Welcome to Meakins!
Happy Birthday to our good friend Mark who turns 90 today. That was a lie, we actually have no idea how old he turns and it’s not really relevant to this post or the awesome ring his lovely girlfriend had us make him for his Birthday. Lucky Mark? Yes indeed!
We hope he enjoys wearing it as much as we enjoyed making it. By the way Mark, if you ARE turning 90 today, please let us know which moisturiser you use…we’ll take two dozen cases.
By David Ponce
The above is not a gadget, not exactly new, but it is all kinds of amazing. It’s the creation of Mohamed Shawesh, President and CEO of Shawish Jewelry. It could be called “the world’s first diamond ring” and it wouldn’t be a lie. very other “diamond ring” out there is really a “ring of gold, studded with diamonds.” This on the other hand, well is a ring that’s been carved entirely from a giant diamond. Using lasers and traditional diamond cutting and polishing techniques, the ring weighs in at an impressive 150 carats. A year went into its making and its design is copyrighted, much like the shape of the Coke bottle is. It’s expected to sell for $70 million, though it was recently on display at Baselworld, leading us to believe that it has found no buyer. Yet.
We’re thrilled to announce that as of today our doors at our new store are open!
Our new address is;
Suite 4/163 Keira Street, Wollongong
(Corner of Keira and Market Streets)
We’re on the corner opposite the Illawarra Hotel and the Qwik-E-Mart and next door to Tea’se Me – Tea Emporium.
We couldn’t be happier with the new store. With four large windows in our showroom we get a lot of natural light, even on overcast days like today. We now have a closed door with a buzzer entry. We’re very much hoping this doesn’t put anyone off from just dropping in and saying hi, however we believe it will offer more security and privacy. It also means we can hear (customers/each other/ourselves) over the traffic, which is a welcome change.
We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with flowers, gifts and well-wishers! Thank you to everyone and to everyone who helped through the moving process. We look forward to seeing many familiar faces and new faces in our new store.
163 Keira street, come say hi!
We have in stock for a very limited time a beautiful once in a lifetime piece. One of our diamond companies had this ring made for the 20th Anniversary Jewellery Trade Fair this year to show off some of their more unique stones.
It features;
One natural pale green diamond, one natural brown pink diamond, one natural pale mauve pink diamond alongside fourty four smaller white diamonds. This piece has a total diamond weight of 1.13 Carats. The company has priced it extremely reasonably when compared to the independent valuation it comes with, and what a unique piece this is. Please contact us with any interest on 4226 4451.
Please note, we are Jewellers, not photographers. While we have done our best this photo really does not do justice to the beautiful colours in these stones. Diamonds always look their best in person and in natural light.
Ruby is known as “The King of the Gemstones”. It has magnificent colour, outstanding hardness and glorious brilliance. Rubies are associated with passion, love, life, warmth and vitality. They are also the Birthstone for July and used to celebrate the 15th and 40th anniversaries.
Ruby, which comes from the Latin word “Ruber” for red, is red corundum. All colour varieties of corundum other than red make up the Sapphire family. Rubies and Sapphires and the second hardest stones after Diamonds, making them perfect for pieces that are going to get a lot of wear.
Rubies are foremost valued by their colour, the most prized of which is known as “Pigeon’s Blood”, a deep blood red with a hint of blue. Large Rubies are comparatively rarer than large Diamonds, Emeralds or Sapphires. Consequently, Rubies’ value increases with size more than any other gemstone.
The Jewellers Association of Australia offers excellent information on buying most gemstones, and includes Ruby in its coloured stone category, including a section specifically on Rubies.
We have a large range of Rubies in stock at the moment, including a couple of pairs of bezel set stud earrings which are perfect for everyday wear on kids or adults.
We also have this truly beautifully coloured, pear shaped Ruby just waiting to be turned into a stunning pendant or ring.
This engagement ring, which we made for a couple of very special customers, is 18ct white gold with three gorgeous brilliant diamonds. The centre stone is a little over a carat in size and a hearts and arrows stone, which means the cut is perfect, an aspect that was very important to our customers. The shoulder stones are around a quarter of a carat and a perfectly matched pair. These, along with the centre stone give a beautiful symmetry to the whole piece. The split shoulders also add a real degree of interest. This couple was very involved in the making process and enjoyed every minute of it, as did we!
For this ring our Customers took the unusual route of choosing coloured stones to compliment their gorgeous 1 carat Pear Shaped Diamond, and the results are stunning. We managed to find tiny perfectly matched purple sapphires to give her the lavender sparkly effect she was after. What a beautifully unique piece it turned out to be!
According to Indian mythology, pearls were dewdrops from heaven that fell into the sea. They were caught by shellfish under the first rays of the rising sun, during a period of full moon. In India, warriors encrusted their swords with pearls to symbolize the tears and sorrow that a sword brings.
A pearl is created when a very small fragment of rock, sand grain or parasite enters the oyster or clam. It irritates the mollusk, who responds by coating the foreign material with layer upon layer of shell material. Pearls possess a uniquely delicate translucence and luster that place them among the most highly valued of gemstones. The luster of a pearl depends upon the reflection, refraction, and diffraction of light from the translucent layers. The thinner and more numerous the layers in the pearl, the finer the luster. The iridescence that pearls display is caused by the overlapping of successive layers, which breaks up light falling on the surface. The colour of a pearl depends very much on the species of mollusk that produced it, and its environment.
White is perhaps the best-known and most common colour. However, pearls also come in delicate shades of black, cream, gray, blue, yellow, lavender, green, silver and gold. The largest pearl in the world is believed to be about three inches long and two inches across, weighing one-third of a pound. Called the Pearl of Asia, it was a gift from Shah Jahan of India to his favorite wife, for whom he also built the Taj Mahal.
The Jewellers Association of Australia offers this information on what to look for when buying a pearl, and also some information on basic pearl care.
We currently have a gorgeous display of Pearls in the store. We have a wide range of colours, sizes, shapes and price ranges in stock. However, as always we love making custom pieces to specific tastes.
After our initial chat, finding stones and sketching some designs, we get on with actually making your pieces. Depending on the nature of the piece, we may consult with you further during this process. For example wedding bands are something that you’re going to wear everyday for a very long time, and for men are often the first time they start wearing a ring at all, therefore comfort is paramount. When making wedding bands we will generally work with you as we make it to make sure it’s just right in it’s depth, width and fit on your finger.
Once everything is how it should be, we do our final finish and polish and give you a call to let you know you’re piece is complete and ready to be tried on and collected whenever is convenient for you. One of the best parts of the job is handing a customer a piece they love and that has exceeded their expectations.
So here’s the process of these two pieces we’ve been looking at.
1.) Initial chat - For this example our Customer told us what they were after, a rough idea of their budget and also when they needed it finished by. In this case our Customer had planned ahead and didn’t want them for a few months. While not necessary, extra time for something like this can come in very handy. It means a Customer can choose to make payments on a piece instead of a lump sum, and also that if stones are hard to find, or our Customer makes any last minute changes that we’re not in danger of missing a deadline.
2.) Stones - At this stage we sourced a number of stones for our Customer to view and choose the perfect ones for his pieces. When choosing stones even specifications such as 7mm round Ruby still leave room for myriad variations. Our Customer chose these stones, they’re a gorgeous colour and beautifully matched.
3.) Designs – In this instance our Customer gave us a very clear idea of what he wanted to do, so detailed sketches weren’t really necessary. We did very rough sketches to confirm designs and were able to proceed from there. When designing, we’d generally sketch you a page of maybe 6 – 8 designs, sometimes one will leap right off the page, other times we combine features from a couple of designs until we find something you love.
4.) Finished Pieces – And here they are, the two finished pieces! Stunning natural rubies, set into white gold with diamonds. They’re make a beautiful set and an amazing one of a kind gift. 
The whole process generally takes between 4 -6 weeks, with exceptions of course for very basic pieces or pieces with hard to find materials. We help every step of the way, from design ideas to stone information to working with you to fit a budget.
Having something handmade and one of a kind doesn’t have to be any more expensive than buying something mass produced. Where you will notice a difference is the quality. It’s also nice to wear something that you’re not going to see on ten other people upon leaving the store.
If you’re toying with having something made or redesigned, come have an obligation free chat with us anytime.
Just a quick post wishing everyone a happy and safe Easter long weekend. We’re closed here from 5 this afternoon and will re-open Wednesday the 27th.
Also couldn’t resist posting this piece we’ve just finished off. Think Penny is torn between being excited for our client to see it and start wearing it and wishing it was her Easter present.
This is a gorgeous Princess Cut Diamond set in 18ct White Gold.
