Guides
The Custom Jewelry Design Process: From Sketch to Setting
Custom jewelry design is a collaboration between what you can describe and what I can execute — the quality of the result depends on how well both sides of that exchange work.
The Brief
How the Design Process Starts and Why the Conversation Matters More Than the Sketch
The first step in a custom jewelry commission is not drawing anything. The first step is a conversation that produces a design brief — a clear description of what the piece needs to do, who it is for, how it will be worn, what it should feel like, and what it should not feel like. This conversation is the most important part of the entire process, and clients who minimize it invariably end up revising their designs more times than clients who invest in it.
A useful design brief answers four questions: What is the piece? How will it be worn? What are the material constraints? And what does the client already own that the new piece needs to coexist with? A brief that answers these four questions provides enough to begin designing. A brief that says “I want something beautiful and unique” provides nothing, because those words describe every piece of fine jewelry ever made and none of them in particular.
Reference images are the most efficient communication tool available in the brief stage. Images of pieces the client loves, pieces they do not love, and the person who will wear the piece all communicate more in thirty seconds than ten minutes of verbal description. We do not copy any image provided — we use it to identify which visual properties the client is responding to, whether that is a silhouette, a stone shape, a proportion, or a material finish.
The Design
What Sketching, CAD, and Prototyping Each Add to the Process
Once the brief is clear, design development begins. For straightforward modifications of established forms — a solitaire pendant with a different stone shape, a tennis bracelet in a new metal — design development is fast, sometimes resolved in a single session. For genuinely novel designs — a piece with no obvious precedent in the existing literature — the development stage takes longer and involves more iteration.
Sketching is the first development tool. A hand sketch communicates proportion, volume, and visual weight better than a description and faster than a computer model. Sketches are not blueprints — they are conversations in visual form. A client who looks at a sketch and says “the top is right but the body is too heavy” has given me more useful information in six words than a paragraph of preference description would provide.
Computer-aided design produces a precise three-dimensional model that can be rendered in accurate material simulations. CAD models are used for pieces where dimensional precision before fabrication is critical — complex settings with multiple stone sizes, pieces that must integrate with an existing piece, or designs where small proportion changes have large visual consequences. The model can be printed in wax or resin for physical review before metal is committed.
The Fabrication
What Happens at the Bench After the Design Is Approved
Once the design is approved, fabrication begins. For a straightforward piece — a solitaire ring, a simple pendant — bench fabrication from approved design takes one to three weeks. For complex multi-stone pieces, articulated constructions, or pieces requiring custom stone sourcing, the fabrication stage takes longer, and the client should expect to wait.
Fabrication stages include model preparation, metal casting or hand fabrication (we use both depending on the piece), finishing the metal to its final surface state, stone selection and matching, and setting. Each stage can reveal information that the design stage could not anticipate — a stone that reads slightly different in its setting than on the paper, a metal section that requires reinforcement after casting, a proportion that needs adjustment once the piece is three-dimensional.
Final inspection before delivery is as important as any fabrication stage. We check every prong tip, every stone’s seat, every solder joint, and the finish quality against the design intent before a piece is presented to the client. The presentation appointment is not a delivery transaction — it is the first time the client sees the finished piece, which deserves the same attention as the first design conversation.
What People
Ask Us
Can you copy a piece I found online? We do not reproduce any design that belongs to another jeweler or designer. We use images as references to understand what the client responds to and then design an original piece that captures the relevant properties — the stone shape, the proportional character, the silhouette — without copying the specific design. The resulting piece will be original, which is ultimately more valuable than a copy.
How many revisions are included in a custom commission? The number of design revisions before fabrication begins is determined by how clearly the brief was established at the start. Clients who invest in a thorough brief typically require one or two sketch revisions. Clients who are uncertain about what they want may require more iterations. After fabrication is approved and begins, changes to the design become significantly more expensive because they require stopping, modifying, or sometimes restarting the fabrication process.
Do I need to provide my own stone? No. We source stones for all custom commissions and can work with clients at any budget to identify the right stone before fabrication begins. Clients who have an existing stone — an inherited diamond, a purchase they made independently — can bring it to us and we will design around it. In either case, we evaluate the stone before committing to a setting design, because the setting design depends on the stone’s exact dimensions.
What is the difference between custom and semi-custom jewelry? A semi-custom piece starts from a standard design that exists in the jeweler’s repertoire and modifies it — different stone, different metal, different size. A fully custom piece starts from a blank page and a design brief. Semi-custom is faster and less expensive because much of the design work is already done. Fully custom is the right choice when no existing design is close enough to the client’s intent.
Can you make a piece that matches my existing jewelry exactly? We can design a piece that coordinates with your existing jewelry in terms of metal, proportional scale, and design language. We cannot guarantee an exact match to a piece we did not make because we do not have its exact specifications. Bring the existing piece to your design consultation and we will use it as the primary reference for the new commission.
Continue Reading
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Every piece is designed and made in the Los Angeles atelier, from the first reading of the stone to the final pass of the setting wheel. Enquire to begin a commission.
