Pavé Setting

What pavé actually is

"Pavé" is French for paved, and that's exactly what the technique does: it paves a surface with diamonds packed closely enough that the metal beneath almost disappears. Each stone sits in a drilled seat. Each is held by small beads of metal raised from the surrounding surface using a graver. The metal between the stones is bright cut to clean it up and add the final flash that makes the piece look alive under light.

That's the technique in one paragraph. The reason it takes years to master is that every step has to be done precisely, hundreds of times per piece, with the consistency of a machine and the eye of an artist.

The pavé family

Within the broad pavé umbrella, you'll see several specific styles. Each is a variation on the same core skill.

• Classic pavé. Stones typically 1.5mm to 2.5mm, set in straight rows or simple patterns, four beads per stone, bright-cut surrounds. Common on the shoulders of engagement rings.
• Micropavé. Same technique, smaller stones (1.1mm and below), microscope-driven. The dominant style on luxury house pieces.
• Castle setting. A pavé layout where the metal between stones is cut into the characteristic "castle battlement" pattern. Read the castle guide.
• Fishtail. A pavé layout with two beads on top and two pushed-over rails on the sides. Read the fishtail guide.
• Bright cut pavé. Sometimes called "cutdown pavé". Stones sit in a channel of cut metal with bright surfaces all around them. The bright cuts are the visual feature, not the beads.
• French pavé. A variant where the metal under each stone is cut away to let more light through. Visually distinctive, technically demanding.

The tools

The kit for pavé is the same kit you need for any micro setting style. The non-negotiables:

• Stereo microscope with at least 10x magnification, ideally a zoom range of 7x to 30x
• Pneumatic engraver (GRS GraverMach AT or GraverSmith) with a 901 or QC handpiece
• Carbide gravers: onglette and flat profiles ground for setting
• Beading tool handles with cup sets covering 0.3mm to 1.0mm
• Micromotor with drilling burs and 156 burs in matched sizes
• Dividers, callipers, ring fixture

The investment in this kit is real (typically £3,000 to £5,000 for a complete starter setup), but it's the cost of doing the work professionally. There aren't shortcuts.

The full sequence on a pavé piece

1. Plan the layout

Before any metal gets cut, work out exactly where every stone will sit. On a straight row this is simple geometry. On a curved surface, a tapered piece, or a complex graduating layout, the layout planning is the difference between a piece that looks intentional and a piece that looks improvised.

Mark the stone positions with dividers, working from the centre of the layout outward.

2. Drill the seats

Each stone needs a seat. The drill bur should be slightly smaller than the stone's diameter, and the depth has to be controlled to give the right amount of metal above the seat for the beads.

Common mistake: drilling all the seats at once at one depth, then realising halfway through bead-raising that you needed slightly more or less metal in certain areas. Plan depth before you drill, not after.

3. Open the seats with a 156 bur

The 156 (or equivalent setting bur) gives each seat its final shape. The stone should drop in and sit at exactly the right height.

4. Set the stones

Drop each stone in. Press it down. Check the row for height. This is the last point at which adjustments are easy, so use it.

5. Raise the beads

This is the heart of pavé. Using a sharp graver, you cut a small chip of metal beside each stone and push it up and over the edge of the diamond, where it locks the stone in place.

The number of beads per stone depends on the layout:

• Castle: four beads per stone (one at each corner, often shared with neighbours)
• Fishtail: two beads at the top of each stone, plus two pushed-over rails on the sides
• Three-bead pavé: three beads spaced around each stone, common on circular layouts

6. Cup the beads

Each bead gets rounded with a beading tool sized to match. The tool work-hardens the bead and gives it the round, polished appearance that makes pavé look like pavé.

7. Bright cut the surrounds

Final clean-up cuts go between and around the stones. Every visible piece of metal should have been cut by a graver. No dull patches, no leftover bur marks, no slip lines. This is the step that separates work that looks finished from work that looks rushed.

Pavé layouts in practice

Real pavé work isn't always straight rows. Some of the most interesting (and most demanding) pavé is on curved or shaped pieces. A few common production layouts:

Single row pavé

The simplest. One row of stones running along a band or down a piece. The challenge is consistency over the length of the row. Easier to learn than to perfect.

Double row pavé

Two parallel rows of stones. The challenge is keeping the rows aligned and the spacing between rows uniform. Stones in the inner row should sit perfectly between stones in the outer row, or perfectly aligned with them, never half-aligned.

Three row pavé

Three rows. Now the alignment problem compounds. The middle row has to coordinate with both the inner and outer rows. This is where layout planning earns its keep.

Curved pavé

Pavé on a curved surface (top of a band, edge of a pendant, side of a hoop earring) means the geometry of every cut shifts as you move around the curve. The graver angle changes. The bead position changes. The stone spacing changes if you don't compensate.

Graduating pavé

Stones that get larger or smaller across the piece, often used on engagement ring shoulders. The seat depth has to change with stone size. The bead size has to change. The bright cuts have to graduate too. Looks beautiful when done well, looks chaotic when done poorly.

Circular and decorative layouts

Halos, clusters, and decorative motifs that aren't simple rows. These are where the pavé skill becomes design-led. The principles are the same, the layout planning is the difference.

Where pavé goes wrong

Inconsistent stone heights

Run a fingernail across the finished piece. If you feel any individual stones, the heights aren't right. This is the single most common giveaway of inexperienced pavé work, and it almost always traces back to inconsistent seat depths or rushed setting.

Beads that vary in size

Each bead should be the same size as every other bead on the piece. If they vary, the eye picks it up immediately. Causes: inconsistent graver pressure, different cup sizes used by accident, varying amounts of metal raised in the cut.

Bright cuts that aren't bright

A bright cut is supposed to act like a tiny mirror. If the cut surface looks grey instead of mirror, the graver was dull or the cut was rushed. Stop, resharpen, and recut. There isn't a way to fix a dull bright cut except to cut it again properly.

Stones not centred in their seats

If a stone is sitting slightly off-centre, the beads on one side will look bigger than the beads on the other side. The fix is to re-bur the seat and re-set the stone. The temptation is to compensate with bead size, which never works.

Tool slips

A graver slip on a finished piece is heartbreaking. Prevention is everything: stable bench, work clamped properly, gravers freshly sharpened, breaks taken before fatigue sets in.

How long pavé takes

It depends on the size, the layout, the metal, and the standard required. Some rough numbers from production work:

Job type	Stones	Time (competent setter)
Single row, half-point, 10 stones	10	60 to 90 minutes
Double row, half-point, 30 stones	30	3 to 5 hours
Halo, half-point, 20 stones	20	2 to 3 hours
Full eternity band, 1.5mm, 40 stones	40	4 to 6 hours
Dense micropavé pendant, 200+ stones	200+	2 to 4 days

These numbers assume the stones are calibrated, the metal is cooperative, and nothing goes wrong. Real production runs slower than that.

Common questions

Can pavé be done in white gold, yellow gold, and platinum?

All three. Each behaves differently. Yellow gold cuts cleanest. White gold is harder and more brittle, so gravers wear faster and bead-raising takes more care. Platinum drags on the graver but holds the bright cuts beautifully. Many setters find platinum the most rewarding metal to pavé despite the extra effort.

Is pavé worth learning if I mainly do prong work?

The graver skills underneath pavé carry directly into bright-cut prong work and into hand engraving. Even setters who don't take on pavé commissions benefit from the discipline of learning it.

What's the going rate for pavé setting?

Varies wildly by region and shop, but a working bench rate for half-point pavé is typically £8 to £25 per stone depending on layout complexity, metal, and the standard required. Setters known for high-end work charge several times more.

Can I learn pavé without an in-person teacher?

You can learn the basics from books and videos. You will not reach a professional standard without structured instruction that includes feedback and the production variables. The Microsetting Academy was built specifically because the structured online programme didn't exist for working bench jewellers.