Four Words - Together Journal

Discover the magic of Four Words, a distinguished jewellery brand renowned for their exquisite craftsmanship and bespoke designs.

Specializing in custom engagement rings and fine jewellery, Four Words has garnered acclaim for its ability to transform precious metals and gemstones into timeless pieces that celebrate love and individuality.

Join us as we explore the artistry, craftsmanship, and personal touches that define the essence of the jewellery brand. Read more below.

Tell us a little bit about yourselves and how Four Words came about?

We make custom engagement rings and other fine jewellery, using ethically sourced lab-grown diamonds and other gemstones. We started Four Words to help people create their dream engagement ring, earrings, necklace, or statement piece that they can feel good about, and without the pretentiousness of traditional luxury brands. Our goal is to offer an easy, relaxed experience akin to consulting a cool design-savvy friend, rather than battling with a salesperson.

When Vinny (my husband) was looking to propose, he knew he wanted to create a custom engagement ring and he knew he wanted to use lab-grown diamonds. I’ll be honest, at the time I didn’t really know what they were. Once he explained, immediately I was like ‘Oh, hell yes, this is a no-brainer’.

But it wasn’t easy, since we wanted something a bit more unique and not off the shelf, it was incredibly difficult to find someone locally in NZ who could do that for us without paying a massive premium for it! After several months, we found a designer overseas to make up a model which we then got a small local jeweller in NZ to make for us.

After this, we helped a few of our friends who had the same experience do this until eventually we thought, ‘Hey, this could be a real business.’ So yeah, that’s how we got started!

Our background isn’t rooted in fine jewellery, and our families don’t have a history in diamonds and gemstones. I suppose you could call us outsiders to the industry! We saw this as an opportunity to approach things differently.

Breaking away from traditional practices and industry norms, we built Four Words to focus on:

Lab-grown diamonds (our speciality) and other lab-grown gemstones.
Custom-made, individually crafted rings, each piece designed exclusively for you. We don’t resell other people’s jewellery or push ‘off-the-shelf’ products – always custom, never customary.
Collaborate directly with designers, not salespeople: Our designers provide practical advice and guidance throughout the process, ensuring you receive personalised solutions rather than being pushed towards the priciest options within your budget.
Stone sourcing straight from diamond and gem cutters on your behalf, eliminating extra mark-ups from middlemen.
Modern technology, including digital sketches, 3D prints, and photorealistic renders, ensures our customers achieve their vision without uncertainty or stress.
Working only with materials we feel confident has minimal impact on both the planet and people.

We want our customers to be able to enjoy the journey of crafting a beautifully designed, well-made piece of fine jewellery that they can feel good about – all at a fair price.

What makes Four Words jewellery unique?

We’re designers at heart.

All our jewellery is custom-made, so each piece is thoughtfully designed and crafted for that customer. For us, it’s about making sure we can achieve the vision our clients have in their heads.

Our designers are in-house and have an industrial design background, so they know how to turn design concepts into technical drawings, as well as 3D models that are used in the manufacturing of the piece. They have a deep understanding of form, shape and function to make sure each piece is not only beautiful but well constructed and practical so it will last a lifetime. It’s a lot different to other ‘custom’ jewellery brands that tend to outsource a lot of their design work.

Our clients often come to us because they can trust that through our deep expertise in design, we can provide transparent advice on what will look good, what’s possible and what the trade-offs and practicalities are in each design. We’re not shy about being transparent and telling our clients when something won’t work or won’t look good.

We’ve just done over 1,200 individual pieces and pride ourselves on being able to make almost anything come to life. From using different metal compositions to custom cutting our own diamonds and gemstones – if you can dream it, we can make it.

Can you describe your jewellery offerings and the occasions they’re suited for?

We are engagement & wedding focused – around 95% of the pieces we craft are engagement rings and wedding bands. Beyond this, we do all other fine jewellery (e.g. necklaces, earrings, bracelets), appropriate for everyday and special occasions.

How do you ensure the quality and authenticity of lab-grown diamonds in your pieces?

The lab-grown diamond market is relatively new and is still maturing. So it’s kind of like a wild west out there – we’re seeing more and more unsophisticated diamond growers entering the market to cash in on this growth. This has led to a huge amount of grey and ‘blurry’ looking diamonds that are being sold to unsuspecting consumers due to their attractive price points.

It’s tricky because you don’t really know you’ve gotten a sub-par stone unless you compare it next to a great one.

With us, we only work with a selected number of vetted labs, and we have a rigorous stone selection process that we manage before we present the diamond to our clients.

First, we filter out sub-par stones using independent grading reports (from GIA and IGI), paying attention to the angles and proportions of the diamonds. We also visually inspect the diamonds via video. From there, we select a stone we believe to be perfect for our client, that gives them the absolute best for their budget.

Second, we physically send that diamond to our third-party gemologist partners for a second, in-person inspection. Our partners will carefully inspect the diamond to ensure it has “life” and is free of any defects (grey, CVD strain, striations, blue nuance) that aren’t on the grading report.

Once this step is complete and we are confident we have sourced the highest quality diamond for our client, we present this diamond to our client for their final confirmation.

What advice do you offer for customers seeking the perfect jewellery for special occasions such as an engagement or wedding?

This one might be a little controversial – but our advice is to not get too hung up on having an engagement ring design that you will like for the rest of your life! We see many clients stress themselves out over this, so much that it takes away from what should be a super fun, enjoyable and stress-free moment in their lives.

People grow and evolve and you shouldn’t be expected to have the same taste that you did 10 years ago. You can and you should remodel your engagement ring as your tastes and style changes.

So, choose the design that resonates and speaks to who you are now. Lean into the experience, and commemorate the individual you are at the time you marry the love of your life. If you don’t love it in 10 years, you can change it. We remodel engagement rings all the time.

Hot tip here – because you can reuse the metal and the stones, remodelling is actually not as costly as people think!