If you know me by now, you’ll never see me wearing just one ring. Stacking has been part of the way I design and wear jewelry for years because I love what happens when you start putting different shapes, widths, metals and textures together. A ring can feel completely different depending on what you put beside it, and sometimes one new addition is all it takes to make a stack you’ve worn forever feel fresh again.
There's no formula, but there are definitely pieces I orbit around. Rings I keep coming back to, combinations that always seem to work, shapes that play nicely with almost everything else. If you've been wondering what your stack is missing, here are a few that tend to be the answer.
The Column Ring is a forever staple in my stack. Its open architectural shape gives a stack some structure without making it feel too heavy, and it plays especially well against simpler bands.
I wear my Column with a 4mm and 5mm Wide 14k Gold Band on either side of it (I do have quite a bit of real estate below my knuckle.) Stay tuned as we are launching the wide gold bands in 10k soon, at a lower price point. For a similar look, go for mixed metals and even try stacking with just a single 4mm Wide Silver Densa Band.
If you’re a square ring person like I am, look at the Framework Ring too. Think of it as the square counterpart to the Column. It brings that same negative space and geometry into a completely different shape. Fun fact, this one has 10 individual solder seams! A real work of art, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Sometimes the answer is more ring.
The Armor Ring and Femme House Ring are for the days when you want something substantial enough to change the whole hand. I love pairing a wider ring with narrower bands because the contrast gives the stack rhythm without everything competing for attention.
And don't assume a statement ring has to live alone. Some of my favorite stacks happen when the biggest piece becomes the anchor and everything else gets built around it.
The Asbury Ring, Headliner Ring and Galaxy Ring are exactly where I'd start.
Diamonds don't have to turn an everyday stack into “special occasion jewelry.” I love a little unexpected sparkle mixed into silver, gold-fill and oxidized pieces, especially when the rest of the stack has plenty of texture and weight. Grab a Rhinestone Cowgirl, just sayin'.
Not every addition has to be the star of the show. In fact, some of the most useful stacking rings are the ones that create a little separation, introduce another shape or bring in a different metal.
The Zodiac, Catalyst, Libra, Pipeline and Bésame Rings are all worth looking at for exactly this reason. Slip one between two wider bands, use one to introduce gold into an otherwise silver stack, or add a different shape to break up a row of straight edges. These are the pieces that keep you rearranging because moving one ring can change the balance of the whole stack.
Everything I love about ring stacking applies to bracelets too, maybe even more so because there's so much more room to play. Mix silver with gold-fill, put something wide beside something delicate, combine a hammered cuff with a smooth one, and don't be afraid to let your watch be part of the stack. The best wrist stacks look like they happened over time, because they usually did.
I've never cared much about matching. I care about whether the combination makes you want to keep looking at your hand.
Your jewelry should evolve with you, and your stack can too. Start with the pieces you already love, move them around, add something unexpected and see what happens.
And if something here has you thinking about what your own stack is missing, our End-of-Summer Stacking Sale is still live! Spend $250+ on CMD rings and bracelets and take $50 off with code GETSTACKED through September 15.
Jingle jangle, loves!
Colleen
© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: September 10, 2026
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Robin's mom, Ronnie, was a performer, a singer and the kind of woman whose presence filled a room. Her glamorous diamond necklace was perfectly Ronnie, but it wasn't Robin. Together, we transformed all 25 diamonds into three completely new rings, carrying a piece of her mom forward in a form [...]
After twenty-one years of creating, growing and evolving, I’m finding myself at another crossroads. A long-overdue afternoon pruning my backyard reminded me that growth isn’t always about adding more. Sometimes it’s about cutting back, trusting your intuition and making room for whatever is growing [...]
If you have inherited jewelry sitting untouched because it simply doesn’t feel like you, selling it isn’t your only option. Before you let it go, bring me the stash. That old gold, outdated setting or collection of mismatched stones might be the beginning of something you’d actually wear. It's worth finding out what you're [...]