Garnets for an Unusual Engagement Ring - Designers Love Them.

Diamonds are generally the usual choice when you ask the big question, but for an unusual engagement ring, designers are looking towards alternatives and are using some surprising gems, such as garnets, with unique and sophisticated results.

Garnets

These beautiful stones are generally thought to be a deep glistening red. Their name comes from the Latin word for grain and conjures up the idea of pomegranate seeds. They are, however, found in a vast range of colours, making them a very versatile gemstone. In addition to blue, garnets are found in green, yellow, orange, red, blue, purple, pink and brown. The garnet is also quite high on the Mohs scale, scoring 7 to 7.5. This means they are hard-wearing as well as beautiful. If you are looking for an unusual engagement ring, designers like to work with garnets, because in addition to the versatility in colour and durability – they can be worn every day – they are also relatively insensitive, meaning they are easy to cut and work. They should, however, be protected from sharp knocks because they can shatter. Although having said that, they are very resistant to scratches and chipping.

Rich in meaning

Garnets are the birthstone for January, so they are perfect for people born in that month. They do have a lot of meaning attached to them as well. In folklore, they are thought to bring good luck and ward off evil, as well as bad nightmares. They are also thought to have healing properties and to help with depression and fatigue. Symbolically, they represent courage, truth and fidelity, making them a good choice for an engagement ring. There is a long history of garnets as a prized gemstone which dates from the ancient Egyptians to even a legend of Noah’s having a lamp encrusted with garnets on the ark.

Green garnets

For an even more unusual engagement ring, designers sometimes come across the rare demantoid green garnet. These stones are uncommon and so command a higher price than the easier to find red garnets. Green garnets are found in Russia. They were a favourite with Fabergé who used them in his designs. What makes these garnets so desirable are the tiny horsetail inclusions that give a vivid texture to the whole stone. All garnets are brilliant, but the green garnet surpasses even the diamond for brilliance. The green garnet is also found in Tanzania and Namibia, but they lack the horsetail inclusion.

The real deal

Synthetic gemstones are used in jewellery because of the high price and rarity of natural occurring stones such as rubies and sapphires. These can also be heat treated to improve their colour, and sometimes it is difficult to tell if what you are buying is synthetic or natural. A garnet, on the other hand, is usually always 100% natural because they are intolerant to heat treatments and, as they are so easy to find, there is no point in making them synthetically.

So, for an unusual engagement ring, designers are turning more and more to the garnet as a real choice, because of the range of colours, the facility of cutting them and their durability.

Frederick Holm writes for the F&L Designer Guides, which hosts a thriving community of independent engagement ring designers in the UK. Inspired by their journey of discovery in search of distinctive unusual engagement ring designers, F&L now celebrates the works of their favourite designers and helps promote the notion of "Go Bespoke" as a more imaginative and interesting alternative to the limitations of High Street shopping.