Écrin

Place Vendôme · Paris, since 1613

Mellerio

The oldest family-owned jeweller in France, a clan from the Val Vigezzo in the Italian Alps that has kept a shop on rue de la Paix since 1815. Its hand today, under Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, is botanical and light: a cactus flower for Marie-Antoinette, the gardens of Isola Madre, a diamond cut named for the house.

Founded by The Mellerio family. Ideas from €440. Mellerio site

Le Petit Cactus ring with five rose gold cactus flowers of spiky stamens, each centred on a white, brown or yellow diamond, on a cream ground
Image © Mellerio

Le Petit Cactus

2019 From €440
Giardino ring in rose gold: an openwork four-petalled flower with a lace-edged outline paved with diamonds and a round diamond at the centre, on a cream ground
Image © Mellerio

Giardino

From €900
Mellerio Cut ring in white gold: an oval-shaped diamond in a halo of small diamonds on a pavé band, seen from above on a cream ground
Image © Mellerio

Mellerio Cut

From €10,700

The conversation

Mellerio answering

  • Solitaire 1895 in platinum: a brilliant-cut diamond held by four claws on a plain band, on a pale ground.

    Mellerio Cut after Solitaire 1895, Cartier

    Mellerio keeps the lone stone but gives it a cut of its own, a softened oval in memory of the Beau Sancy.

  • Alhambra

    Giardino after Alhambra, Van Cleef & Arpels

    Giardino opens the four-petalled flower in lace-edged gold with one stone at its heart, after the gardens of Isola Madre.

  • Mimosa

    Le Petit Cactus after Mimosa, Damiani

    Mellerio also picks a flower for its character: the vanilla cactus that opens one night a year, where Damiani's mimosa blooms in any weather.