How much fun it would be to design your own piece of jewellery, to look just the way you want it to, and have it arrive in a lovely parcel in the post! Well, you can do just this at StyleRocks, where you can choose anything from the style, to the gems, to the type of gold you want to use. Customising your own jewellery – be it for the men in your life, or for yourself, will ensure a piece that is unique to you, and with most pieces priced between $100 – $500 StyleRocks delivers not only on quality but on price as well.
What was the catalyst for starting StyleRocks?
My husband & I were living in London at the time and I was 8 months pregnant with twins. My husband, knowing my love of jewellery, offered to buy me a ‘push present’ for the babies arrival. However, due to my size at the time, I was simply unable to get to the shops. So I went online – and I searched for a week, looking for something that I would love. Nothing was right – I found myself wanting to customise everything I found. I don’t wear rose gold, I wear yellow gold; I don’t wear onyx, I wear blue topaz. It seemed fundamentally wrong to me that when jewellery is such a personal expression of your style, that you should have to settle for something that isn’t right, is expensive and that you’re going to spend the next few decades wishing you could change!
So we left it, completely frustrated. The twins were born and as you can imagine, their birth, in addition to a relocation to Australia shortly after, meant there was no time to look for jewellery. Looking for a return to work coincided with discovering another website where you could customise your own fashion item – and for the first time I realised this ‘DIY’ technology existed. Creating a website where you could customise your quality jewellery online seemed a great way to harness my passion for jewellery – and StyleRocks was born.
Emerald cut emerald earrings
What do you love particularly about jewellery, gems and the creativity they offer for design?
I love so many different aspects of jewellery. I love the way it can make you feel: expensive or cool, depending on your mood. I love that how what you can put on, finishes your outfit in a way like nothing else can. I also love how jewellery is a great conversation piece; I’ve had complete strangers start chatting to me in cafes or shops about the jewellery I’m wearing!
I’m definitely a gemstone girl and am fascinated by colour. Which colour works for me but which won’t work for a friend. How this gemstone looks a bit average when set in silver but really pops when in rose gold. I love unexpected colour combinations – all these things really are a form of creative expression.
What are the benefits of buying from StyleRocks over walking into a physical store and buying jewellery?
If you were to walk into a typical retail jeweler and find a ring that you liked, it would only be available in perhaps two different gemstones and/or two different metal colours. If none of those suited you, you would either then walk away or ask the jeweller if you could have that stone in (for example) amethyst and in a rose gold setting. If the jeweller was able to, then what follows is an expensive process where s/he has to source the materials, talk to suppliers, etc. This incurs time, which is then passed on to the customer, making the traditional jewellery customization process expensive – not to mention time-consuming.
StyleRocks, thanks to its partnership direct with manufacturer as well as ground-breaking technology, is able to remove the middleman – the jeweller. Essentially, StyleRocks allows you to customize your fine jewellery online – at a fraction of the retail jeweller cost.
What categories of jewellery do you offer?
StyleRocks offers women’s and men’s rings – including wedding rings – earrings, necklaces, bracelets and cufflinks.
Which metals and gemstones do you offer?
The metals are all those used in fine jewellery: sterling silver, platinum and of course gold (9 or 18 carat) in any colour: white, yellow or rose.
For gemstones, we offer precious stones – diamonds, pink / blue / yellow sapphires, emeralds and rubies. These precious stones are all quite small in size, rather than the bigger engagement ring size gems. However we do provide valuation certificates on higher-priced items, typically for $1000 or more.
For the bigger cocktail rings, the gemstones we use are semi-precious: blue topaz, citrine, onyx, amethyst and so on.
Interestingly, customer demand has also shaped what we offer. We found that there were requests for beautiful pink, green and darker blue gemstones; the natural versions of these stones (of pink sapphires, emeralds and sapphires) would be incredibly expensive! The reason for this is that these gemstones are rarely found in this size naturally and to afford the ‘real’ deal, you would have to be incredibly rich to afford them. So we sourced hydrothermal versions of these gemstones – hydrothermal means made through a process of heat and water – and they’ve been incredibly popular. We’re very careful to label the gemstones as hydrothermal where relevant – we don’t want people to get confused.
Silver key heart pendant
How do I go about customizing, for example a ring with a precious gem that I’d like to wear all the time?
It’s really easy and can be designed in less than 5 minutes:
1. Choose the style of ring you would like from the 30 design options available
2. Choose your metal: silver or gold or platinum. If gold, don’t forget to select the colour!
3. Choose your gemstone from the 16 gemstones available.
4. If you’d like engraving, add that in. We have a range of messages available, in a variety of languages and a choice of fonts.
5. Don’t forget your ring size: if you don’t know it, we have a print out ring sizer on the site. Alternatively, you can email us at info[at]stylerocks[dot]com and we’ll pop one in the post to you – free of charge.
6. Check out and wait for your beautiful customized jewellery to arrive – between 2 to 3 weeks later.
Can you offer suggestions, when the client is designing the item, as to whether the gem and the metal they have chosen are suitable for the purpose?
We have taken a production eye with the combinations that we offer on the site – we won’t offer a combination if we don’t think it will work in practice. For example, with the higher-end sapphire and diamond rings, we don’t offer them in silver. Silver is the softest of all metals, and we don’t want to run the risk of a stone coming loose through repeated wear and tear. So for that reason, we only offer the high-end pieces in the strongest of metals i.e. 18 carat gold and platinum.
We have an extensive education page too, which gives customers a lot of information on the metals and gemstones, as well as general jewellery principles and care.
Every StyleRocker also receives a jewellery care book with purchase on how to look after their jewellery pieces.
And finally, we’re always available at info[at]stylerocks[dot]com for any questions you may have!
Can you give us examples of some favourite gems and designs you have seen lately?
Absolutely! I’m a jewellery maven so always on the lookout for beautiful baubles.
I blog regularly about celebrity jewellery (search ‘Blog StyleRocks’) – and with all the awards recently, such as the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Oscars, there’s been an incredible amount of jewellery on display!
The most ‘wow’ jewellery I’ve spotted is from Angelina Jolie at the Oscars, wearing Robert Procop Exceptional Jewels. These 18carat yellow gold drop earrings contain a whopping 42 carats in their bezel setting. In this case, bigger is better!
Helen Mirren wore some incredible Asprey earrings from the Storm Collection at the BAFTAs; the workmanship and architecture behind these is nothing short of amazing.
Then, for some of the most unusual jewellery I’ve seen recently, it would have to be at the Grammys: Skylar Grey wore these L’Dezen Fierce earrings; sliced diamonds set in rose gold. Really interesting, I haven’t seen anything like this before.
L’Dezen Fierce Earrings via StyleRocks
From StyleRocks however, my favourite new piece of jewellery is our amethyst & halo diamond ring set in 18ct white gold. We produced this in partnership with Lollypotz, the chocolate bouquet provider, for a special Valentine’s Day promotion – it was won by one VERY EXCITED lady! While the promotion was for amethyst – being the February birthstone – we offer the ring in a range of other gemstone colours that you just don’t find elsewhere. Want it in blue? How about blue topaz. Red? Try Rose Malaya garnet. What about pale pink? The morganite gemstone in rose gold setting is just unbelievably beautiful.
Amethyst & halo diamond ring in 18ct white gold
And finally my favourite ‘older’ piece of StyleRocks jewellery is actually this cushion checkerboard ring; blue topaz in sterling silver. I have one of these and every time I wear it, women grab my hand and say ‘WHERE did you get this?!’. It looks incredibly expensive and worth far more than its $565 price tag.
Cushion checkerboard blue Topaz sterling silver ring
Are all your gemstones ‘real’?
Yes they are, with the exception (as mentioned above) of the really big pink sapphire, emerald and sapphire rings – where to have the ‘real’ or ‘natural’ stones would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, owing to scarce supply. We’re explicit about stating where a gemstone is hydrothermal.
When it comes to the true precious stones (eg diamonds) and to allay any concerns, we provide valuation certificates for all purchases.
Do you see a trend in metals used, or designs, or stones in engagement rings?
We’re definitely seeing more of a trend towards using coloured stones in engagement rings. Diamonds will always have their place but increasingly more people are opting for something a bit different: if I think of my immediate friends, I can think of three women with tanzanite engagement rings and two with emeralds. The other thing to remember of course is that large coloured gemstones are much more affordable than large diamonds!
Emerald cut pink sapphire ring
Does it look stylish to wear multiple bracelets – and if so, should they be all in the same metal e.g. silver, or does it look better to mix it up with gold and silver?
I’m a fan of wearing multiple bracelets, particularly in yellow gold – Elle MacPherson does this look very well. In terms of mixing it up with your metals, I do like this look; there aren’t any rules – just so long as it looks good with your outfit!
Birthstones – are these a popular concept for jewellery?
Birthstones never go out of fashion. We love it when customers customize something at StyleRocks with birthstones. For example, when this silver heart pendant is customized with an aquamarine (March’s birthstone), it takes on an extra dimension, and a new level of personalization.
What StyleRocks jewellery are you wearing this summer?
What am I NOT wearing! My weekend wardrobe tends to be very bright, so I wear our favourite cocktail ring in pink sapphire to tone in. I’ll also wear the cushion checkerboard blue topaz ring I mentioned earlier; I wear a lot of red, and this tends to offset that perfectly. I’m also wearing this key heart pendant as it’s a great accessory for a maxi dress. And for earrings, I’m keeping it simple – these gorgeous pink pearl drop earrings are great, taking me from day to night.
Pink pearl earrings
Favourite activity for the weekend?
Weekends are usually pretty busy: I take the children to the beach or a party and spend some time with them. When not with the family, I try to grab some me-time – either by exercising or getting a massage or just chilling out with some fashion magazines.
Thank you Pascale for sharing your thoughts today. To find out more about StyleRocks visit the website.
Images courtesy of StyleRocks.
Such fun doing this interview! Loved the questions too – some of them I hadn’t been asked before (yes, true!). Thanks so much for this! x