rest of the ring around it, and kept the whole thing a secret from Maddy the entire time.
“A bricklayer with a creative mind - he loved being able to build something lasting for Maddy.”
— Micheli
There’s something fitting about that. Jack works with his hands. He builds things that are meant to hold. The ring, in that sense, was entirely in keeping with who he is.
The ring
The centre stone is a 2.56ct old mine elongated cushion, measuring 10.02 × 6.95mm, substantial, warm, and with the kind of quiet depth that step-cut diamonds carry. Alice set it in Micheli’s signature setting: swept-up shoulders that rise into a wine glass V-claw, holding the stone with a delicacy that belies how securely it’s held.
The band is 18K white gold throughout, tapering in the classic Micheli profile - 1.8mm at the top, widening to 2.2mm at the base, with a consistent 1.8mm thickness.
Clean, refined, and entirely without distraction. No shoulder stones, nothing to compete with the stone. Just the diamond, the setting, and a band that frames it without fuss.
Ring specifications
|
Metal |
18K White Gold throughout |
|
Centre stone |
2.56ct old mine elongated cushion |
|
Setting style |
Micheli signature - swept shoulders into wine glass V-claw |
|
Band profile |
Classic Micheli profile |
|
Band thickness |
1.8mm throughout |
|
Design consultant |
Alice |
The proposal
Jack proposed on the 28th of December, the last days of the year, just as he’d planned.
But before Maddy saw the ring, someone else did. Jack snuck Milla out of daycare early, just to show her the diamond first. 
A small, entirely unnecessary, completely perfect detail. Milla is too young to know what a proposal is. She doesn’t need to. She was just there, held by her dad, looking at the thing he’d had made for her mum.
Maddy said yes. The year ended the way Jack had always known it would.
Congratulations Jack and Maddy - from everyone at Micheli. ♥
If you’re ready to begin, Micheli’s Melbourne studios are here. Get in touch to start your own design.
