Introducing: The Elle Collection
My aesthetic as a designer has evolved since shifting toward exclusively using lab grown diamonds, resulting in pieces that prioritize minimalism and fluidity.
In honor of my eldest daughter, I have named the Elle collection after her. The collection draws inspiration from the flowing, uninterrupted loops of her name when handwritten in cursive. This caught my attention, and I began to imagine a design with a similar continuous, uninterrupted flow.
Lab diamonds have enabled me to explore larger, cleaner diamond designs due to reduced financial barriers. This stands in contrast to past trends, where designs often featured an abundance of pavé diamonds on the setting to compensate for a “smaller” center stone, creating more impact for the ring.
In general, I have aimed to remove unnecessary structural elements in a ring’s design that serve no real aesthetic purpose. This is how our “hidden halo” detail came to be. On a ring, every center stone is placed on what we call a “seat” for stability. The prongs are secured over the center stone to create pressure, holding the diamond down to the seat. I began setting smaller diamonds around the seat years ago to create a visually appealing design element that hid its “required” structure.
In the case of the Elle collection, I challenged myself to eliminate the need for the seat altogether, opening the ring’s design to be entirely see-through. The diamond appears to fill in the ring like water, offering a quasi-360 uninterrupted view of the center stone to both the wearer and admirer. With double prongs at the corners of each diamond as one of the signature features of this collection, I have ensured it has the durability it needs. We will be offering this signature feature in a full Elle collection consisting of earrings, bracelets, and stackable rings to start.
From both a technical and visual accomplishment, Elle represents a significant milestone in bridal design and I look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible in jewelry. Introducing the new face of Jean Dousset: Elle.
