Hi, I’m Kayla - co-founder and jewellery designer of Aril Jewels. For me, designing jewellery is my favourite way to express myself. Jewellery is often a symbol of a meaningful moment in one’s life, often it’s engagement, birthday, or celebration of a holiday. Last year, I designed and made a ring that symbolises a very personal and important experience I went through.
A Hard Decision
Just before I turned 32, I made the decision to freeze my eggs. It was not an easy choice. It came with significant financial, physical, and emotional challenges.
Financially, egg freezing is very expensive. It costs thousands of pounds, often paid out-of-pocket. Physically, it meant daily hormone injections (sometimes more than once a day and doing the injections in random places because there was a very strict time window when I had to inject myself), taking medications which can cause uncomfortable bloating and mood swings, and many visits to the clinic for internal ultrasounds and blood tests. After about 10-14 days of injections and medication, there was an invasive egg collection procedure followed by a recovery period. But for me, the hardest part was emotional toll on me. I made this decision because, with each passing birthday, the reality of my biological clock became harder to ignore and I hadn’t yet reached some of the life milestones I deeply hope for: meeting the right partner, getting married, and starting a family. Freezing my eggs doesn’t guarantee finding my husband and getting married, but it does quiet the biological clock a little bit.
Even with all these challenges, I made the decision to go through with it. I faced the process head-on (with the emotional help and support of my friends and family.) I was strong and brave. I took control over one thing I could control. And I wanted to commemorate that.
Jewellery is how I tell my story. I knew I wanted to create a ring that I could look down at every day to honour what I’d just been through. Something to remind me of my strength.
Creating the Piece
At a gemstone buying fair, I came across a pair of small trilliant-cut Brazilian alexandrites - my absolute favourite gemstone. If you know me, you will know how much I love alexandrites because they change colours in different lights and I think they’re pure magic. I had envisioned these as the perfect side stones to sit on either side of a larger central stone.
After exploring sapphires and tanzanites in all shades, shapes and sizes, I finally found the perfect stone: a purplish grey emerald-cut spinel. It had the perfect depth and softness to complement the Alexandrites. I designed the ring in a more unusual style: setting the spinel east to west and the Alexandrites on either side. The stones are set in platinum to set off their cool tones, while the band of the ring is made in yellow gold. The ring is finished with with milgrain detail on the setting edge of the platinum, a signature of the Clara Collection, giving it a vintage yet timeless feel.
But I wanted something even more personal inside the ring.
Even More Personal Details
On a visit to the jewellery room at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, (my version of heaven!), I saw a 17th-century child’s ring set with the tiniest rose-cut diamond. Engraved inside were the words: “This spark will grow.” It moved me deeply and I instantly knew I wanted to engrave this quote inside my ring. The original ring may have been made to celebrate the child’s life and all his or her potential to grow. In a similar spirit, I wanted to incorporate that same sentiment into my ring in hopes that one day I’ll pass it down to my child, my “spark”, and see it grow.
This ring represents so much more than just a piece of jewellery. It’s a symbol of taking agency, doing something scary and unknown, and choosing to believe in your future - even when it doesn’t look exactly like you imagined.
At Aril Jewels, we’ve always championed self-gifting. Life’s big moments like a new job, a birthday, a personal milestone, or something incredibly emotional like this, deserve to be honoured. Jewellery doesn’t have to be gifted to you to hold meaning. You can create your own heirloom, your own marker of strength.
