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1.60 ct cushion cut diamond engagement ring with pavé band, 18K white gold
A single cushion cut diamond of 1.60 carats, G in colour, held at each corner by a pair of claws above a band pavé-set with 0.22 ct of round brilliants, all in 18K white gold. GIA certified. There is one of it.
No halo — and why that is the harder choice
Most cushions on the market are sold inside a halo, because a halo is what makes a smaller centre stone read as a larger one. At 1.60 carats there is nothing to compensate for. Taking the halo away leaves the cushion’s own outline visible — the soft, pillow-shaped silhouette that is the entire reason to choose this cut over a round — and a ring of small stones around the edge is precisely what blurs it.
What the pavé band does instead is carry light down the finger without competing at the centre. The stones sit low and flat along the shoulders, well away from the cushion, so they read as a bright line leading up to it rather than as a second cluster around it.
Colour G, clarity SI2 — and the reason that combination works here
The centre stone is G in colour and SI2 in clarity. That is a deliberate pairing rather than a compromise, and it is worth explaining plainly.
A cushion is a crushed-ice cut: the pavilion is faceted into many small, irregularly angled sections, and light comes back as a scattered mosaic rather than in the broad, orderly flashes of a step cut. That mosaic is the best natural camouflage in diamond cutting. An inclusion that would sit exposed in the open table of an emerald cut, where the eye looks straight through to the pavilion, is broken up and lost in a cushion. This is why an SI2 cushion behaves very differently from an SI2 emerald cut, and why buying clarity beyond this point on this particular cut is spending on something the stone does not show.
Colour is the opposite case. Cushions have longer light paths than rounds, so they hold on to body colour more readily — a cushion will generally look a shade warmer than a round of the same grade. G is chosen for that reason: high enough in the near-colourless range that the stone faces up white, and set in white gold, which does nothing to warm it. The F pavé is a touch above the centre, so the shoulders never look grey against it.
The trade-off is spent where it shows — on size and on colour — and saved where the cut does the hiding.
Double claws on the corners
Each corner is held by two claws rather than one. A cushion’s corners are rounded, but they are still its thinnest section and the part that meets a door handle first. Paired claws grip either side of a corner instead of sitting on the point itself, which spreads the pressure and leaves the corner covered from two directions. It is also why the stone sits square and stays square.
Sizing and the certificate
Supplied with its GIA report. Ring sizing is included — tell us your size, or come in and we will measure it. A pavé band can be sized within limits, so let us know if you are between sizes and we will advise before ordering rather than after.
Made in Antwerp
Set by hand in our own workshop, delivered with the Orogem jewellery certificate and a full description of the stones. Insured delivery is free throughout Europe. If you would like this cushion in yellow or rose gold, or on a plain band, we can build it either way — see tailor-made engagement rings.
Related
Browse all cushion cut engagement rings, our diamond band engagement rings, or read the guide to elongated cushion cut diamonds if you are deciding between a square and a longer cushion.
