Finding the Custom Engagement Ring Design You’ll Love Forever

Making a purchase as important as an engagement ring can be an overwhelming process, especially when trying to decide on a custom design. Like someone who got a tattoo when they were young that doesn’t quite match their older, more mature personality, you don’t want to be stuck with an engagement ring that looked great fifteen, twenty years ago but just isn’t you anymore.

It’s helpful to understand the trends of the past that led us to today, not so you can avoid designing something that looks old-fashioned but so you can separate what’s in style today from what you’ll love looking at forever. This quick stroll through engagement ring history will help you recognize the timeless design elements that have stood for centuries and maybe rediscover a few that have fallen by the wayside.

1477: The First Diamond Engagement Ring

The story of the first engagement ring is a famous one. Like every aristocratic marriage of the Middle Ages, was a product not of romance but of politics: the Duke of Burgundy had aims to chip away territory from the edge of the Holy Roman Empire, and the emperor arranged to have his son, Maximilian, married to the Duke of Burgundy’s daughter, Mary, to secure peace between the two lands and ensure that Mary’s children would sit on the throne.

It doesn’t get much less romantic than that. But Maximilian, known as “The Last Knight,” was a Don Quixote-type figure, a romantic who held to chivalric ideals in an era when those knightly virtues were seen as old-fashioned. He traveled through Mary’s native land receiving gifts from the locals, and rather than keep them for himself, he sold them to fund the purchase of a gold ring whose diamonds take the shape of the letter M.

1500s-1600s: Gimmel Rings

Like modern stacking rings, gimmel (also spelled “gimmal”) rings are two or three rings meant to be worn together. They were either interlocking or shaped in such a way that they appeared to be single large ring. Back then, only the bride would wear a wedding ring, but both partners would wear an engagement ring. During the wedding, the individual rings would be joined together to use as a wedding ring. This trend is the precursor of the matching wedding band/engagement ring stack that started gaining in popularity in the past few years.

1600s-1700s: Engraved Poesy Rings

These rings, popular in Shakespeare’s day, consisted of a gold band with a snippet of poetry engraved on the inside. This is a beautiful expression of individual love from a time when the concept of romantic love was still developing. This gold ring, dating to the 16th or 17th century, bears the inscription, "Many are the stars I see yet in my eye no star like thee.” Another famous example of this style bears the simple yet endearingly romantic promise, “vous et nil autre” (“you and no other”).

Bring it back in style by engraving your custom Kuczora ring with a message of your own, or any other image or symbol meaningful to you.

1860s-1940s: The Diamond Boom

The discovery of diamonds in South Africa helped popularize the gemstone as a symbol of everlasting love. Throughout the late 1800s into the early 1900s, the old European cut was the most popular diamond cut, later replaced by the brilliant cut. The brilliant cut maximizes a diamond’s brilliance, which the Gemological Institute of America defines as the “intensity of the internal and external reflections of white light from the crown.” In other words, the brilliant cut makes diamonds as sparkly as they can be.

Before World War II, engagement rings passed through a number of styles that all had one thing in common: ornamentation. During the Edwardian era at the beginning of the 20th century, engagement rings featured intricate naturalistic designs inspired by Art Nouveau. When you picture antique jewelry, you’re probably imagining something from the Edwardian (1901-1910) or Victorian (1837-1901) eras: lots of filigree, curlicue, and whatnot. The patterns of the Art Deco ‘20s, meanwhile, were often more geometrical, while the ‘30s saw a return to naturalistic filigree, with rings engraved with branches, leaves, and flower patterns.

Post-World War II: 1950s-1990s

The post-WWII years saw the birth of celebrity culture, and celebrities from Lucille Ball to Marilyn Monroe to Elizabeth Taylor all flaunted massive diamond engagement rings, with the ring itself little more than a platform to showcase the size of the diamond. Cushion cuts, square cuts, emerald cuts, and baguettes rose and fell in popularity between the 1960s and 1980s.

The 1990s, meanwhile, marked a return to simplicity, with solitaires on white gold or platinum bands being particularly popular. This was a decade of authenticity and individuality, diametrically opposed to the ostentation of the 1980s. The more minimalistic engagement ring designs of the era reflect that shift in values.

2000s

That return to simplicity didn’t last long, as the 2000s were just as over-the-top as the 1980s. Side stones, pave bands, pave halos, double bands, and colored diamonds all had their moment during the first quarter of the 21st century. Some of those designs look as dated today as the ultra-low-rise jeans of the era.

Your Future, Your Ring

Today, couples are less concerned with following trends than they are with being true to themselves. The best current styles tend to combine aspects of past styles in interesting and meaningful ways. For example, you might have a cherished heirloom in the family, but your grandmother’s style is not your style. Rather than keep it in a box in the closet, keep that ring, and everything it means, alive by redesigning it in a way that honors its legacy while capturing your unique vision.

Designing a custom engagement ring can be overwhelming. Kuczora & Co. combines mastery of traditional techniques and the latest technological innovations to help you create the bespoke, artisanal engagement ring you’ve always dreamed of. Book a consult today and explore your options for a custom engagement ring or heirloom redesign.