Mill & Way is a new and unique jewellers, specialising in engagement rings and bespoke pieces, located in the heart of Twickenham.

It is based in a showroom and workshop on Eel Pie Island, which has become a creative and cultural hub, providing a home to 26 independent artists and their studios.

As a business established in the Twickenham community, they are a perfect partner for Nub News. locally relevant and engaging content.

Our sponsors enable us to produce the locally relevant and engaging content we do, this article from co-owner Natalie Cole explains the exciting selection of rings for Spring/Summer proposals they offer!

Ah Spring & Summer… Just the perfect warmer weather, longer nights and new beginnings. Let us at Mill & Way help with your new beginning.

Trying to plan the perfect location, date & time plus the added pressure of choosing a style of ring your partner has always dreamt of combined with all of the misleading information regarding diamond specifications can turn an exciting milestone into a daunting event.

To help ease you on your journey, here are some of our helpful tips to make your moment special:

Choose a location that means something to the both of you: Where you both met, where you had your first date, ideal dream getaway… etc.

What we would say is, know your person! Would they like something private? Laying in bed, woken up to coffee & a cushion cut diamond? Over a romantic dinner for two at an Airbnb in the Lake District?

Whether it's at home or at your favourite restaurant, on an idyllic beach somewhere tropical or under the stars in the Arabian Desert, I'm sure the moment will be perfect.

Come along and let us help you design the perfect engagement ring, while you take all the credit, you deserve it after all!

Firstly decide whether you would like a Diamond Engagement Ring or Gemstone. More and more people are going for gemstones, either one that matches their partner's Birthstone or just one they really love the colour of - it really is a personal preference.

You can't go wrong with a Diamond of course! Here's some key things to think about - firstly what shape diamond? Once you have decided on the shape, it's then time to focus on the 4C's - Cut, Clarity, Colour & Carat.

Cut

The absolute most important factor. The cut directly affects the level of sparkle and light return due to the angles and proportions of the diamond.

Selecting the best cut grade ensures all of the facets align perfectly and all of the weight is at the top of the diamond and not the bottom.

For maximum fire and scintillation always ensure you go for the top cut and then work within your budget around Colour and Carat Weight.

At Mill & Way we specialise in only the highest quality stones. We only sell diamonds with the best quality cut as we want our customers to have the most beautiful diamonds.

Clarity

Clarity refers to a diamond's relative freedom from clarity characteristics, which are classified as inclusions or blemishes. The clarity grade is a reflection of the purity and rarity of the stone.

Every diamond is unique, no stone is absolutely perfect under 10× magnification, though some come close. Known as Flawless diamonds, these are exceptionally rare.

At Mill & Way we specialise in eye-clean diamonds which means that we only sell stones that do not have clarity characteristics that are visible to the naked eye.

Colour

The GIA's colour-grading scale for diamonds is the industry standard. The scale begins with the letter D, representing colourless, and continues with increasing presence of colour to the letter Z, or light yellow.

At Mill & Way we prefer to work with diamonds that are in the 'Colourless' and 'near colourless' range on the GIA diamond scale.

Diamond colour is a completely personal preference. Some customers do prefer stones in the colourless range (D, E and F) as the higher colours are considered the most captivating.

Whereas other customers prefer the charm of the warmer tones of the new near colourless range (G, H, I and J).

Carat Weight

The most important thing to remember is that Carat indicates the total weight of a diamond, not the visual size. Carat weight alone does not determine a diamond's value.

Years of marketing campaigns have presented the carat weight as the most important of the 4 Cs, this misleads customers into believing that the larger the carat weight, the bigger the diamond will look when this is not always the case.

As there has been so much focus placed on the carat weight, many diamond cutters will cut the diamond in order to retain as much weight as possible to create a heavier stone that they can sell for a higher profit rather than create the most beautiful stone.

The easiest area to retain weight on a diamond is on the pavilion or 'belly' of the stone. A stone that has been cut in order to retain weight rather than create the most beautiful stone will result in a stone that weighs more i.e. a high carat weight but will look visually smaller from above as the weight is in the belly of the diamond.

A stone that is cut with bad proportions will not only look smaller, but the proportions will not reflect the light in the correct way, resulting in a duller and less sparkly stone.

Now the truth is, all of that is a lot to take in & weigh up to make the best choice. If you let us know what shape you like, the design you have in mind and your budget, we can do all of the leg work for you and find the perfect eye-clean super sparkly diamond!

However, if you still aren't completely sure about the design then why not propose with our Proposal Box for just £100.00!