Designers are ringing the changes for men’s wedding bands

Eternity ring by Malcolm Betts and Guilloché band by Le Gramme — Platinum Eternity ring with channel-set diamonds (left), £3,950, by Malcolm Betts; Horizontal Guilloché band in 18-ct white gold, €1,400, by Le Gramme. ‘Cabon Tilt’ chair (as surface), €10,000, by Leon Ransmeier. (Image credit: Oskar Proctor)

Opulent wedding rings have long been the bride’s preserve, but jewellery designers are now responding to singular requests from men for both eternity rings and men's engagement rings.

Georgina Boyce’s black rhodium ring is one such offering paying tribute to men's jewellery codes. ‘Traditional black rhodium tends to lose depth of colour quite quickly and I wanted it to last, so I experimented using a resin bake, which essentially locks the rhodium in,’ she says. The result is a glossy black, lacquer-like finish.

Minimalist French brand Le Gramme has toyed with guilloché finishes and hidden-diamond formations to create an elegantly rich alternative to the classic gold band, while Malcolm Betts finds that male clients are ‘increasingly keen to mix metals, experiment with textures, and sometimes add diamonds, too’.

As originally featured in the March 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*240)

Tube ring by Dina Kamal and wedding band by Georgina Boyce — DK01 Tube ring in 18-ct white gold (left), £2,785, by Dina Kamal, from Dover Street Market; Flat Court wedding band in 18-ct white gold, black rhodium and resin, £880, by Georgina Boyce

Wedding bands by Le Gramme — 2mm band in 18-ct brushed red gold with baguette-cut diamonds (left), price on request; Vertical Guilloché band in 18-ct white gold, €1,400, both by Le Gramme

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Georgina Boyce website, the Le Gramme website and the Malcolm Betts website

TOPICS

Caragh McKay is a contributing editor at Wallpaper* and was watches & jewellery director at the magazine between 2011 and 2019. Caragh’s current remit is cross-cultural and her recent stories include the curious tale of how Muhammad Ali met his poetic match in Robert Burns and how a Martin Scorsese Martin film revived a forgotten Osage art.