Australian Engagement Ring Shopping Guide

Enveloped by ocean and far removed from the rest of the world, Australia’s landscape allows artists to create with wild abandon. A breathing space to dream. Yet it’s a distance that also fuels desire. Longing. A pulse, and passion for more. It’s a tension deeply felt and visibly woven through Australian jewelry collections, each piece melded with contrast. Boldly experimental yet understated. Structural and fluid. Perfect and nuanced. Luxury that is beautifully at ease.

We’ve carefully curated an edit of Australian fine jewellers – a collision of dreamers, artists and innovative entrepreneurs with an aesthetic and ethos to match wild Australian hearts…

Hardy Brothers

Entangling old-world beauty and craftsmanship with artful modernity, Hardy Brothers’ jewels exude masterful balance. Luxury, slow design and uncompromising quality is the heartbeat of the iconic brand, honed through centuries as the oldest Australian fine jeweller established in 1853. Spilling with modern pieces grounded in tradition, artful experimentation balanced with finessed detail, Hardy Brothers’ jewels are for seekers of rare stones to celebrate even rarer stories.

Weaving together real, raw love stories, Hardy Brothers offer a specialist bespoke service with direct access to their artisans at their Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast and Perth stores.

Brand Highlights

• Modern Design and Traditional Craftsmanship / In an industry amass with boldly artistic styles and a kaleidoscope of stones, it’s rare to find that perfect balance of modern design with the quality and craftsmanship only a luxury jeweller can provide.
• Bespoke Services / Hardy Brothers give direct access to their master craftsmen to create a special artisanal piece, personalised to tell your story.
• Rare Argyle Pink Diamonds / Hardy Brothers are among the very few jewellers selected to have access to some of the rarest pink diamonds in the world.

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Natasha Schweitzer

Boldly modern jewels handcrafted by two visionary Brisbane women, fuelled by their mother’s legacy. Behind Natasha Schweitzer lies an ethos that jewelry is far more than just an object – it is a personal signature. 

Drawing wildly outside the lines of traditional bridal, Natasha Schweitzer pieces are richly inspired, coveted by couples who find resonance in the same passion for design. Finding irrelevance in trends or commercially focused collections, each piece is handcrafted with honesty and integrity, resulting in beautifully unexpected pieces that punctuate the style and story of the wearer. 

Natasha Schweitzer collections and bespoke appointments are available in both Sydney and Brisbane, as well as globally via virtual appointments and their try at home kits.

Highlights

• Artfully Composed Settings / We love Natasha Schweitzer’s reimagined classic solitaires in unexpected settings, fused artistically with elegant bands.
• Passionately Forged Paths / The brand story is a wildly inspiring one, with two sisters determined to continue the legacy of their mother who boldly paved her own path after being turned down for a jewellery apprenticeship over and over, as a woman in a man’s world.
• Jewels That Spill With Story / Far more than an engagement ring, each Natasha Schweitzer piece is a rich tapestry of story and creative expression of the wearer.

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Sarah & Sebastian

Drawn to their inimitable aesthetic grounded in chic simplicity, and a beautiful balance of timelessness and innovative design – Sarah & Sebastian have long been a favorite of ours for fashion and fine jewelry, and more recently for bridal, with the launch of their engagement collection.

A collision of art and architecture, Sarah & Sebastian jewels are for the modern minimalist. Playing with composition, artfully subtracting to create unexpected drama that feels both bold and understated, every element of the brand from their jewelry to boutiques holds a unique experience intrinsic to the Sarah & Sebastian ethos.

Highlights

• The Suspense Collection / One of our favorite engagement collections that takes inspiration from a tension style setting, creating the illusion of a floating diamond.
• Sarah & Sebastian Boutiques / Each Australian boutique in Paddington, Mosman (Sydney) and Armadale (Melbourne) are beautiful collaborations with renowned architects to create unexpected spaces inspired by museums and underwater caves.
• Bespoke Experiences / Transcending rigid traditions, Sarah & Sebastian’s artistic spaces create a modern, relaxed experience for couples to create a custom engagement ring, over whisky and Champagne.

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Maniamania

Suffused with magic and steeped in symbolism, Maniamania jewels transcend their aesthetic allure. A collection of wildly unique stones destined for their wearer, dreamt up by intuitive minds and shaped by artisanal hands. An iconic Australian brand rich with soul, depth and imagination, Maniamania design alternative commitment jewelry for the wildest of hearts. 

Embodying a nostalgic beauty echoed in vintage cut diamonds and gemstones, transformed into modern heirlooms, Maniamania is for those seeking something wildly unique, yet grounded in elegance. Each piece is handcrafted in Sydney & New York City, with the option to customize signature pieces into a bespoke creation. For those who can’t visit their Paddington showroom (Sydney), Maniamania offer virtual and phone consultations.

Highlights

• Nostalgic Elegance / Each piece artfully blends antique-inspired detail with modern design, so that the boldly unique piece you wear always feels timeless.
• Bespoke Creations / We love that you can choose an engagement ring in Maniamania’s signature aesthetic, yet personalize details to make sure it holds meaning for you – from centre or accent stones, gold or platinum, adding details like extra stones, or delicate details like engraving and embedding secret stones inside the band.
• Soulful Design / A boutique business run by designer Melanie Kamsler, who is deeply invested and passionate about the process for every customer, keeping them so centric to every decision. Maniamania extends this level of personal care to its ethically sourced diamonds and gemstones that are hand selected to each client’s preference, and making sure every piece is conflict-free.

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Kate & Kole

Highlights

• Thoughtfully Treasured / Longevity is at the heart of Kate & Kole, we honor their commitment to creating personalized jewels that leave gentle footprints on our earth.
• Classic Reimagined / Modern simplicity has a sense of limitlessness, ever-relevant with understated femininity.
• Approachable Luxury / Intentional choices that reflect considered practice, you’ll sense they’re giving new life to what ethical luxury truly means.

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Grew & Co.

A brand we love for their unexpected jewels that dance daringly on the edge of art, yet possess a classicism and timelessness that we search for in fine jewelry. Grew & Co. jewels have a magic that’s hard to put your finger on. A kaleidoscope of colored stones in geometric forms that flash through hypnotic emeralds, deep midnight sapphires and piercing white diamonds.

Possessing an intuitive design process uninfluenced by commercialism, Grew & Co are guided solely by pure passion for the creative possibilities that lie in each stone discovered. They’re a Sydney based company that do things differently. Authentically. A rare honesty spills from their collections and infiltrates the way they run their business, with a down to earth nature embodied by every person in their team, and a service you will experience nowhere else in the world.

Highlights

• Artful Geometrics / Exquisite jewels in geometric shapes, the Grew & Co collections move through a myriad of shapes and forms – hexagon, oval, tapered baguette and kite-shaped stones, finished with wedding bands designed to nestle each artful piece.
• Colored Gemstones / Grew & Co are renowned for their kaleidoscope of unique stones – rare sapphires in rust, peach and teal, salt and pepper diamonds, grey spinel and Australian opals.
• Exquisite Stones / We’ve been shooting Grew & Co’s collections for many years, and trust us – through a macro lens every nuanced detail is exposed. Designer Simon Grew has one of most rigorous gemstone selection processes, hand selecting only the most exquisite jewels to be set by artisans. The quality is truly rare and incredibly flawless.

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Sarah Gardner

Magic solidified into fated, composed form, Sarah Gardner is an alchemist of dreams and a creator of tangible poetry. Intrigued by history and costume, Sarah’s collections are inspired by hidden treasures blending nostalgia and elegance with wildly unexpected form through organic shapes and raw markings.

Handcrafting jewels from her Paddington boutique, Sarah Gardner’s style is raw and untamed yet her process is meticulous, drawing on a craft perfected for over 20 years. From brilliant-cut diamonds to Ceylon sapphires and ice grey salt-and-pepper stones, Sarah Gardner creates the kind of jewels that shock with unexpected beauty but transcend decades.

Highlights

• Imperfect Perfection / Designing around each individual stone, viewed as hidden treasures of the earth, Sarah Gardner’s style is fluid in form, celebrating the beauty of imperfection.
• Master Craftsmanship / A true artisan, Sarah’s work has been meticulously honed through seven years of training with two master jewellers while studying at Enmore Design Centre, before creating her own pieces for over 20 years.
• Hypnotic Gemstones / From brilliant-cut diamonds, Ceylon sapphires, ice grey salt and peppers, and princess-cut emeralds – Sarah Gardner’s range of gemstones are wildly diverse yet woven together with her distinctly otherworldly aesthetic.

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LeiL

Bold desire enveloped in contemporary values encapsulate the essence of harbour city label, LeiL. Precision, consideration for dimension, symmetry and proportions result in timelessly classic pieces, silently evoking an inner knowing that you’re investing in longevity, a sentimental heirloom. Each piece a symbol of the now yet designed with the earth forever in mind. Using only lab-created diamonds and materials sourced exclusively from Australian suppliers’, lovers can be assured their choice is embedded with traces close to home.

We’re enraptured by the purity of LeiL’s pieces; there’s an honest simplicity that emanates confidence, modernity and feminine elegance. With an evident unspoken technicality in the construction of each ring, the commitment to quality and radical transparency is honoured without misplacing that deep, harmonic wonder we so admire.

Highlights

• Above Ground / 100% lab-created diamonds for the environmentally-conscious lover wanting to wear their values daily.
• Architectural Stirred / Multidisciplinary inspired, LeiL celebrates the intersection between architecture and jewelry. Imagine sweeping curved arches, clean lineal lines and edges of intent.
• Honest Generation / Dedicated to transparency and timelessness, there’s an aurora of tangible integrity around this label that stands to shape-shift tradition.

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Black Finch

Honoring earth’s most precious materials Black Finch is firmly embedding their name as a designer of galaxia inspired contemporary pieces. Clustered gems painted in palettes of dusted whites, painterly pinks, oceanic teals and tranquil greens. Unexpected formations transcend the repetition which often flood engagement ring decisions. Boldly artistic, this Melbourne design house speaks to the bride intrigued by alchemy, romanced by the wilds, a lover lost in orchestrating her own style.

Imbued in meaning, each Black Finch piece is firmly grounded in a practice that acknowledges considered values and ethical transparency. Exceptional craftsmanship and otherworldly designs need not cost the earth, and rather dutifully respect her, a sentiment shared by labels own Legacy of Love project – one we’re in full support of.

Highlights

• Celestial Clusters / With indelible, dreamlike allure, we love the Black Finch statement celestial-inspired clusters.
• Contemporary Colors / For those with an unapologetic reverence for unflinching palettes, each piece will capture your eye and heart, furthermore.
• Alchemically Crafted / Made-to-order pieces each meticulously constructed juxtapose sentiments of gems falling effortlessly together. The kind of unplanned magic you can’t explain how it works, but it just does.

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Lei é Design

Enveloped by elemental beauty, finding poetry in the untouched, the raw and untamed, Lei é Design is a boutique studio based in Sydney specializing in an unheated and untreated approach to fine jewelry. Their methodology is a rare and refreshing tonic amongst a sea of designers who prize the flawlessly enhanced over the inimitable beauty of natural stones.

A name that means ‘She is’, Lei é is a brand grounded in uniqueness, inner strength and courageous beauty, finding connection in the diversity of each stone and its wearer. With a focus on bespoke, Lei é embraces the notion that no two love stories are the same, and neither should two gemstones be. Expect a kaleidoscope of colored gemstones, beautifully cut and paired with artful bands, each piece layered with intention.

Highlights

• Kaleidoscopic Colors / We’re romanced by their poetic play of wildly colorful gemstones, their iridescent cuts, each beautifully nuanced detail revealed with changing light.
• Modern Geometrics / Reinventors, and contemporary artisans, Lei é transform untouched gemstones into treasures handcrafted into geometric shapes and unexpected compositions.
• Embracing Imperfection / A devotion to the uniquely unexpected and the belief that intrinsic beauty lies within the natural and perfectly imperfect.

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White November

Suffused in celestial beauty evocative of star-dusted skies, White November are for seekers of jewels that hold a deeper meaning. Artfully handcrafted in a dreamscape of color, White November fuse the symbolic with the sentimental to produce decadent, mesmeric pieces that make a bold statement about the wearer.

Crafted with longevity in mind from their studio based in Melbourne, White November intertwine astronomy, architecture, art, culture and design to create beautifully unexpected designs rich with story. A studio of artists, poets, and inventors, White November prize waste-free processes, recycling metals and reinvigorating family heirloom stones, masterfully melding old with new.

Highlights

• Celestial Detail / Drawn to an otherworldly magic, we love White November’s jewelled clusters and celestial details evocative of majestic night skies.
• Inspired Beginnings / In what can sometimes feel like sea of sameness in the jewelry industry, we love that White November draw inspiration from the world outside of weddings – art, architecture, design and astronomy, resulting in completely unique, and deeply inspired creations.
• Bespoke Design Process / With a brand philosophy inspired by emotion and meaning, we love the depth of the bespoke process, to create wedding rings that speak the story of each wearer, with a brand new creation or a reimagined heirloom.

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Eliise Maar

Unabashedly feminine with a delicately refined aesthetic, Eliise Maar’s designs inspire innate romance. Spoken in a language that is elegant yet soulfully authentic, these pieces express the nuances of each couple’s unique love story. Striking yet understated, quiet yet eloquent, Eliise Maar jewels emanate a contemporary but timeless quality that will resonate in decades to come.

Mindfully handcrafted in Melbourne with sustainable practices at their core, Eliise’s rings hypnotize with diamonds that are as ethical as they are exquisite. Driven by a philosophy steered by individualism, Eliise selects every gemstone carefully, molding each piece to take on its owner’s very personality, as if it’s an intimate extension of the wearer. A token imbued with deep resonance that so effortlessly and practically slips into its purpose.

Highlights

• Masterfully Cut Diamonds / Ethically sourced and artfully cut, Eliise possesses an intuitive skill for selecting and shaping diamonds for the most minimal or decadent of settings.
• Textural Wedding Bands / Balancing elegance with the honesty and rawness of the imperfect, Eliise Maar reimagines classic rings with bands dusted with textural frosting or brushed with hand-forged markings.
• Modern Heirlooms / Alchemizing precious metals and thoughtfully curated stones into timeless heirlooms, Eliise creates sentimental treasures that transcend trends.

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James & Irisa

Heartfelt designers masterfully curating timeless one-of-a-kind pieces, we love that James & Irisa embody the magical essence of all that is artisanal. Bound in intuitive knowing, their engagement rings are enriched in otherworldly Australian color palettes, resulting in a delicate sensibility yet artful desire. Harmony, integral to their designs, it’s evident there’s a deep understanding of balancing yin and yang qualities, leaving an unspoken calm over their stone selection and band setting decisions.

James & Irisa’s personal devotion to showcasing wildly romantic Australian sapphires and opals in textural forms evokes a sense of perfect imperfection. A desire to blend handpicked native gemstones uncovered from ancient earth, each with unique characteristics paired with hand-wrought recycled metals allows the duo to create unapologetic jewels from their Melbourne studio, each stamped in their signature organic effortlessness.

Highlights

• Opalescence / Renowned for their careful consideration and personal connections with gem miners, James & Irisa reposition opals in ways uniquely modern and never outdated. The gem you didn’t know you needed to consider is now back on the table.
• Textured Traces / There’s something magical about hand-formed textures taking on wild abandon for perfection, the trace of your hand over moments and memories, purposefully appointed, no two the same.
• Harmonically Modernistic / An unspoken knowing of balance, proportion and intuition defines their pieces in ways effortlessly timeless.

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Katie Rose

A deeply intimate part of southern love stories, Katie Rose embraces individuality unapologetically, creating irreplaceable memories and lifelong treasures. Spilling with effortless ease, these jewels are the kind that speaks to a bride embracing minimalism with her own uncomplicated wonder. Drenched in unwavering sentiment and artisanal touches, Katie’s training as a goldsmith infuses her pieces with sound tradition, yet it’s her eye for alchemy we’re drawn to over and over.

Specializing in co-created bespoke pieces formed in her Mornington Peninsula based studio, the resulting jewels encapsulate ethically sourced precious and semi-precious gemstones, and our forever favorite – her clustered diamond design. Wrapped in the kind of fluidity lead only by her heart and never bound to trend, you can expect the beautifully unexpected with a twist on contemporary design.

Highlights

• Uncomplicated Wonder / There’s an everlasting simplicity to each piece we see from Katie Rose, masterfully eclipsing the intricate detailing of her designs. A skill never lost on our appreciation for true artisans. 
• Independent Designer / Work one-on-one with the founder and designer for a deeply intimate experience and heartfelt understanding offered by few.
• Understated Individuality / Not bound by trend and lead only by her heart, it’s easy to see that Katie’s passion for bespoke personalisation of each love story is embedded in all that she touches.

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HLSK

A Melbourne boutique evocative of an Alexis Christoduolou dreamworld, HLSK spills with wildflowers artfully arranged, majestic arches and curved architecture brushed in Venetian plaster that bends and sculpts the space to encase their artistic jewels. Contemporary, youthful and a far cry from the often traditional, overtly uptight and outdated experiences often associated with fine jewelers, HLSK is a brand we love for their refreshing and modern approach to fine jewelry. 

Crafting artistically compositions with unique gem pairings, always with viable price points and sustainability front of mind, HLSK are for seekers of modern engagement rings that exude fragility and femininity. 

Highlights

Delicately Refined / We love HLSK’s delicate, fine bands dusted in diamonds paired with centre stones in dreamy tints of champagne or pale sapphires. 

Relaxed Luxury / HLSK’s flagship combines organic shapes with a refined elegance, creating a beautifully relaxed and inspiring space for one of life’s biggest decision. 

Affordability / HLSK offer diverse options to suit each client’s needs, ranging from $1,000 – $20,000.

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