Photo Courtesy of Bulgari

A jewelry piece does not earn its real place in a woman’s heart if it doesn’t feature one precious stone or more. Regardless of its size, a gem adds its sparkle to the piece and makes it even more covetable. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the jewelry-making industry has come up with many setting techniques, each of which adds its special touch to any jewelry piece. This time around, we are dedicating this feature to explore gem-setting techniques.

• Bezel setting is the oldest gem-setting technique. It consists of a thin gold plate surrounding the stone – which reduces the visibility of the gem and covers its flaws.
• Prong setting is only used in jewelry making due to the lack of space in watches. This popular technique uses metal claws to secure gemstones in place and allows light to come through the top and the sides of the gem – making it more appealing than ever.
• V-prong setting is similar to the prong setting technique but it is more suitable for angular shapes such as princess, pear, heart and marquise-cut stones. With more of the stone’s top exposed, the latter appears bigger.
• Channel setting consists of 2 stripes of metal holding the gemstones together without any additional prongs or metal in between them. This setting technique is popular for eternity rings and wedding bands.
• Pavé setting consists of encrusting dozens of tiny stones in the metal to a point that makes the latter practically invisible. For this setting technique, round stones are the best choice as they offer the highest level of sparkle.
• Invisible or Mystery setting is one of the newest and most difficult setting techniques. It consists of gemstones positioned flush with each other in a metal setting with no metal showing through. This technique is used for princess, emerald or baguette-cut stones as these shapes can be positioned extremely close to each other with no spaces showing in between.
• Cluster setting consists of a large center stone surrounded with smaller stones. This technique is especially popular with floral designs and antique jewelry.
• Bar setting is a technique that holds multiple gems together by tiny metal bars exposed and aligned perpendicular to the band. With the sides of the gem left open, light is allowed to enter and illuminate the stones.
• Bead setting consists of drilling a tiny hole into a metal and placing the stones directly into them. The metal surrounding the stone is then bent all around to form beads that hold the stones in their positions.

Mirella Haddad