Not every engagement ring starts with a stone search. Some start with a drawer, a jewellery box, or a stone that has been waiting years for the right setting to find it.
Will came to Micheli with a stone that already had a history. An oval green gem, vivid and unusual, that belonged to someone he loved. His brief to Cinzia was straightforward in one sense and deeply personal in another: take this stone and give it a life it deserves.
The Brief
Remodels are some of the most meaningful work that happens at Micheli. The stone arrives with a story already attached to it, and the designer's job is to honour that story while building something entirely new around it.
For Cinzia, the starting point was the stone itself. An oval measuring 7.16 x 5.15mm, almost certainly a spinel or tourmaline, its identity not yet confirmed but its character unmistakeable. Green stones of this kind sit outside the familiar vocabulary of diamond engagement rings, which is precisely what makes them so compelling. They ask for a setting that frames without overwhelming, and a designer who understands that the stone is the point.
Cinzia's answer was a halo in yellow gold. Warm, rich, and historically sympathetic to green, yellow gold draws out the depth in the stone rather than cooling it down. The halo would give the piece the presence of a fine engagement ring while keeping the green stone firmly at its centre.
The Stone
The centrepiece is an oval green stone, measuring 7.16 x 5.15 x 3.57mm, with a character that rewards looking at. Whether spinel or tourmaline, both are gemstones with serious credentials. Spinels have historically been mistaken for rubies in royal collections and are prized today for their brilliance and range of saturated colour. Tourmalines come in a wider range of greens than almost any other gem, from pale mint to deep forest, each one distinct.
What matters here is that this stone came to Cinzia with meaning already embedded in it. The design exists to serve that.
The Design
The ring is crafted in 18 karat yellow gold throughout, a considered choice for a green centre stone. Yellow gold has framed coloured gems for centuries, and the warmth of the metal creates a conversation with the stone's colour rather than a contrast against it.
The oval sits in a four-claw setting at a height of 6.4mm, elevated enough to let light enter the stone from below while keeping the profile elegant and secure. Four claws hold the oval at its cardinal points, leaving the long sides of the stone open and uninterrupted.
Surrounding it is a halo of 1.3mm round brilliant cut mined diamonds, each set in its own individual claw setting. Cinzia chose individual claw settings for the halo rather than a shared prong or channel approach, a technique that gives each small diamond its own moment and creates a finer, more intricate border around the green stone. The diamonds are graded G/H colour, white enough to frame the centre stone cleanly without pulling focus.
The band is a half round profile, 1.9mm wide and 1.8mm thick, consistent from top to base, with enough substance to ground the setting above it without drawing attention away from the stone. Plain, deliberate, and well-proportioned.
On Remodelling
There's a particular kind of trust involved when a client brings in a stone that matters to them. They are handing over something irreplaceable and asking a designer to make it more itself. Cinzia approaches that responsibility with care: every decision in this ring, from the height of the setting to the choice of individual claw halo stones, was made in service of the green oval at its centre.
The result is a ring that looks as though it was always meant to be. Because in a way, it was.
Have a stone you'd like to remodel? Book a consultation with Cinzia at our Micheli Moonee Ponds boutique and let's talk about what it could become.
Ring specifications: 18k yellow gold halo ring | Oval green stone centre (spinel or tourmaline), 7.16 x 5.15mm | Four-claw centre setting, 6.4mm height | Round brilliant cut mined diamond halo, 1.3mm G/H, individual claw set | Half round band, 1.9mm width | Client's own stone remodel
