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Designing to Your Budget

The WOW factor in a ring often comes from its design, and not purely from the size and number of stones or how much it cost. DDS caters for all budgets and the final piece is determined by the amount the customer can afford or wishes to spend, and ultimately comes down to elegant and clever designing. For example, when a customer wants the ring to look larger and more impressive overall, a small solitaire diamond may not have the desired effect. However, the design and final look can be enhanced by adding smaller diamonds around a modest centre stone, creating a Halo design. This style of ring is very impressive, yet need not break the budget. Alternatively, small diamonds may be set down the band, which gives the ring greater wow factor with the added sparkle and brightness.

DDS Diamond Design Studios are traditional and authentic jewellery manufacturers using the highest quality materials. All DDS designs are made on the premises and we deal directly with the public. Hence it often turns out that our handmade rings – using the highest quality materials – are less expensive than a lower-quality ring of a similar design from a retail chain jewellery store.  

Despite this, some customers still need to economise further and prefer to spend less than the first price we quote. In these cases, adjustments can be made to accommodate. For example, to reduce the cost of a ring even further, the customer can choose 9ct gold instead of 18ct gold. This reduces the gold weight and therefore the overall cost of the ring. Also the size of the stone or stones can be reduced slightly for a more affordable ring without losing the glamour.

Today there are other options to reduce the price further such as CAD designing (Computer Assisted Design), where the ring design is computer generated. The file is then attached to a wax or resin printer, and a model of the ring is produced. From here the ring design is cast in the chosen metal.

With the casting method the gold is not as hard, as it has not been work-hardened through the traditional manufacturing process. It has simply been poured into a mold and polished to get a shiny surface.  CAD and cast rings are therefore cheaper than handmade rings because there is very little labour involved. Also, they generally are not as strong or as finely finished. You can read more about cast jewellery versus hand-made jewellery here.

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