Everlasting love: how remodelling vintage jewellery and preloved gems makes love last forever

Published by Claire Gould on March 17, 2021March 17, 2021

Weddings are celebrations of romantic love. But often, they’re also about bringing families — old and new — together to mark the growth of a new branch on the family tree. What better way to honour this union than by creating a piece of jewellery that combines the love and goodwill of multiple generations?

At Heulwen Lewis Bespoke, we specialise in breathing new life into preloved or inherited jewellery by remodelling it to reflect your taste.

Sometimes, no matter how much you love a piece of inherited jewellery, you find it’s gathering dust in the bottom of a jewellery box. While the happy associations never fade, you can’t find a way to wear it with pride because it isn’t suitable or in keeping with your taste.

If you’ve inherited gemstones, heirlooms and vintage pieces that you don’t wear or have a use for, why not let us help you fall in love with them all over again?

Couples often come to us with vintage gold or platinum they’d like to melt down and remodel. Others ask us to create engagement or wedding rings incorporating old stones. Some bring sentimental items they’d like to up-cycle into a completely new piece.

We love hearing about the history of these keepsakes. The associations, the relationship with the previous owner and memories held dear often spark inspiration and help steer the redesign. The resulting jewellery is both a tribute to generations gone by and entirely custom-made for the new owner.

By choosing to up-cycle preloved jewellery, you’re choosing to go on a journey, to share your story with those who came before you while also creating new memories that are truly unique to you.

If you’re going to invest in a lifelong piece, why not make it one that brings together several lifetimes? Why not make it a complete original that encapsulates your emotions and the warmth of those who came before you? Such pieces gather meaning as the years roll on – a legacy for you, your descendants and generations to come.

One of my favourite commissions came from a groom who wanted to propose to his fiancée using his mam’s wedding ring. Sadly his mum had passed away, so finding a way to make her a part of his big day was an honour.

We decided to melt the gold from his mam’s wedding ring for his wedding band and use the stones to make a wedding set for his fiancée. This way, his mum’s ring touched both of their hearts. When he proposed, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Recently I’ve also enjoyed helping a client upgrade her wedding and engagement ring. She’d got married young, with a relatively modest ring, and was now in a position to treat herself. She wanted to meld her 18ct white gold wedding ring with her late father’s 9ct yellow gold ring. We took the diamonds from her wedding band and used them to create a brand new 9ct white gold engagement ring. We combined the gold from both bands to create a new wedding ring. She even had enough gold left over to pass some on to her daughter. The thinking being that her daughter could combine this gold with the gold in her step-grandfather’s ring should she ever want to make a wedding ring for herself.

As a family girl myself, being able to shape symbolic treasures such as these on behalf of my clients is an honour – such commissions bring real meaning to my job and make it so rewarding.