When my now husband, Brian proposed in 2001 it was the happiest moment of my life.  We'd had a whirlwind but grounding romance, childhood friends re-united. We are both sailors, he repairs and fits out sailing boats, so when he proposed, he did so on the deck of our home (a 56 foot sailing boat in Pittwater Harbor) and placed a ring on my finger he'd made himself out of a deck cleat. It was enormously romantic, but the ring was only to be temporary, my husband wanting me to choose something more permanent.

I had already seen the ring of my dreams in a Vogue magazine and had cut it out some months before.  I contacted some jeweler friends of mine who were living and working in Byron Bay, and sent them the photo of my dream ring.  The rang back to advise they could not make it, but had a contact who could.  That person turned out to be Mark.

I spoke with Mark on the phone and explained what I wanted.  Mark asked me to measure my fingers, length, and ring size, and send him a copy of the photo.  I did this, and 5 days later Mark called to advise we would need to make some modifications on the design.  The hand modeling the ring in the magazine, was the hand of a very tall person.  I am only 5 foot two, and my hands were much smaller.  The design in the photo, if made to my ring size(k) would have been very uncomfortable, with the claw holding the setting, rubbing against the adjacent fingers.  Mark suggested a slightly wider band, and a higher setting.  He sketch designed the ring and emailed it to me, showing the problems with the ring I wanted, and his suggested modifications.

I was wrapped, but still unsure.  In the end, I paid Mark to make me a version first in silver/gold plated, with a cubic zirconia instead of a diamond.  I am SOOO glad I did this.  As it turned out, his design changes were perfect, but it allowed me to see how my ring was going to turn out before making the big commitment to the final version.  I would have hated to have had the ring made, then once it arrived found it to be not what I wanted.

Mark was able to make recommendations on what quality of diamond to buy that was within our price range, that would be as close as possible to the diamond in the magazine ring.(It was a perfect diamond, not within my budget, several hundred thousand dollars!)  After the ring was made, Mark offered to secure freight it to me, but Brian and I opted to fly to Byron Bay instead.  I’d easily saved several thousand dollars on the price of getting it made in Sydney, and figured a weekend in Byron to pick up my ring was a fantastic idea.

When the ring was finally on my hand, it was the most marvelous sight.  Mark had captured all the beauty of the ring I wanted, but done so in a way the suited my petite hands.  The stone was proportionally the same size as the stone in the photograph, but smaller to suit me.

Thankyou Mark, I have no hesitation in recommending Mark as a jeweller who can turn an idea or a dream into a beautiful, functional reality.