I met Shawn at a wedding show a few years back. My then fiancé and I had gone to numerous well known jewelry stores and were always disappointed. I would always hear how they could order it or show me some stone in a giant book. They never had... anything close to what I wanted. I knew that I wanted a gemstone for my center stone and not a diamond. When we went to Monarch we were amazed. When I mentioned that I was looking for a custom engagement ring and asked for sapphires Shawn brought out a tray, when I thought I wanted Amethysts, another tray.. when I asked to see how diamonds would look around the stone, he brought out another tray, don't like that size, ok here is a tray with a different size. We were able to build my ring right there and I could see how different stones/sizes worked out until I found what worked for me. I couldn't decide on what Sapphire I wanted because I really wanted blue and purple. Shawn was able to find a color change Sapphire from Ceylon and have it flown in for me to be the center for my ring! We got my fiancé's ring (also custom). Sadly due to Covid we were not able to locate the color change sapphires for my band but it worked out well because I went with a carved one that would be better for me to wear at work as a nurse. My center stone is so unique. It can be purple or blue or both and sometimes even black all depending on the light.