Specialist diamond jewellery manufacturer Charles Rose has a team of dedicated designers and artisans producing some of the finest quality jewellery in Australia.
The large, sophisticated store in central Geelong supplies quality jewellery to customers from around the region and beyond.
Director Marcus Rose is the third generation of his family to take up the challenge of fulfilling the high ethos of the business.
“To treat jewellery as fine art, as a form of sculpture, requires the highest levels of creativity and quality,” Marcus says.
The first step in producing a beautiful diamond ring is procuding a number of simple concept sketches.
The design deemed best is discussed with the company’s bench jewellers, who recently followed this process to produce a rose gold, yellow gold and platinum ring.
After the discussions the bench jewellers draw a specifications diagram detailing the various parts of the ring, which are made separately and assembled later.
“The precious metals are not pure, they are alloys, and the alloys must be made to exacting standards,” Marcus explains.
“A small crucible is heated to melt the constituent metals and they’re added together in a stepped process.
The steps and composition of Charles Rose alloys are a proprietary secret.
“Their quality contributes significantly to the finish, longevity and beauty of the final item,” Marcus says.
Before the diamonds can be set into the ring, in this case featuring small and large brilliant-cut white diamonds plus small pink brilliants, they must be carefully hand selected to ensure each is exactly the same size and colour. A calibration-measuring process is used.
The diamonds are laid out and checked against a set of master gems, and also inspected for uniformity within a collection of gems.
“Then the diamonds have to be set into the unfinished ring. This is the job for a specialist setter, who works on the positioning and tensioning of the claws and other elements,” Marcus explains.
“This is a demanding and highly skilled procedure, not for the faint-hearted. It’s quite possible to fracture a diamond when it’s being set.
“Making rings with fine diamonds is traditionally a bespoke process because fine diamonds don’t come in standard sizes or grades. Making jewellery that fits and enhances them can only be done properly when done slowly and by hand.”
As a specialist in fine jewellery, Charles Rose invites customers to visit the company’s stores in Geelong and Melbourne to see the beauty of their craftsmanship first-hand.
Charles Rose is at 98 Moorabool Street, Geelong, phone 5229 9088.
