Every single bespoke piece I work on has a story to tell. The act of designing a piece for oneself or someone beloved to us is a deeply personal and emotional exchange.

Something that I’m often asked to do is to restore gemstones or embed precious family heirloom stones into new designs. I am truly humbled when I am given this task and this trust by my clients, and I relish the opportunity to take something so special and meaningful and to consider how I might honour these stones and their pasts with a renewed life.

There are two projects that I still often think about where I’ve worked closely with my client to do just that.

First, there is the Necklace for Nadia.

Nadia came to me with three beautiful diamonds from her mother’s wedding ring (pictured left) and commissioned a pendant (pictured right) to celebrate an important milestone in loving memory of her mother.

“I commissioned my pendant to celebrate a big promotion at work. I decided to use three diamonds from my mother’s wedding ring as I wanted to have something I could wear every day and have her with me, given she passed away nearly 16 years ago. I also chose to pair the diamonds with sapphires, in a way keeping the tradition I started when I purchased my first handbag with her using my first paycheck! I know she would have been thrilled with the finished product and proud of me.” – Nadia

Then, there’s Abby’s white diamond ring. 

For this ring, Abby wanted to bring together some diamonds from rings her grandmother and great-grandmother owned into a new family heirloom that she could cherish forever.

The result is a custom 18ct yellow gold and 18ct white gold cluster ring with a design that invoked her childhood memories (pictured below)

“Marina, this is so incredibly beautiful. I love how you have offset the symmetry – strong and feminine. Most of my childhood was spent on the Barrington River (I spread my mama’s ashes there almost 2 years ago exactly), and the ring feels like the water running over the river stones.” – Abby

Working on this jewellery that is so symbolic for clients and their families feels like one of the greatest gifts I can get from my work. 

If you have been holding on to some heirloom stones and would like to talk about reimagining them into a new piece of bespoke jewellery, please get in touch. info@marinaantoniou.com