Where can I find this style of setting from Japan?

[Sillius Soddus]

I''m new to the board! I have been reading for a few weeks and everyone seems so kind and supportive so I thought I would post my question. I live in Japan and I am in the process of finding an engagement ring. I notice a difference in styles between what most American jewelers seems to feature (and the pics most PS-ers post) and what is popular here in Japan. Many young women here wear a kind of ''flush-set'' (?) ring that doesn''t use prongs and isn''t a tension setting. In the words of my girlfriend ''Ewww, I don''t want to look like my mother!'' (Before all you traditional solitaire wearers get angry...I don''t personally dislike the prong-type settings!) I am just going with what she wants....

My question is ''why do these types of rings seem hard to find on many of the bigger e-vendor''s sites in the States? Is this type of ring not so popular or am I just not finding them? My girlfriend (along with most of the girls here in Japan I have discussed it with) prefer this clean style of ring, but the prices in Japan are, well....ridiculous. Having said that, the quality is usually high as well, with some jewelers refusing even to sell anything below D-F VVS! Anyway, I want to buy my ring online from the States so I can select my own diamond and save some money in the process. One thing that might explain why these rings don''t seem to be so popular in North America is that the largest diamond I have seen in this type of setting (in the stores here in Osaka) has been 0.4 carats. It seems that the Japanese prefer smaller, higher quality stones; perhaps a larger diamond wouln''t work in such a setting? I am looking at a stone in the 0.6~0.7 range...would this work with such a setting? Would the ring have to be unusually thick (high) due to the physical size of the diamond? If anyone has seen (or knows anything about) similar settings I would love to hear from you! Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[Sillius Soddus]

Another one of the same style......

 

[valeria101]

Different places, different styles... these would work fantastic with diamonds up to half carat or so - and small, low set & high grades (or the markup on the combination) are not globally accepetd

You could have such a setting made, I would think without allot of trouble.

The style reminds me of rings listed by a couple of jewelry shops: Sholdt Design, David Keeling Jewelry, Davidson Designs, Krikawa... Bet there are others and most jeweler doing custom work could make one for you as well.

Just for fun, one with half carat diamond done in mokume gane from the web shop of James Binion. I am quite crazy about his work!

 

[valeria101]

... from Sholdt Design - half carat and 1 carat:

I am not sure what is the correct name for these things - some may call them 'gypsy settings' or 'channel' or even 'half bezel' or 'flush set'... whatever.

 

[Sillius Soddus]

Thank you so much for the ideas! I had a look at the jewelers you suggested and found quite a few rings that might be what I''m looking for!

I noticed that some of them are based in Canada as well, which is convenient because I head back home to Canada every summer. I am going to go back and have a closer look at those rings.....thanks again!