Diamond Setting Styles: A Guide to Choosing your Perfect Ethical Engagement Ring Setting
Choosing a setting for your future ethical engagement ring can be a beautiful representation of your personal style, and is an important factor in enhancing the look of your diamond. These eco-friendly, socially responsible engagement ring styles below can help you decide on your favorite diamond setting style.
Bezel Setting
Our ‘Betsy’ ethical engagement ring is a great example of the thin collar of metal known as a bezel setting. Bezel setting is one of the oldest gemstone mounting techniques, yet it looks very modern and streamlined. This style of setting is labor intensive, the bezel must be formed to fit the exact size and shape of the diamond and folded over smoothly to hold the stone in place.
Pave or Bead Setting
Bead or pave setting is a style of stone setting that uses tiny beads of metal to hold the diamonds in place. The tiny diamonds are placed in small holes drilled into the setting surface, tiny bits of metal are then pushed over the edge of each diamond, forming tiny beads holding them in place. Pave setting is used to place many diamonds in a small space that creates a ‘paved’ surface effect. Bead setting uses the same techniques but is used for a more controlled line of stones. Pave and bead setting adds a vintage feel to the design as shown in the band of our ‘Isadora’ Tulip solitaire ethical engagement ring.
Halo Setting
Halo setting is a border or halo of small sparkling stones surrounding a single large center stone, or a series of smaller stones. Our ‘Calla’ ethical engagement ring is a contemporary take on a classic Georgian halo ring style that enhances the center stone by surrounding it with the brilliance and the fire of hundreds of tiny facets.
Prong Setting
Prong setting is one of the most well known methods for holding a center stone in place and was created in it’s six prong form, by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1886. The small amount of visible metal is so minor it puts the emphasis on the diamond rather than the ring holding it. Prongs are the 4 or 6 metal claws that rise out of the band that secures the edges of the stone holding it securely in place, as beautifully demonstrated by our elegant 4 prong ‘Lila’ solitaire ethical engagement ring.
Side Stone Clusters
Cluster set diamonds are where several smaller diamonds flank a large center diamond or other gemstone. There are many unique options for how custer rings can be arranged, but often the designs are stylized floral or simple geometric patterns that first became popular during the Georgian Era. Our ‘Blythe’ side stone ethical engagement ring is a classic floral motif cluster style.
Flush Setting
Flush set diamonds are sunk into the metal until they are nearly level or flush with the ring surface. Only the table of the diamond and the facets on the crown are exposed protecting the diamond from scratching and wear. Subtle and bohemian, flush setting has become very popular and is shown on the band of our ‘Sonoma’ ethical engagement ring.
Shared Prong Setting
Shared Prong Set is a style of setting used for diamonds of smaller size set in a row, as shown in our ‘Charlotte’ ethical engagement ring. As the name implies several diamonds are set side by side sharing the same prong, that has been split and pushed over the neighboring stones. This shared prong setting technique uses less metal than pave or bead setting which allows the diamonds to sit closer together with the maximum number of stone facets exposed for brilliance and fire.
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