Paul Klecka's first designs, the "Floater" concept, presented a solitaire gemstone that appeared to float in necklaces and engagement rings. Soon after, he discovered that a linear arrangement of these floating diamonds could be created by using shared prongs between each gemstone, and trademarked the phrase "Sequence Floater" to describe this application in his jewelry collections.The latest development in this design journey is Lattisset, a pavé-like surface of gemstones without the heavy cut-up metal surrounding each stone; instead, each gemstone appears to float within the surface. In Lattisset, the jewelry form itself is actually built from the lattice of stones and the illusory supporting metal. The negative space between the gemstones becomes a prominent design element.

Paul Klecka credits CAD/CAM as the inspiration for his newest Lattisset line. The idea came to him as he was experimenting with the earlier "Floater" and "Sequence Floater" designs in the Matrix program by Gemvision. "I saw that if I put a little prong between each row of gemstone at a tangent point, it locked them together, visually and physically," says Klecka. "I realized I could create a surface of gemstones, where the visual effect is one that emphasizes the gemstones and de-emphasizes the metal that supports them."

Klecka sends his CAD files to a service bureau for rapid prototyping. "The service bureau I use builds the resin components and can cast a silver model that I can mold and reproduce," says Klecka. "I prefer to outsource the machining component of CAD so I can focus on design. I like to work on the front-end to perfect the design, let the experts handle the model making, and then I pick it back up in the end to finish, detail, and fine-tune the piece to complete my vision."

"The interesting thing for me is that this particular concept of lattice set could be done by hand, but it would take forever, and it would be extremely challenging to do," says Klecka. "The scale is so minute, and the tolerances so precise, achieving the same results by a hand process would be very difficult."