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I was cleaning the shop this morning when a thought came into my head.
Can we make every engagement ring we're asked to make? Probably. Should we? No.
That might sound like a strange thing for someone whose business is largely based around bespoke engagement rings to say. We need to sell jewellery. We have bills to pay, children to educate and a dog to feed, just like everyone else.
So when someone comes through the door wanting to buy an engagement ring, surely the sensible business decision is to make what they're asking for.
Except sometimes it isn't.
Sometimes I will look at a design and say something along the lines of: "We can make it. But I don't think we should."
And occasionally that costs us the sale. I am OK with that.
There is one particular style of engagement ring that people regularly show us. Usually they have found it on Instagram. It is a beautiful, delicate-looking ring with a marquise-cut centre diamond and small marquise diamonds running down each side of the band.
There are versions of it all over the internet. I completely understand why people like it.
The problem is not how it looks. The problem is how some versions of it are made.
The small marquise diamonds along the band are arranged point to point, with neighbouring stones sharing claws. This can leave each little marquise diamond effectively secured by just two claws.
Two claws is usually a definite no from me.
Not because it cannot be made. Of course it can. The question is what happens after it is made.
There is something worth remembering about jewellery photographs on Instagram. The ring is not doing anything. It is sitting perfectly still, under controlled lighting, photographed from its most flattering angle.
An engagement ring does not live like that. It goes to work. It gets knocked. It gets caught on things. Hands get squeezed into pockets and gloves. The ring gets subjected to small forces every day that its owner probably does not even notice.
Many of the very delicate rings we are shown have extremely fine, lightweight bands. That is part of what makes them look so good in photographs. But a very fine band can distort, and when a band containing small stones moves or twists, the settings holding those stones move with it. If a small diamond is already relying on only two claws to keep it in place, there is not much room for anything to change.
That is why, when someone shows me a photograph like this, my answer is not: "No, you can't have that."
It is more likely: "Let's look at what you like about it and work out how we can make it properly."
This is probably one of the biggest misunderstandings around bespoke jewellery. Being able to make something does not automatically mean it is a good idea to make it.
A customer should not be expected to understand the engineering of an engagement ring. If you have seen a photograph on Instagram and you love the ring, that is enough. You do not need to know how thick the band is, how much metal is underneath a diamond, whether a claw is shared, or what could happen if the ring is distorted.
You are coming to us for that part.
We are responsible for the creation and quality of the finished piece. We are also responsible for making you aware if we can see a potential problem with what you are asking us to make. Sometimes that means changing a design slightly. Sometimes it means suggesting another way of achieving the same overall look. And occasionally it means saying that we simply are not comfortable making it.
But there is a distinction worth making here. Just because I do not personally like a ring does not mean I will not make it. Taste is subjective. If you love something that I would not personally choose, that is largely irrelevant. You are going to wear the ring. I am not.
I will not push my taste on somebody. I will push quality.
Those are two very different things.
I have lost sales because of this. Very few, thankfully.
Most people listen to the explanation and are happy to start again. They came to us because of our reputation and experience, so when we explain why we are uncomfortable with a particular construction, generally they understand.
But occasionally somebody wants exactly what they have shown us. That is fine. They may choose to have it made elsewhere.
I would rather lose that sale than damage our reputation.
Making someone a ring I do not believe in, having it cause problems and leaving them disappointed could mean losing that client forever. A sale today is not worth creating a problem tomorrow.
Recently, one of my colleagues was away and I needed a little help. My son is fifteen and at an age where a bit of life experience probably will not do him any harm, so I brought him into the shop for the day.
I have deliberately kept him away from the business rather than pushing him towards it. If he eventually develops an interest in jewellery, great. If he chooses a completely different path, that is equally fine.
At the end of his first day I asked him what he thought.
He said he had enjoyed himself. He had been kept busy and found the whole idea that people buy each other diamonds slightly amusing.
The marketing has not got to him yet.
He said he liked diamonds and thought the business could be interesting, but he was clearly a little out of his depth. He knew nothing about jewellery.
I understood what he meant. But during the day I had noticed something else.
A few times, while I was helping customers, I had asked him what he thought suited them. I did not tell him what anything cost. He did not know which diamond was more expensive or which ring might be the more obvious sale.
I simply asked: "What do you think suits them?"
And he enjoyed that. There was no jewellery knowledge required. He was looking at the person, looking at the rings and giving an honest visual opinion.
At the end of the day I explained something to him that, after twenty-six years doing this, I have come to understand about our business.
It is not really about jewellery. It is about looking after people.
The jewellery knowledge can be learned. Diamonds can be learned. Gemstones can be learned. Manufacturing can be learned.
But you also need to be able to listen to people, understand what they need, communicate with them and, ultimately, try to make them happy.
He liked that idea. He is a good communicator and loves to talk.
Like his dad.
Probably too much sometimes.
That conversation came back to me while I was cleaning the shop this morning.
Because saying no to a particular engagement ring is not really about the ring. It is about understanding our responsibility in the process.
If someone shows me an Instagram photograph and says "I love this," I do not expect them to notice that a marquise diamond is relying on two claws. That is my job. Once I have noticed it, I cannot un-notice it.
The better approach is to understand what they love about the design. Is it the shape of the centre diamond? The way the smaller marquise diamonds travel along the finger? The delicacy? The proportions?
Once we understand that, we can usually start working towards a ring that gives them what attracted them to the original while being constructed in a way we are happy with.
To me, that is what bespoke should be. Not blindly reproducing a photograph. And not telling the customer what they are allowed to like. It is taking their ideas, our experience and the skills of the people making the piece and bringing those things together.
Sometimes the best thing a bespoke jeweller can say is not "yes, we can make that."
Sometimes it is: "We can. But we shouldn't."
Eric McGuire is the founder of McGuire Diamonds in Gorey, Co. Wexford. He has been designing and handcrafting engagement rings since 2000.