Engagement rings for the modern minimalist.

Traditionally, a classic engagement ring is a showstopper, with a simple design centred around a dazzling oversized diamond. Over the last few years, a host of jewellers have been quietly challenging this assumption with edgier designs which take the focus off the central stone for pieces both sustainable and understated.

With the end of the bigger is better mentality, a world of offbeat new engagement ring design has opened up. For jewellery brand, Sansoeurs, an engagement ring design can be elegant. Established in La Coruña in 2010, the brand has quickly established themselves as a minimalist master, with a permanent collection of rings which dot diamonds onto thin gold bands or thread them through intricate golden webbing.

This year’s new collection picks up on these threads, casting diamonds onto undulating bands of gold which loop around the finger. Optical illusions add a magical and fun element – diamonds appear to hang freely from a wave of gold, attached almost invisibly, with marquise diamonds appearing to tumble over each other while they dangle from the band.

In Ring the Belle, the gold band itself splits in two to hold its marquise diamond which is unusually set – once worn, it appears to rest on the adjoining figure in another trick of the eye. The highly polished band of gold itself becomes fluid in the Miki ring which loops and loops again around the finger. The triple Miki ring threads its way around three fingers, leaving the middle one free to ensure a comfortable fit.

‘We believe in jewellery as art and as a means of personal expression that needs to serve the person wearing it,’ the brand say. ‘Our jewellery is simple, easy to wear and adapts to every occasion.

Jewellers body seeks to put off mandatory hallmarking.

The All India Gem Jewellery Domestic Council has urged the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to postpone the deadline for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery by a year.

The mandatory gold jewellery hallmarking was to be implemented from June.

Out of the 733 districts in the country, only 245 districts now have assaying and hallmarking centres (as per BIS data) and GJC urged the BIS to ensure that there is at least one A&H Centre in each district in the country.

GJC said it is essential to have proper accredited, fully functional assaying and hallmarking Centres in all districts with proper infrastructure and trained personnel prior to the requirement of mandatory hallmarking.

As per BIS data there are 940 assaying centres in 245 districts across India and the number of jewellers registered with BIS are 31,585. However, there is no presence of hallmarking centres in 488 districts.

Even the existing Centres are concentrated only in and around the urban area or clusters where there is heavy concentration of jewellers.

Only eight per cent of the entire country has the access to A&H centres.

Ashish Pethe, Chairman, GJC, said, “There are various operational and procedural issues in relation to implementation of the mandatory requirement. This will also severely affect the jewellery industry, leading to drastic consequences such as cessation of business, loss of livelihood, litigation and unnecessary waste of time and energy.”

Mandatory hallmarking in its current state has the potential to affect the livelihood of millions of people and will lead to huge disruption in the century’s old jewellery business, he added.

Due to Covid-19, the jewellery business is already suffering, and mandatory hallmarking should be postponed by at least an year till the infrastructure is in place, he said.

Given the on-going Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that various parts of the country continue to be in a lockdown scenario, GJC said, “There are many states and Union Territories such as Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep where there are no assaying Centres. Jewellers are closing their business and unemployment are leading. It is therefore of paramount importance for the government and BIS to first consider the practical issues.”

The Deeper Meaning Behind Kate Middleton’s Pearl Necklace.

Just over a week after Prince Philip’s passing on April 9, the Duke of Edinburgh and longest-serving royal consort was laid to rest earlier this afternoon within St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Across today’s moving service, it was Prince Philip’s passion for music that stood out: from his request for Benjamin Britten’s “Jubilate” to feature prominently, to the setting of Psalm 104 by composer William Lovelady that was commissioned by the Duke to accompany his final goodbyes.

Yet it wasn’t just the carefully chosen readings or the soul-stirring hymns that defined today’s send-off, but also the sartorial choices made by the Duke’s family to pay tribute to his life and legacy. Nobody more so than Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore a black coat with a bow detail across the neckline, topped with a netted fascinator that perfectly balanced the Duchess’s eye for sleek style with a more tasteful and occasion-appropriate restraint.

What shone brightest, though—quite literally—was the pearl choker Middleton wore to add a touch of something more elevated. Not just a style detail, the piece was a meticulously considered tribute to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who wore it to a banquet at Hampton Court Palace in 1982. Gifted to the Queen by the nation of Japan in the 1970s, and part of the royal jewelry collection ever since, the layered strings of cultured pearls didn’t just dazzle for their iridescent shimmer, but also served as a subtle nod to Middleton’s predecessors within the family.

But most importantly, perhaps, on a day of deep mourning, her choice of jewelry offered a much-needed moment of uplift and beauty. Of that, Prince Philip would surely approve.