Open Heart and Teardrop CZ Ring

Hearts on rings usually arrive solid and filled with stones. This one is drawn. On this open heart CZ ring an outline of small cubic zirconia traces the shape and leaves the middle empty, so your skin shows through and becomes part of the design. Across a small gap sits a single teardrop stone, its point turned towards the heart.

The open front does two jobs at once. It is the adjustment, since the ends ease apart or press together to fit, and it is the composition, because the space between heart and teardrop is what lets the design read as two clear thoughts instead of one crowded cluster.

An outlined heart is easier to live with than a solid one. It suggests the motif without shouting it, which keeps the ring wearable long after the occasion that prompted it has passed, and it photographs cleanly against skin, worth knowing if the ring is a gift and the giving will be photographed.

Gifting is where this piece most obviously belongs. A heart motif and a fit that never needs the recipient's ring size settle the two practical questions a surprise usually raises. The stones are cubic zirconia in rose gold-plated metal, stated plainly, so the gesture never has to carry an asterisk.