Savoir-Faire
Set by hand.
The bench is where light is kept. Before a stone is worn, it is read, cut for fire, raised on hand-burnished claws, and struck with the maison mark. This is how a Varenne piece is made, and how it is meant to last.
The Hand of the Maison
We do not make many pieces. We make each one slowly, in the order light asks for.
Four Chapters of the Craft
From rough to hallmark
Each piece passes through four hands and four disciplines. None of them are hurried.
Lapidary and the stone
Rough is studied for weeks before the first facet. We cut for fire, not for weight.
The setting
Each claw is raised and burnished by hand, so the stone sits in light, not in metal.
Jadau and polki
A craft introduced by the Mughals and perfected in Rajasthan, uncut diamond pressed into pure gold.
Finishing and the hallmark
The piece is polished, assayed, and struck with the Varenne mark and its purity stamp.
Exceptional Stones
A stone with an account of itself
Every natural diamond we set arrives with its origin and its grading recorded. We buy through the Kimberley Process and from suppliers who can name the mine, so that nothing on the skin carries a question it cannot answer. Coloured stones, ruby, emerald and sapphire, are chosen loose and unheated wherever the colour allows, then held to the same certificate as a solitaire.
We cut for fire, not for weight. A rough is studied for weeks before the first facet, and a stone is more often left a little smaller and a little brighter than the other way round. The four Cs are the beginning of that judgement, never the end of it.
IGI & GIA CERTIFIED · KIMBERLEY PROCESS · CONFLICT FREE
Bespoke
The commission journey
A piece made for one person, from the first conversation to the hallmark. Most commissions take eight to sixteen weeks, and never feel like a transaction.
Consultation
A private salon with a client advisor. We listen before we sketch.
Design & rendering
Hand drawings, then a rendering and a wax for you to hold.
Stone selection
Certified stones presented loose, to choose by eye and by report.
Hand-setting
Our master setter raises every claw and grain by hand.
Hallmark & delivery
Assayed, struck, and delivered in the Garnet Box, insured.
The Mark
The hallmark, explained
When a piece is finished, it is sent to assay. The gold is tested for purity, and only then is it struck. Three small marks are pressed into the metal where they will not be seen: the BIS Hallmark for the assay, the purity stamp that reads 916 for 22K gold or 750 for 18K, and the Varenne maker's mark, a V crowned by a single diamond, set inside a lozenge.
The mark is a promise, not a decoration. It says the metal is what we said it is, that the piece left our bench, and that the maison will care for it for as long as it is worn.
MUMBAI · LONDON · DUBAI
Every Varenne piece returns to the bench whenever it needs us. Cleaning, re-tipping a claw, re-stringing a haar, resizing a band. Lifetime care comes with the mark, and insured delivery brings the piece home.
Savoir-Faire
Begin a commission
Bring us a stone, an heirloom to remake, or only an idea. A client advisor will sit with you in a private salon, in Mumbai, London or Dubai, and the bench will do the rest.
CLIENT ADVISOR · +91 22 6100 1908