We think of flowers as frivolous beauty, but there’s so much wonderful engineering needed to create something so gravity defying. Getting to the core of that engineering is what makes the flower distinctive. It always feels so much more structural than decorative when I’m making them. Richard is very ‘form follows function’ in his heart but he love flowers so much, and using them in a flower engagement ring especially. Roses can be lots of things, from the simple five petal wild rose to the voluptuous hybrid tea. Orchids are very three dimensional flowers which offer opportunities and challenges, and have a spray of five petals, a ‘mouth’ and a ‘beard’. Holding a stone in the mouth is a no brainer. In the pink sapphire flower engagement ring shown Richard used the beard from two orchids to hold the central stone. The colours of the sunflower ring were a real victory. The band is the brown of 18ct white gold and then the bright 18ct yellow gold petals, halo of diamonds and rich red ruby. There was a time when Richard thought of himself as a fauvist painter and the range of colours in precious metal is his new pallet. The client proposed in our workshop so we really feel part of this one. The matching wedding ring is a little train of bees. Next page