Micart

Micart is the work of one person, Mica Agustoni, who casts silver jewellery from real leaves, buds, shells and stones in a small home atelier in Urdorf, just west of Zürich. Her day job is directing film and television for Swiss broadcaster SRF, and it shows in how the site talks about the work: every piece is framed as a small story about a place or a material rather than as a generic "handmade" pitch. For a directory built around Zürich engagement rings, she's an outlier worth knowing about precisely because she isn't a traditional bridal jeweller. She sells named wedding-ring designs, in silver, at a published price, which is rare for a studio this size and useful for anyone trying to budget before they ever pick up the phone.

What you get

The material is recycled silver throughout. Micart casts what it calls Art Clay Silver, made from recycled silver particles, into the exact texture of the leaf, seed pod or shell pressed into it, then finishes the piece at 99.9 percent fine silver, which the site also states elsewhere as 999 fine. That purity is the reason it markets the jewellery as good for sensitive skin. Gold plating is now offered as an add-on across the collection, so a design cast in silver doesn't have to stay silver-coloured if a buyer wants warmer tones.

The two designs built specifically as wedding rings are the Liane Eheringe mit Opalstein, a vine-textured band set with an opal, and the Holzstruktur Eheringe, cast from real wood grain, and both are listed at CHF 490. That's a rare thing to find spelled out on a small studio's site rather than left to "price on request." The wider catalogue runs from simple cast pendants around CHF 69 up through rings in the CHF 95 to CHF 195 range, so a couple can see roughly where a matching pendant or a second ring for a witness would land before they ever start a conversation.

What stands out for an expat buyer

Two things separate Micart from most small ateliers in this category. First, the whole site exists in a parallel English version, product names included ("Liane wedding rings with opal stone," "Wood-look wedding rings"), which is not something every one-person Swiss workshop bothers to build. It doesn't guarantee a fluent phone call in English, since only a contact form is offered rather than a listed phone number, but it does mean a newcomer to Zürich can research and order without wrestling with German product pages.

Second, Micart takes personal materials. The site explicitly invites customers to send their own found objects (a leaf pressed from a wedding bouquet, a shell from a trip that mattered) to be cast into a keepsake piece. For an expat couple getting married away from home, a ring cast from something they actually picked up together is a different kind of memento than a stone bought off a shelf, and it's a genuine point of difference against the more conventional goldsmiths elsewhere in this category.

The appointment and consultation process

There's no shop window. The site is explicit that pieces "can be viewed and tried on in 8902 Urdorf by appointment, with no obligation," arranged through the contact form rather than a booking calendar or a phone line. That's a normal way for a solo maker to work, but it means the first step for anyone serious about the Eheringe designs is sending a message and waiting for a reply, not walking in. Beyond the home atelier, Micart occasionally turns up at markets around Zürich. Earlier this year she had a stand at the Fem Bazar in Sihlcity's Papiersaal, so pieces do surface outside Urdorf from time to time, though nothing about that schedule is fixed or guaranteed.

Ordering, shipping and what isn't published

Ordering a catalogue piece works through an order form with the item's article number and the buyer's details, followed by a confirmation email and payment in advance of dispatch, which the site calls Vorkasse. Within Switzerland, shipping is CHF 5 for small items like pendants and earrings and CHF 10 for bulkier pieces such as wide rings, sent by A-Post for next-business-day delivery, or a buyer can collect for free directly in Urdorf.

For anyone ordering from outside Switzerland, or planning to take a ring abroad, the detail worth flagging is what the site doesn't spell out. It states plainly that international orders may carry additional postage, but it gives no specific rate for shipping beyond Switzerland and says nothing about customs handling or import duty on either side of the border. It also doesn't publish a lead time or a starting price for the custom, made-to-order version of a wedding ring (built from a shared stone or wood impression rather than the standard catalogue pieces), only that it's possible and that the way to start is the same contact form. Anyone weighing a commission or an overseas delivery against a deadline should get those specifics in writing before assuming a number the site hasn't printed.

Returns and after-sales

Micart's return policy allows 14 days to send a catalogue item back, provided it's unworn and in its original condition; the buyer covers the cost of returning it. Pieces made to a personal request, including a custom wedding ring built from someone's own material, are excluded from that return window entirely once made, which is worth knowing before committing to a bespoke commission rather than one of the two named CHF 490 designs. The returns page doesn't address resizing at all, so a couple who might need a different ring size later, a common situation for people who haven't lived in Switzerland long enough to be settled on measurements, should raise it directly with Mica before ordering rather than assume it's covered.

How it compares

Everything else in this category leans on gold, platinum and cut stones, sold by workshops that have often been trading on the same street for decades. Micart is a different proposition altogether: solid silver rather than precious-metal bridal sets, cast from organic textures rather than faceted stones, and made by one person working around a full-time filmmaking career rather than a multi-generation goldsmith house. It won't suit a couple set on a classic diamond solitaire. It's a strong fit for a couple who wants a wedding ring that reads as personal and a little unconventional, at a fraction of what a traditional bridal jeweller in this category would charge for a comparable piece.

Who it suits

This is the right listing for a budget-conscious or design-led couple, especially one drawn to sustainability, who wants a wedding ring that isn't a standard cut stone and doesn't mind arranging a viewing by appointment rather than walking into a shop. It suits an expat couple specifically because the named Eheringe designs and their CHF 490 price are visible in English before anyone has to make contact. It's not the right fit for anyone who wants gold or platinum as the primary metal, needs same-week delivery, or wants a fixed, published quote for a fully custom commission.

Verdict

Micart earns its place here on specifics most one-person studios don't offer: two named wedding-ring designs at a clear CHF 490 price, silver finished to 99.9 percent purity for sensitive skin, personalization from a couple's own materials, and a genuinely usable English version of the site. The trade-off is that it runs entirely on appointments and a contact form, with no phone number listed and no published figures for international shipping, customs, custom lead times or resizing. None of that is a reason to avoid it, only a reason to email ahead and get the specifics in writing before you plan a wedding date around it.