The pavé setting, pronounced “pa-vay,” comes from the French word “pavement”. It features closely set small diamonds or other gemstones with minimal visibility of the tiny metal beads or prongs to offer the effect of continuous sparkle.
To create the pavé design, jewellers drill holes into the metal and place the gemstones into the holes. Then they form tiny beads or prongs around each diamond to secure them into the drilled holes. This is the reason the pavé setting may also be referred to as a bead setting.
Gemstones are considered to be pavé set when they are as small as 0.01 – 0.02 carats. If the pavé stones are even smaller they are called micro-pavé.