I have been working this month on pearl-themed JCK Special Reports (if you’re not signed up to receive them, do so here) and have had the pleasure of discovering so many pearl creations that just blow me away. I love a good pearl, and these are beyond good.

This special beauty designed by Sean Gilson for Assael, in particular, has captured my tendency to obsess, and I’m pretty sure anyone with a pulse would agree with me.

Its showstopping 5 ct. diamond pear is a divine sight all its own, but we’re taken to the next level with the designer’s setting of colorful, rare natural saltwater pearls kissing the curves of the center stone. And here’s the kicker—the pearls are actually the prongs.

“This ring started out with the idea of having pearls around a diamond,” Gilson says. “Normally, the diamonds would be set traditionally with pearls surrounding the pear-shape diamond, but an idea of the diamond floating in a sea of pearls had a subversive appeal to me. I decided to use the pearls as the prongs.

“I was supplied by the Assael team with colored pearls of varying sizes—the challenge with using any colored pearls is achieving the desired effect while having the correct sizes, as well as colors that relate to each other,” Gilson continues. “In this case there was a preliminary layout, but some of the sizes and colors just did not work. I had to rearrange and select other natural pearls. Not all of them were round, but I was able to find some very close to round natural pearls from the Assael inventory with sizes and colors that worked together well.

“The placement of the pearls had to be precise for two reasons. First, there could be no or very small spaces between the pearls. And secondly, they had to cover enough of the diamond to hold it securely but not too much to encroach on its beauty. The ring was made in platinum to minimize the visual metal content while having the strength and wearability for a ring of this importance.”

“Importance” is an understatement—this ring is beauty and brains!

Top: Ring in platinum with 5.05 ct. pear-shape diamond and eight natural ultra-rare saltwater pearls, price on request; Sean Gilson for Asssael

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