Flamme en rose

When we met, my (now) husband very quickly gave me a beautiful ring. We were very young (21 years old!) and this ring was therefore always presented as a “promise” ring: “one day, when we grow up, we will get married!” but never as an "official" engagement ring.

10 years later, when we decided that we « were grown up » and that we wanted to celebrate these 10 years together by getting married, I did not want an engagement ring: the promise ring had already fulfilled this role of promise for years and I didn't want to wear more than 2 rings on my hands (the promise ring, the civil union ring, the engagement ring and then the wedding ring).

So we wanted a wedding ring made of 2 bands, linked together. A "2 in 1" ring that plays both the role of an alliance for the wedding day and also an engagement ring to remember this beautiful period of 27 months of preparations! However, we couldn't find a model that suited us: the only model that looked like what we had in mind was available from an international jeweller for $30,000!

When we announced our engagement, my paternal grandmother gave us an old gold watch to melt down. This is how we contacted Flamme en Rose to recycle this gold and transform it into a wedding ring.

The result is magnificent and fully meets our expectations in terms of design. It was quite simple to explain our project to Angela and Michèle and to co-create the ring. The ring was available in 8 weeks after several back and forth emails. A time well needed to discuss the different drafts proposed, refine the details and validate the launch for the creation of the ring.

If I had a comment to share, it would be related to the slight lack of communication or explanations that I felt during the process. I completely understand that this company is busy, but in a process that is often new to their clients (I guess not many people have ever co-created a wedding ring !), in a rather vague and not very transparent field, and in high tariffs practice due to the scarcity of materials and the creative expertise required, I believe that taking all the time necessary to fully explain the options, costs, advantages and disadvantages is an essential need for customers. It is true that at times, there were shortcuts and a lack of information that created confusion with my order. More explanations or transparency on the costs associated with the process would undoubtedly have avoided a little disappointment and allowed more mutual understanding. Without this, I find it difficult to build a relationship of trust, in which we, the customers, deeply and transparently understand the different options available to us to combine our imagination, creation, budget or “reasonable” expenditure for ourselves.

For example, my grandmother's gold was 18KW. According to the price of gold on that date, 1g of gold in 18KW was equal to 55$/g. Flamme en Rose offered me 42$/g after negotiation without explaining the reason for this huge price difference and giving me a very clear ultimatum. It was their price, it was like that, and if it didn't suit me, the process started would end there. This had the merit of being commercially clear, but it puts a very unpleasant balance of power in place. What's more when "collaborative" exchanges have already been in place for several weeks and a 2,000$ project is going on.

In addition, before receiving the 18KW gold watch from my grandmother, I had decided to make a 14KW wedding ring. Since I brought more gold than necessary, 18KW gold, I took for granted that my ring (7g of gold needed) was going to be cast in my grandmother's 18KW gold (20.5g of gold). However, this was not the case and I only discovered it afterwards. My ring had already been made… in 14KW! I would have liked someone to take care to tell me and explain it to me, moreover when my 18KW gold had been bought back at an equivalent rate of 14KW. A regrettable approach that taints confidence for new collaborations.

Despite these remarks, Michèle and Angela remain professionals whose approach to recycling gold and creating new jewelry has been a success. We sincerely thank them for the magnificent work done.