The same questions reach me again and again, in the shop and in messages. Why is silver 925 and not pure? Is 14k gold better than 18k? Should the ring be white, yellow or rose gold? Which finger should I wear this ring on? Is a lab-grown diamond a real diamond?
Most of the answers you find online were written to sell something. And the trade itself is moving fast. Diamonds are now grown in a laboratory in a few weeks. New alloys are reaching the bench: silver mixed with germanium that tarnishes far more slowly, white gold made with palladium instead of nickel. Even the grading rules have changed. Since October 2025, GIA no longer grades lab-grown diamonds on the 4Cs. It is hard for a buyer to keep up. To be honest, many sellers can't either.
So I decided to write down what I know. One question per guide, answered plainly, with a drawing you can take in at a glance. I check the facts, and the sources I used are listed at the end of each guide. I won't tell you what to buy. If you read a guide and then choose a piece from another workshop, that is fine with me, as long as you know what you are paying for.
I started working as a designer in 1978, and I have made symbolic and Masonic jewelry under the Mu Design Jewelry name since 2014. Much of what you will read here I learned at the bench, often the hard way.
Murat Bakış, Founder & Designer, Mu Design Jewelry · Ruse, November 2026
