Types of stone settings in jewelry
There are different types of settings to secure stones to a piece of jewelry's mounting: prong, bezel, pavé, channel, and bar.
Prong
A prong setting involves encircling a stone with at least 3 prongs. The most classic settings have 4 to 6 prongs, but can go up to 8 or more!
Please note: the number of prongs does not guarantee the quality of the setting. What matters is their positioning and the jeweler's skill in working them and folding the metal over the stones. For small stones, 3 well-positioned prongs ensure a good setting.
Secure, discreet, and aesthetically pleasing, the prong setting is the most commonly used in jewelry. It is particularly suitable for diamonds: it allows a lot of light to pass through, maximizing their brilliance.
At H&A, we like to minimize the number of prongs and we work on their respective positions to ensure they are aesthetically and qualitatively the most appropriate.
In other words, it is our favorite… and the one we use most often.


Bezel
The bezel setting is a simple technique: it consists of encircling the stone with a thin band of metal. Very strong, it is a timeless choice in the world of jewelry.
It should be avoided for smaller stones: the risk would be to "choke" the stone with metal and prevent it from capturing light.

Pavé
The pavé setting is also known as "paving."
The setter carves the metal to secure the diamonds and then raises "grains" (small beads of metal) that are folded over the stones embedded in the mounting.
This is a more technical setting: the goal is to obtain regular, correctly sized grains so that the jewelry lasts over time! However, it requires a lot of metal and does not allow much light to reach the stones integrated into the metal.

Channel and Bar
The highly durable channel setting consists of juxtaposing several small diamonds by placing the stones between two metal rails. This setting gives a classic and minimalist style to the jewelry.
The bar setting is a variation of the channel setting: the precious stones are set between two parallel walls that reveal the upper part of the diamonds.


