Developing A Commission
Every bespoke piece begins with a conversation.
For over 80 years, Bellefontaines has helped customers create jewellery that’s personal, meaningful, and made to last — and it all starts with understanding your vision (or helping you shape it). Whether you’re dreaming of a ring, necklace, pendant, earrings or bracelet, our friendly, knowledgeable team will guide you through the process step by step.
If you already have jewellery you treasure, we can rework it into something that feels more “you”. That might mean remaking a piece in a different metal, or completely redesigning it — especially if it’s a family heirloom that no longer suits your style. A thoughtful redesign can breathe new life into something precious, while keeping all the sentiment. Wherever possible, we can reuse your existing metal and gemstones, and add anything needed to complete the design.
If you’re starting from scratch, we’ll help you source and select the perfect stones. We’re proud to offer internationally certified diamonds, meticulously graded under laboratory conditions by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Each diamond is assessed by the 4Cs — colour, clarity, cut and carat — so you can feel confident in both its beauty and long-term value.
If a diamond isn’t what you have in mind, we can also source the right gemstone in the ideal cut and colour to bring your ideas to life.
Next comes the design stage — where creativity meets precision. We’ll develop your piece through sketches and digital CAD, so you can see a detailed preview of how it will look before it’s made.
Finally, your jewellery is crafted and finished in our on-site workshop. Our master craftsmen hand-set each stone with exceptional care and accuracy, bringing your design to life with the attention to detail that bespoke jewellery deserves.
Enquire today or book a personalised appointment with one of our experts to begin your bespoke jewellery journey.
Example Commissions
Diamond Ring
Mary has a lovely collection of jewellery, some is inherited favourites and some has been gifted to her by her husband. Due to the affordability of synthetic diamonds Mary wanted to have a dress ring to wear.
The brief was a large synthetic diamond which is would not be out of place on Marys hand. Mary has both yellow and white gold but felt the yellow gold shows of diamonds well. Mary did not want the ring to look like an engagement ring but liked the idea of a single diamond with other stones.
We asked Mary to look for images of jewellery that inspired her and from the images she gave us we created a ring. We used CAD to provide a image for her to look at. Once we had made minor adjustments her design was sent to be cast.
Mary loves her ring as do her daughters, she says she often stops what she is doing to glance at it.
Fancy Cocktail Ring
This fabulous cocktail ring began life as an image that had been seen by Mary online. Mary mentioned to Gary that she loved the ring. Mary loves fancy cut gemstones that are a bit more unique that the normal cuts. Gary decided to have a version of it made for Mary for Christmas. Using CAD we took the image that Mary had seen and crated a version of it which would be more durable for Mary to wear. Due to the complicated nature of the design, we cast this in two parts. The centre stone is a synthetic corundum, and the other stone are all synthetic diamonds. Mary loves this ring as it really showcases the fancy cut stones and it is a complete one off.
Repurposing Existing Gemstones
Mary had been left a single earring by a family member. The earring had lovely bright well matched round diamonds. Mary was looking to repurpose it into an engagement ring. We were tasked with finding a synthetic diamond either pale blue or pink. We found some examples of available stones to show Mary. Mary choose the lovely pink stone you see in the ring. Mary wanted a ring similar in design to another family members ring. We adjusted the design to suit the oval centre stone. The pink stone has white claws, and the diamonds have yellow this was to enhance the colour of the pink stone. Now Mary has a fantastic oval synthetic pink diamond and natural diamond cluster ring to wear. This ring was very special as it utilized her family jewellery and gave a new lease of life with a modern new stone.
Using CAD Design
This is a piece of jewellery we have in stock which was inspired by a design we did for a client. Mary had inherited her Mothers jewellery and within the collection there were some fabulous old cut diamonds. Mary’s son, Paul was getting engaged and wanted to use the families stones to make the ring for his fiancé. We looked at the stone and showed Mary and Paul rings we had in stock as well as images he had looked at online. Paul decided to go with a ring that was a traditional 3 stone ring but if you looked at it from the side you could see the diamonds quite clearly and the design of the mount is modern. The mixed of old and new worked perfectly for Paul. We made a version of this ring for Paul and he was over the moon with it. We liked it so much that we made one as well!
Using CAD Design
A client recently contacted us with a view to remodelling her engagement ring. This design is currently being developed in our workshop. It features heart-shaped gallery around the main stone and smaller diamonds in a half eternity band.
This ring is still in production – the very realistic images shown below are a 3D render of the planned piece, showcasing the ability of our designers to give a really clear indication of how the finished item will look.
