FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
At MADLY, every piece is specially designed and created for the client from scratch so providing precise prices is rather tricky! Furthermore, with our emphasis on coloured gemstones, individual gemstones are totally unique and price depends on size, cut, colour, clarity, origin and more.
In general our bespoke pieces start from 3500 to ensure that the finest gemstones are used, and quality craftsmanship goes into each and every one of our pieces.
For a more detailed price guide, just reach out to us and we’ll send it your way!
The crafting process normally takes 9–12 weeks from the point of design confirmation, so do start early to give us as much time as possible to ensure the best possible work! Naturally, more complex designs will take longer to craft.
We do have a handful of ready-made pieces but as we specialise in bespoke, 99% of what we create are made specially for clients. Just make an appointment and we’ll see what we can make happen for you!
Every MADLY piece is made of 18K Gold, be it White, Yellow or Rose Gold. We also use Platinum on request. 18K Gold is 75% pure gold, and 25% other metals. This is considered by most in the jewellery industry to offer the best combination of purity and longevity.
With our unique bespoke process and emphasis on the finest quality coloured gemstones, an in-person experience is always preferable. That said, we’ve perfected our Zoom appointments so if you’re not in Singapore, we can definitely chat about creating a piece remotely!
We don’t usually send out photos or videos of stones until you have seen the gem in person because videos can never capture the true colour and nature of a stone like our eyes can, or how its hue reacts to your individual skin tone.
We certainly can and do work with customers’ own stones with either the purchase of a main stone from us, or a minimum setting budget of 3900.
However, there is always the risk of damage when setting any gemstone and we can only guarantee stones we sell, which is why my advice would be to buy from a trusted source and set with whomever you buy from. For vintage/heirloom stones that have been passed down, again the risk would be yours.
We would require you to get your gemstones certified (which we would be happy to help you with, for a fee). Otherwise, you can pop by any gemological lab (we recommend Nanyang Gemological Institute) and request for your gemstones to be certified.
Yes, MADLY offers a one year warranty against all manufacturing defects on each and every one of our pieces. However, this does not include damage due to careless wear or use.
Yes! For our international clients, we can do Zoom consultations to show you the gemstones you are keen on, and follow up with videos of the gems via WhatsApp. We do this quite frequently with our overseas clients and it is quite a MADLY speciality.
Once you choose a gemstone, we will send you a credit card payment link and begin the design process which can be another Zoom consultation or done completely via WhatsApp.
We are unable to offer refunds.
Our Terms & Conditions are here!
As durable as our MADLY candy is, would you really want to take the risk?
Many people lose their jewellery whilst swimming or have their rings slip off and chip in the shower! Moreover, prolonged exposure to chlorine from swimming pools, or from detergents in bathing products can dull the metal and/or the stones in your MADLY piece.
Wearing jewellery to sleep is also not advisable as it may get hooked on your bed sheets.
The easiest way to clean your jewellery is by using a baby toothbrush and warm soapy water (not toothpaste!). Gently brush your piece with the toothbrush soaked in the soapy water but also don’t be afraid to get the toothbrush into the nooks and crannies.
We advise NOT to use any type of machine cleaner such as an ultrasonic cleaner. They can be hard on jewellery pieces and on rare occasions result in loosened stones and other undesirable outcomes.
Of course, we welcome you to bring your MADLY piece back to us regularly, every 6 months or so, and we will happily clean it for you while you enjoy a cup of tea.
Stones coming loose in jewellery happens more frequently than you would imagine! Normally, this is not a reflection of the quality of workmanship but a consequence of the stone ‘settling’ after being set or an issue with the prongs after frequent use, especially if the ring took a knock, or if it was caught on clothing.
When setting, prongs can’t be set too tightly around stones. They need to be ‘just so’… not too tight and not too loose. Too tight and they risk breaking the stone. Too loose and the stone can fall out.
If you notice that your stone is loose, just drop us a message, arrange to bring the item into the studio and we will tighten the prongs accordingly.
Unlike Diamonds, there is no centralised market price for coloured stones. A 1 carat G, VVS2 Diamond would be very similarly priced around the world, and will be very close to the international market price which you can find online.
Coloured gems, however, have many more variables that affect their value and also their valuation. The coloured stone market is not dominated by one large player like the Diamond market has historically been by De Beers. Over 99% of coloured stones are mined by very small, artisanal miners in varying locations unlike the billion-dollar holes in the ground that are diamond mines.
The decentralised nature of coloured stone mining also contributes to their variance in price because the source of a stone (what we call provenance) can also form part of its desirability. For example, when it comes to Emerald, Colombia is generally perceived to be the most desirable origin while for Sapphire, people associate Kashmir with producing the best material, despite Kashmir not producing ANY gemstones for almost a hundred years.
Just like anything else, the value of your gemstone is really what the market will pay for it! It is important to understand that most people buy jewellery for the enjoyment of wearing it, and not for investment purposes. Just like any other item, if a stone is bought, set into a ring and worn daily, its value will be slightly lower than the day that it was bought.
That said, over the past 10 to 15 years, coloured stones have enjoyed a significant increase in price so it is not unreasonable to assume that the ring you buy today to wear for your enjoyment would be worth what you paid for it, or even more in 5 years’ time.
Depending on the quality of the synthetic stone, without a significant amount of time studying gemology or handling gems first hand, it is tough, and even then, sometimes almost impossible with the naked eye. The only foolproof way to know that a gem is natural is to have it tested by a reputable gem laboratory.
MADLY only works with genuine, hand-mined gemstones produced by Mother Earth, and not ANY synthetic stones. We are able to limit the risk of synthetic stones entering our supply chain by sourcing our gemstones directly from the mines whenever we can. Otherwise, our gems are sourced from select and very trustworthy suppliers who source from the mines themselves. MADLY is one of, if not the only company of its type in Singapore that can say that its gems are sourced directly.
Yes, many coloured stones such as Tanzanite, Garnet and Tourmaline all rate higher than 7 on Mohs scale of hardness and so are suitable for everyday wear. However, there is a difference between hardness and toughness, and both play a large part in the durability of a gemstone. Hardness is a measure of a stone’s resistance to scratching, while toughness is a stone’s resistance to breakage (ie. chips). While all of the aforementioned stones are suitable for daily wear, even the very hardest of stones, such as Diamonds, can still be chipped or damaged by impact.
There isn’t a scale of toughness equivalent to the Mohs scale for hardness. In general, if a gem is deeply included, this increases the number of ‘fault lines’ which affect a gem’s toughness. So, for example, while Emerald is technically harder than a Tsavorite Garnet, its inherent inclusions and characteristics may make Tsavorite more suitable for daily wear.
Not to worry, even if you fall in love with a stone which is rated lower than 7, you can still wear it on a regular basis. We would just advise that it is used on earrings or a pendant; something that gets bashed around less than a bangle or a ring.
Some gemstones appear to be different colours under natural sunlight and artificial lighting, be it fluorescent light or other indoor lighting. This happens because light rays travel at different frequencies and these stones absorb/reflect different frequencies of light, giving colour changes to the human eye under different lighting conditions.
Colour-changing gemstones come from many different families of minerals including Chrysoberyl (Alexandrite), Garnet and some Sapphire. Alexandrite, the most prized of the colour-changing stones, appear green in sunlight and purple-red in incandescent light due to the presence of Chromium in the gem.
A beautiful gemstone is beautiful regardless of where it was dug out of the ground, but there are certain regions which are more ‘prized’ and thus provenance might affect its price.
Burmese Ruby is said to have the deepest, cleanest red, while Colombian Emerald is said to have the strongest, brightest green, but in reality it can be difficult, if not impossible to tell the difference between a Colombian Emerald and a Zambian one with the naked eye, especially to a ‘non’ gem professional.
Still, many people are willing to pay the extra costs associated with buying a stone that is certified as coming from one of these ‘preferred’ sources. That is part of the beauty of coloured stones– there is something for every taste, personality and budget.
Mahenge is a small village in the Morogoro region of Tanzania, East Africa, which has become famous as one of the world’s premier sources of vibrant pink Spinel and Garnet. In 2007, there was a discovery of a whopping 54 kg of the most spectacular, and now fabled, fiery pink-red Spinel roughs which were re-parceled and sold to all the high jewellery maisons. This reignited the modern world’s desire for Spinels.
MADLY is the only company in South East Asia with a direct sourcing office in the Mahenge region, which means that we have first pick of all of the best roughs coming from the mines in that area.
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