She’s gonna put a ring on him

When Genevieve Schwartz announced her engagement at the end of last year, no one was overly interested in how her boyfriend had proposed or even when the wedding would be. “The first question everyone asked me was: ‘So now are you going to make him a ring?’” recalls the 30-year-old jewellery designer.

Around the same time, two female friends took the unconventional step of proposing to their boyfriends. “I just thought: ‘That’s so cool.’ Why do we sit around waiting? If you want something and if you’re both ready for something, womenshould be able to ask for it too.”

All of the above gave Schwartz the novel idea of creating engagement rings for men and she now has five designs to her name. Far removed from the “bling” often associated with women’s engagement rings, the stunning collection is characterised by simple geometric lines and understated gemstones.

During the design process, Schwartz did plenty of market research. “I got in touch with lots of different men, friends of mine, friends of friends and my parents’ friends and sent them about 20 designs.” She was surprised by the response. “Across the board, they all had similar opinions. The main takeaway was that they didn’t want to wear a big stone since they see that as feminine. They preferred a plain band with a twist.”

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of men’s jewellery, led by pop and fashion icons such as Harry Styles and Shawn Mendes. But Schwartz, who lives in Archway, North London, does her trend-spotting much closer to home. “My reference point is always the Tube. For me, when the masses are wearing jewellery, then it shows that it’s happening. I’ve seen guys wearing one ring on each finger and others wearing a chain or two.”

That’s not to say that her latest collection of rings should be restricted to male wearers and on her website, they are described as “gender neutral”. “Gender is so central to people’s thinking nowadays and I think it’s something that people don’t want to feel limited by or confined to. I’m trying to push that the possibilities (for these rings) are endless, whether it’s a woman buying it for a woman, a man buying it for a man, a woman buying it for a man, or even a woman buying it for herself.”

Schwartz says (modestly) that ending up in jewellery design was “a bit of a fluke” since the Immanuel College alumna was encouraged to go down the academic route while a sixth-former at the Fine Arts College in Hampstead. She studied art history at Bristol University, but she has always loved jewellery, not just wearing it, but also making and selling it to school and university friends. “When I look back on it, I guess I was always interested in jewellery design and I’m really pleased I found it because it really suits my sensibilities. It’s creative, but also ordered and I’m quite a systematic person.”

After graduating, Schwartz trained part-time as a silversmith while interning in the jewellery department of doyenne of British fashion, Vivienne Westwood. She then got a job at luxury jewellery brand Astley Clarke and recalls the thrill of seeing her first designs — three lockets — in production. “When I went in and saw the collection sitting there in trays, it was so emotional and so exciting.”

It was at Astley Clarke where she honed her craft before deciding to go it alone a year ago, setting up a studio in the loft of the Highgate home of her mum, artist Lisa Schwartz. Visible in the background as we speak is her mum’s vast collection of art books, which Schwartz often dips into for inspiration. “On reflection, my degree in art history gave me a really strong foundation for what I do now because historical references are really useful for when I’m trying to come up with ideas.”

Schwartz’s signature style, with its strong, clean lines, is reminiscent of art deco, but she also gravitates towards colour and during the interview, points to a pretty necklace of multi-coloured sapphires. In fact, nearly all the jewellery she is wearing today was designed by her, including a beautiful gold and chrysoprase signet ring, part of a project with Fair Luxury to create more sustainable pieces. “The stone is from Nineteen48, which works with responsibly sourced gemstones and the gold was fair trade.” While she applauds those in the industry who are starting to take an equally environmental and ethical approach, Schwartz concedes that there are major challenges to creating jewellery from sustainable sources. “Fundamentally, we are taking minerals and metals from the earth, so it’s quite destructive as a whole, but there are companies and consumers who are tuning into [more sustainable practices], which I think is really positive.”

She recently created an engagement ring for a couple who wanted ethically mined sapphires. This was one of a flurry of commissions Schwartz has received from people who got engaged during lockdown. “For couples, lockdown was formative. It certainly was for my partner and me. Our relationship definitely accelerated because we got to know each other so well, so quickly.”

But before she ties the knot, Schwartz needs to make her fiancé a ring. He was “very involved” when she was creating the designs, providing feedback and even becoming a hand model for the photo shoot. “Once I had made the collection, I asked him which ring was his favourite and I’m now in the process of making it.”

She is delighted that he didn’t need any persuading to become a trailblazer for men’s engagement rings. “I think that people like to talk about their partners and what they do, but until now, he hasn’t been able to wear anything that I’ve made. So he sees this as a way of saying: ‘This is what my partner does and this is the ring she made for me.’”