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OMG! As we speak on TCF, I’m so excited to speak every little thing moral plus dimension engagement rings with Ashley Catharine, co-founder of Chouette Designs.
Ashley is SO SO captivated with creating lovely engagement rings in plus sizes. “Most jewellery manufacturers really don’t transcend a dimension 8, in actual fact lower than 1% go as much as a 12 for those who can imagine it!” shared Ashley throughout our interview.
![Chouette Designs Founders](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Picture-Something-Photography-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1)
As we speak, I’m sharing an IN-DEPTH interview with Ashley, providing you with a entrance row seat to EXACTLY what Chouette Designs is all about and the way the customized engagement ring course of works.
Additionally, as a member of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, I needed to remember to add in tremendous useful info on how Ashley Catharine and Marine Schmitt (co-founders and wives!), and the workforce at Chouette Designs is affirming of all genders and pronouns, actually offering a ravishing engagement ring course of for members of the LGBT neighborhood.
You prepared? Let’s dive in!!
![Custom Plus Size Engagement Ring - Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Custom-Plus-Size-Engagement-Ring-Chouette-Designs.png?resize=706%2C704&ssl=1)
Designing *Your* Dream Plus Dimension Engagement Ring
Okay, first issues first! I do know from following (okay, hardcore fangirling) over Chouette Designs on-line that they’ve a beautiful assortment of demi-fine RTW jewellery that make nice items (bridesmaids items and wedding ceremony occasion items, anybody?)!
Whereas speaking with Ashley Catharine, she was very excited to share the precise step-by-step course of for designing your customized plus dimension engagement ring.
![Chouette Designs (Ethical Plus Size Engagement Rings)](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Chouette_April2022_039-copy-683x1024.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1)
“Buyer schooling is so necessary to me,” she shared, “there’s quite a lot of misinformation on the market when persons are on the lookout for an engagement ring. We’re honored to assist our shoppers design the ring of their desires, and the design/customization course of is admittedly designed to assist our shoppers take advantage of knowledgeable (and enjoyable!) choices.”
How a lot time does a customized engagement ring take?
Earlier than leaping into the step-by-step information, it’s useful to understand how lengthy the method takes for customized engagement rings. “Longer is all the time higher,” explains engagement ring professional, Ashley Catharine, “simply in case we have to seek for the right distinctive stone that isn’t as widespread as others. Total, it takes 2-3 months to create a customized engagement ring, from begin to end.”
![Engagement Wedding Ring - Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Engagement-Wedding-Ring-Chouette-Designs.png?resize=709%2C942&ssl=1)
What does a customized engagement ring normally value?
One thing I’ve seen as a vogue author and blogger is that individuals generally pre-emptively value themselves out of a customized piece, as a result of they suppose it is going to be costlier than an enormous field retailer possibility.
Not the case!
Explains Ashley: “At Chouette Designs, a customized engagement ring is round $3,000, and the typical American ring buy $6,000.”
Now that’s the typical value, in fact, so you possibly can go greater or decrease! “I’ve finished rings that had been proper at $1,000,” she shares, “and rings that bought as much as $10,000. It actually relies on what number of stones you need in your ring, the scale, the metallic you wish to use, and many others.”
Step #1 Customized Engagement Ring Course of: Analysis!
“The very first thing that you simply’ll wish to remember to do when designing your dream customized engagement ring,” explains Ashley, “is to go on our web site and take a look at our customs creation web page. We’re all the time updating it. Check out the types we’ve finished, and fill out the survey. We’ll ask you about your funds (to be respectful of it!), type you’re considering of, and many others.”
![Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Picture-Something-Photography-1-1-1024x683.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
Step #2 Customized Engagement Ring Course of: Session
“After you attain out through our web site, we’ll have a session. We are able to meet in San Diego, California, the place we’re primarily based, or over Zoom! Lots of our shoppers are positioned everywhere in the USA.”
By means of the session course of, Ashley will sketch designs along with her shopper(s), serving to to convey their dream customized engagement ring design to life.
Ashley famous that some folks know EXACTLY what they need their customized engagement ring to appear to be, whereas others aren’t certain. “I’m completely comfortable to offer design concepts that incorporate a shopper’s way of life and aesthetic within the design,” shares Ashley. “Some folks aren’t 100% certain what they need, and that’s okay!“
From there, Ashley expenses a small deposit (round $75, relying on the design) that’s utilized to your buy. Ashley additionally has shoppers signal a contract, to verify everyone seems to be in-the-know on processes, timelines, and many others.
Step 3: CAD Rendering
Now it’s time to go DIGITAL! After your customized plus dimension engagement ring design is finalized, Ashley creates a CAD (digital) rendering for manufacturing.
![CAD Rendering - Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CAD-Rendering-Chouette-Designs.png?resize=476%2C351&ssl=1)
Step #4: Let’s Get This Engagement Ring IRL!
From there, it’s time to get your new engagement ring IRL!
As a part of the model’s moral practices, Chouette Designs works with a maker in San Diego and Los Angeles (relying on varied design components and particulars), to make the customized engagement rings within the USA.
Throughout our interview, Ashley Catharine needed to remember to embrace that the demi-fine items (the ready-to-ship choices from Chouette Designs) are made in a manufacturing unit in India, which Ashley Catharine has vetted by way of shut trade contacts.
We love transparency!!
![Wedding Ring Proposal - Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Wedding-Ring-Proposal-Chouette-Designs.png?resize=706%2C938&ssl=1)
Step #5: You’ve Received Your Ring!
You’re virtually completed! When your customized plus dimension engagement ring comes again from the maker, Ashley provides ending touches and packaging. From there, your ring is prepared for the massive second!
Ought to designing a customized engagement ring be a 100% shock?
Whereas speaking with Ashley Catharine concerning the customized plus dimension engagement ring course of at Chouette Designs, I had a burning query:
Does the proposing companion*** hold the ring design course of 100% secret? Or is everybody concerned within the course of?
Whereas I’m a gal who LOVES a shock, I believe I’d wish to be in-the-know about my customized engagement ring, lol. However I do know some folks wish to be shocked!
![Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Black-Wing-Photography-1024x683.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
Ashley Catharine took that query in stride with a smile, saying, “It’s completely regular to have each or all companions concerned within the design course of,” she shared. “We’re comfortable to make it a 100% shock as nicely. Generally, a pair will meet with me collectively to design the customized engagement ring, getting a majority finished. Then, the proposing companion and I’ll end the design, to verify the ultimate ring design is a little bit of a shock.“
I really like that!
And, the proposing companion is usually a bit sneaky and shock their love with an “further” to go along with the customized wedding ceremony engagement ring. “We are able to design coordinating earrings, a stacking band to the engagement ring, and many others. We have now methods!” shares Ashley with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
We love surprises!
![Heart and Sola Creations - Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Heart-and-Sola-Creations-1024x683.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
LGBTQ+ Customized Marriage ceremony Engagement Rings
One thing that I LOVE about Chouette Designs is that the jewellery firm is lesbian-owned. As an LGBT blogger myself, I knew it will be SO useful for members of our neighborhood to dive in deeper with Ashley on how she works along with her LGBTQ+ shoppers.
Under, Ashley shares how the model incorporates inclusion into every little thing they do:
- Pronouns & Gender Id Help: “The marriage trade might be very gendered,” shared Ashley. “We’re proactive about utilizing the suitable pronouns and language to have fun our shoppers.”
- Ring Dimension: “We have now had some shoppers be informed that they’re ‘mendacity’ about their fiancé’s ring dimension” [at other retailers]
- Language: “A few of our shopper’s are excited to be a “bride” or ‘groom,’” she shares, “so we use that language. Others favor completely different phrases, which we’re 100% on board with.”
![Chouette Designs Photographed by Melissa McClure Photography](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ChouetteFall2021_112-683x1024.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1)
Throughout our interview, Ashley additionally gave The Curvy Fashionista an unique insider sneak peek, saying, “We’re additionally excited to offer customizable masculine wedding ceremony bands or engagement rings,” she shared. “There are extra choices than a big stone or plain band! So keep tuned on that entrance!”
Moral Customized Plus Dimension Engagement Rings
Okay, now that we’ve talked about funds, course of, and LGBT-inclusion — let’s speak about ETHICS.
Many individuals in 2023 don’t wish to use conflict-diamonds, and there are just a few methods to get your customized dream engagement ring, in a extra moral method.
You able to find out how?! Let’s go!
![Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Chouette-Designs-Engagement-Rings-1024x858.png?resize=1024%2C858&ssl=1)
“I’m very proud to say that we use each pure and lab-created stones. What’s actually necessary to me in stone origin and being assured on the place that stone comes from,” explains Ashley.
Generally for a selected stone, it’s not an choice to supply it ethically. However Ashley and the workforce at Chouette Designs are to not be deterred!
“If there’s no origin info for that stone, I go for lab-grown at that time. If a shopper needs a selected form, coloration or dimension, and I can’t discover it naturally with origin info, then we go for lab-grown.”
![Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Chouette-Designs-Wedding-Engagement-Ring-1024x762.png?resize=1024%2C762&ssl=1)
Attention-grabbing Inclusions
An rising pattern for 2023 is the intentional use of stones that aren’t 100% good. Explains Ashley, “Within the jewellery world, the main focus has all the time been on a flawless white diamond. If we’re about being moral and extra conscious, I as a designer can use a stone with attention-grabbing inclusions, like a salt and pepper diamond. This permits a shopper to have a diamond, however use a novel stone that the jewellery trade would discard or think about scrap.”
What stones shouldn’t be used for a customized engagement ring?
After Ashley educated me on what a “salt and pepper diamond” is (a diamond that has inclusions or darker specks that sort of appear to be pepper), I requested Ashley, “What stones aren’t a great match for an engagement ring?”
Ashley immediately had a solution, saying, “The most important points are opal and moonstone,” she shared with a sigh. “It breaks my coronary heart just a little to interrupt my shopper’s hearts, when I’ve to speak them down. Or allow them to know ‘If in case you have your coronary heart set on an opal or moonstone, be ready to exchange it!’”
![Chouette Designs Photographed by Picture Something Photography](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Picture-Something-Photography-2-1024x683.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
I really like that Ashley and Chouette Designs are all about educating their shoppers, and likewise encouraging them to seek out their most enjoyable customized engagement ring.
Swap Out & Improve Your Engagement or Marriage ceremony Ring
Talking of changing rings or stones, Ashley made an incredible level throughout our interview about “swapping out’ your ring. It may be demanding to attempt to design a hoop you’ll love endlessly — and also you don’t need to!
“Everybody thinks we’re supposed to like our engagement rings our total lives,” shares Ashley. “As a substitute, possibly you possibly can plan for in 10 years we’ll improve it to do one thing completely different. That’s okay, too!”
She provides with a smile, “It’s quite a lot of strain to behave such as you’ll love the ring you bought at 30 or 40 or 20!”
Whereas I’m not married, my mother has positively upgraded and adjusted up her wedding ceremony ring over time (love ya, Mother!), so I actually love this concept!
![Chouette Designs Photographed by Wildflower Photography](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Wildflower-Photography-819x1024.jpg?resize=819%2C1024&ssl=1)
What’s Subsequent for Chouette Designs?
Ashley and the workforce at Chouette Designs have a LOT deliberate for the remainder of 2023. “One thing we’re very enthusiastic about is releasing our first anklet! We’re beginning with a S, M, L, (8 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch). As we develop and get suggestions, I wish to make certain we’ve got the suitable sizes for anybody who wants them, and do customized items.”
Store the most recent in moral plus dimension engagement rings at ChouetteDesigns.com!
I personally love the Chouette Designs TikTok — it’s so enjoyable!
![Chouette Designs](https://i0.wp.com/thecurvyfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Heart-and-Sola-Creations-1-1024x683.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
If in case you have questions on the ring course of, or you realize EXACTLY what you need your customized engagement rings to appear to be, hold forth within the feedback!
*** Be aware on language: You’ll have seen that we deliberately didn’t use phrases like “bride” or “groom” on this piece! It is because not everybody likes to make use of these phrases, and generally a bride might suggest to her groom! As a lesbian-owned firm with many consumers within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, Ashley needed to be as inclusive with language as attainable — which I used to be completely on board with, in fact! 🙂
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