Cork goldsmith Tuula Harrington has come up with a website that allows people design their own engagement rings and have the design executed by Harrington and her team.

With online shopping of all sorts up by as much as 45% during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has also been a trend towards buying higher end goods online. 

“My Unique Ring by Tuula is a first-of-its-kind online platform that allows people design their very own engagement rings,” said the goldsmith.

According to Harrington (pictured): “It allows couples’ imagination and creativity sparkle to create the perfect ring for them. People can choose from numerous designs and ideas from my own sketchbooks, with complete freedom to try out different bands, metals and gemstones and design their own unique piece of jewellery that marks a very special occasion.

“I love the creative process that’s involved in crafting my jewellery and I wanted to provide an opportunity for couples to experience that creativity for themselves. Every one of my designs begins with an idea and a sketch, and the process is the same for My Unique Ring, which embraces new technology.

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“People can choose from a variety of my most popular designs and customise to their own tastes in metal and stone options. There is so much freedom to try out different gemstones and settings, having fun creating ideas that they may never have thought they’d like. The process is completely non-committal, we just want people to have fun and explore their own ideas for themselves.”

Once an engagement ring has been created, the price and full description is displayed, and people can then decide to pay a deposit and order the ring, send the design to Harrington’s design team for a consultation, or simply send it to themselves to show off to family and friends.

All of the rings are made at the DesignWorks Goldsmith Studio in Cork city and Harrington encourages anyone who is getting their ring crafted to visit the studio to examine the stones for themselves before they are set.

Once finished, rings can be collected from the studio or securely shipped to the customer.

Harrington has been practising as a goldsmith for more than 20 years, having begun her training as a teenager in Italy under a German master goldsmith, then studying jewellery and metalwork in Britain before setting up her first workshop in Cork in 2004.

The engagement ring market in Ireland is worth an estimated €75m annually, with the average ring valued between €3,000 and €5,000.