The word “pavé” (pronounced Pah-vay) is French, and in jewelry refers to a setting technique that utilizes carved metal beads to hold the stone in place. They are "raised" from the surface using a special engraver or, alternatively left standing by carving out the underlying metal. All pavé styles could be referred to as "beadwork".
Pavé types
There are more than fifty different pavé styles that were used in the past, and still used today. Most of them are variations of the same techniques which are suitable only for a specific use. There is a different number/arrangement/shape of beads that could change the look of pavé. We narrow it down to these seemingly simple choices grouped by families of related pavé styles:
Bright cut pavé without millegrain Bright cut pavé with millegrain
Micro pavé is not a pavé style, but rather a specific multi-row variety of a cutdown pavé.
Bright cut pavé
This is the most traditional type of pavé. The stones are positioned between brightly polished walls -a V-shaped trough. The walls serve the same purpose as a reflector in a spotlight, with the diamonds serving as light bulbs. This setting allows creating rectangular shaped light using round stones. Bright cut pavé highlights straight geometric lines and creates a chiseled appearance.
There are different ways the stones are secured in bright cut pavé. The modern (precision) style uses four small beads to hold each diamond. Older pavé with larger stones used two, three, five or any other number of beads. These patterns are still in use today by less skilled setters or in order to achieve an antique look.
Millegrain (sometimes improperly spelled "milgrain") is a raised, beaded edge on a ring done with a special rolling tool. When pressed against the metal it leaves an imprinted pattern resembling the edge of a coin. Bright cut pavé had its widespread use in Edwardian and Deco jewelry and is considered a more traditional, conservative, classic type of a pavé setting.
Modern four bead pavé
Very similar to each other in technique the styles listed below appear different even though closely related
Mushroom Pavé
These are contemporary, modern type of layering diamonds on a metal surface. The look is rounded, soft and less metallic. The mushroom pavé is appropriate for stones under 1.2 mm in diameter. Stones between 1.2 and 1.5 mm will be set in cutdown pavé, whereas stones larger than 1.5 mm are generally set in V-cut pavé to achieve the same look.
The best way to describe mushroom pavé is as a string of small stones seemingly suspended in the air because they are of the same width as the metal into which they are set. On such a small scale the lack of roundness is not an issue.
Cutdown Pavé
As the stone size gets bigger, the metal within relationship to the stones begins to increase. The profile of the metal gradually changes to rounded with stones being somewhat smaller than the width of the metal. The arches with the slits separating them create a distinct pattern on the side of the metal. Hardly any metal is seen when viewed face down. The sides of the metal are sloped away from the stones and are shaded in contrast to bright stones.
V-cut Pavé
Once the stone sizes reach a point where there is simply too much metal on the sides, a relief of V-shaped elements is added. Instead of a two dimensional pattern in the cutdown pavé the pattern on the V-cut pavé becomes three dimensional. It is done to hide as much metal as possible from the line of sight.
Fishtail pavé
Most often used in cheap jewelry this pavé style recently found a second life. The setting style is similar to cutdown pavé, but there are additional bright facets facing up, or tilted to the side. These facets "fake" the sparkle of diamond facets creating an appearance of bigger stones when viewed from a distance. read more...
An increase of mechanical engravers are mostly responsible for the revival. Even a rookie setter is able to create bright and symmetrical faceting on a metal using a tool such as a GraverMax. Fishtail pavé has a pretentious, cheap and gear-like appearance unless stones used are 1.1 mm or less.
On a small scale fishtail pavé looks very lovely and smooth. The fishtail pavé is acceptable when used on thin round shanks and halo rings.
Nevertheless, big jewelry retail chain companies manufacture tons of jewelry set with a fishtail pavé and many customers insist on this type of setting even when presented with other choices.
Belgium pavé
Two rows of micropavé are set at a steep angle next to one another. The second row is completely hidden when viewed from the top. Belgium pavé is great for round or oval/cushion halos. This is the most complicated way of setting micro pavé.
Belgium pavé is very similar to V-cut pavé but with stones spaced farther away from each other. Additionally, there is an extra bead between the stones. This is an obscure type of a setting perfectly fitted for maximizing the look of the stones by using less stones. This is a premium type of setting with very limited use.
Old fashioned royal pavé
Old fashioned royal pavé has a common bead technique where two or three adjacent stones are held by one large bead. At times the old fashioned royal pavé was called a "six bead" setting because every stone has contact with exactly six beads.
It is suitable for larger stones (2.0 mm and up) but is unacceptable for the smaller version (micropavé). This pavé type was derived from an older way of setting round diamonds with a common prong (shared prong).
Due to improvements in automated cutting, diamonds were produced in smaller sizes. On stones smaller than 0.20 carats the prongs were replaced by beads carved from the underlying metal. Royal pavé outlived its usefulness but is still used sometimes on larger diamonds that are bigger than 0.05 carats.
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There are different ways the stones are secured in bright cut pavé. The modern (precision) style uses four small beads to hold each diamond. Older pavé with larger stones used two, three, five or any other number of beads. These patterns are still in use today by less skilled setters or in order to achieve an antique look.
Belgium pavé is very similar to V-cut pavé but with stones spaced farther away from each other. Additionally, there is an extra bead between the stones. This is an obscure type of a setting perfectly fitted for maximizing the look of the stones by using less stones. This is a premium type of setting with very limited use.
Due to improvements in automated cutting, diamonds were produced in smaller sizes. On stones smaller than 0.20 carats the prongs were replaced by beads carved from the underlying metal. Royal pavé outlived its usefulness but is still used sometimes on larger diamonds that are bigger than 0.05 carats.