Jess & Ross' Story: Heirloom Engagement Ring Remodel

We're so pleased Jess has shared the story behind her heirloom engagement ring remodel. It's always a little bit daunting taking such a treasured piece of jewellery apart, and we're very happy we got it right.

 

"Our story begins with a hairband left on a bed, a beautiful family heirloom, and a wedding ring lost in Costa Rica.

We commissioned this new ring, in part to celebrate eighteen years of marriage, and also to fold in memories and stories along the way…

When Ross and I met twenty-two years ago, we were students living 250 miles apart and we shared a typical night out with friends - spent in a whirlwind of bars, a nightclub, and a long walk home. When we woke up in the morning, Ross took the hairband that had fallen out of my hair and popped it onto his wrist. 

 

And long story short, that same hairband remained lovingly on his wrist for three years, eight months and eight days until our wedding day in September 2006 - when we ceremoniously chopped off (the now threadbare) hairband amulet and replaced it with his wedding ring. 

His wedding ring always held this kind of lucky charm quality and had a story to it, which my quickly chosen, plain, white gold band did not. My engagement ring, however, held the most romantic charm and was gifted to Ross by his family with stories of Great Auntie Vi. It was a 1920’s gold band, with three hand cut diamonds held in tiny little clasps and made me cry when he gave it to me not long after we’d met in our early twenties. It was delicately beautiful. 

 

 

 

Our twenties were full of creative career leaps - Ross as a cabinet maker, and me as a visual merchandiser - so we both had a huge admiration for bespoke, lovingly handmade items that told stories.

 

After six years of marriage, three house moves and a puppy, we became pregnant with our daughter and my fingers swelled in the heatwave of 2013, never to return to their original size again. That tiny vintage engagement ring was just too small, as was my original white gold wedding band. So, they hung ceremonially on our bathroom mirror for a few years. I had various travels to Germany and Costa Rica around 2016, and it was during that time that we completely lost track of my wedding band (thankfully the sweet little heirloom engagement ring was safe), and so the process of dreaming up a new ring began. 

 

There was no rush to this process, and we took years to let ideas drift in and out. I’d watch out for Justin Duance posts on Instagram, knowing that at some point we’d be ready to get in touch. We’d been following his work for years and always had the idea to use the hand cut diamonds from our original engagement ring, but just didn’t know how the process would work.

The idea of having the ring cast in beach sand to create texture and subtle organic design was always such a draw for me personally. Some of our favourite early memories together include beach days, mainly up on the North Norfolk Coast. One such trip was on our first wedding anniversary, when we spur of the moment decided to pack up hot chocolates, marshmallows and drive up; me wearing my massive marshmallow wedding skirt, poofed into the VW we were driving. It was hilarious to let it spill out and onto the beach, where all the local dog walkers cheered to see a mad young couple prancing through the pine woods in a big wedding skirt and smiles...

 

The pressure of being so ‘locked down’ during covid meant I was gifted a very special solo adventure for my 40th birthday. One with private sentimental attachment to a small hidden beach in a cove off the shores of North Devon, where I collected a tub of sand and shells in the early morning sunshine of my 40th birthday. This was the mixture we used for casting our wedding ring; the sentiment that we are a strongly bound team, but with freedom of spirit and adventure, feels very fitting in our relationship.

 

It was also around this time that my uncle gifted me my maternal grandma’s gold wedding ring, and we knew straight away that we’d like to create something special with it. The obvious choice was to begin a proper conversation with Justin’s team in Cornwall. 

 

On my visit to the Pumphouse studio in early June 2024, Jamila could not have been more helpful in coming up with the perfect design and ring size to combine everything together. We would use my grandma's ring to form the base band, and then the gold from the engagement ring would be used to create carefully sized bezel settings to hold each little diamond in place.

They also took the most stunning photographs of our original rings, and I love that we have those as reminders and keepsakes. 

 

The gentle email exchange never felt pressured, and the team took care of our rings for a couple of months until we made our final decision on things. And from that point there were only seven weeks until I was due back in Cornwall for work – and collecting the ring - in late September. 

Weeks ahead of my trip down I emailed to ask if there might be any possibility of fast tracking the ring so we could have it in time for our anniversary, and they were only too happy to take care of it. The final cherry on the cake was the team emailing to let us know that our ring was ready, six days before our 18th wedding anniversary on the 2nd of September.

 

 

Holding out for years, to wait until everything came together so smoothly has been such a gift. 

We honestly couldn’t be happier with the entire process, and our ring was just perfect! It’s so smooth and comfortable to wear, and those little hand cut diamonds feel super safely protected for another century, so that we can continue handing it down to our daughter and her family in the future. We want to thank every member of the team along the way, including all the beautiful Instagram posts and blog posts, such as these, to expand our vision of what might be possible.

Thank you, Team Duance! Here’s to the next chapter…. x"

 

If like Jess, you would like to have an heirloom engagement ring remodelled, you can find more information on how to use your own gold here.