Let us take you back in time to when William and Julia worked from home in the late 1980’s – 1990’s: they created a jewellery workshop in a room adjoining the garage in the back garden, and hosted client appointments in their small family kitchen. While this is far-removed from the large jewellery showroom and private consultation room we have today, the same core values of family values, personalisation and quality remain at the heart of the business.
Our Bow Ring design came into being in those early days of William and Julia’s business partnership, and was pattern number 51 from their original collection of pieces created from their own hand-drawn designs. However, we can’t claim credit for the original invention of the bow ring concept, as the bow and lover’s knot motifs have been popular in fashion and jewellery design since the Middle Ages. In the early 17th century bows of ribbon or coloured silk were popular dress trimmings and these were often used to attach jewels to the bodice of gowns. By the middle of that century, fabric bows were being replaced by gem-set and enamel bows to attach the jewels, and the motif has rarely been out of popularity since.
The WJ Bow Ring is a neat and compact design, rather than an opulent or frivolous bow; it wraps around and encases the finger completely. The weight of the design makes the ring incredibly tactile; even in lighter weight metals such as sterling silver.
The true beauty of the WJ Bow Ring is it’s versatility: seen here in it’s plain polished incarnation, the ring can be made in any of our precious metals and finished either to a highly polished shine or incorporating textures such as sandblasting, brushing or beading to pick out the different bands. We have also created many variations of the Bow Ring using precious stones and diamonds. The depth of the band allows for stone-setting throughout the design, so the embellishment can be as understated as setting with a single birthstone, or as opulent as fully setting with diamonds throughout. The design can also be engraved with a pattern or special message.
Anyone with a WJ Bow ring not only has a piece our history, but a little piece of jewellery history, and if you’d like to add this classic to your collection, we are more than happy to discuss your customization ideas and requirements… in our consultation room, not our kitchen 😉
