custom process

This week I thought I would discuss the custom design process I have developed and use to work with clients from first visit to completed piece. Custom design is a lot of fun, and working with each client to develop a style and design that will reflect both their taste and my design esthetic is just the kind of challenge I love. Through meetings, sketches, renderings and prototypes, we work through the process until both our visions for the piece are realized. Each item of custom-designed jewellery is a true collaboration and unique in its own way. The process usually begins with the client reviewing my portfolio and looking at pieces in my display cases. We'll then have a conversation about their favourites, and what is attracting them to these pieces. From these conversations, I can get a pretty good feel for where the design is going. The next step is selecting the gems. In this example, sapphire and diamonds!

Once the gems have been chosen, I'll create a series of quick concept sketches so the client can see 5 to 6 variations on the theme, and start narrowing down the design possibilities. We then work to eliminate the designs until we get down to the one the client likes best.

Once we have chosen our top design we proceed to rendering. This is done on the computer and a 3-D model is made so the client can see the piece in detail, and from many angles.

From here, the hope is that we have gotten the design close, maybe even perfect. If not, then this is the stage where we can easily make modifications to the design and really refine it to the clients taste.

We keep working on the rendering until the client loves it and then we proceed to prototyping... But that's for next week! Stay tuned as we will cover prototyping, casting, grinding and polishing, and then setting the stones...

Rutilated quartz

Things are hopping down at the studio with lots of interesting custom projects coming through. We are starting to see the wedding band season take off already, a little earlier than usual. Getting an early start on things can only be good!

This pendant is one I have been working on (on and off) for a while. With all the custom work we do, it can be challenging to find a block of time to work on speculative pieces like this. I usually get an hour here or there, sometimes weeks apart. But when it's finished, I get to put it in the case and see/ hear what people think. It can be quite satisfying.

This pendant is made of 18k white gold, with pavé set diamonds. The center stone is rutilated quartz. It's a clear quartz crystal that has Titanium Dioxide inclusions called "rutile needles." This one also has some cloud crystal inclusions that give it a real landscape quality, making it a real conversation piece!

Jewellery maintenance

This week I want to talk about maintaining your jewellery. Every custom piece of jewellery that I make is built to last. I use a slightly heavier gauge of metal in my work and it not only gives the piece a very luxurious feel, but also makes the rings more durable and gives them more longevity. I offer free, yearly maintenance on every piece that I make. What this allows me to do is clean the gems and buff out any scratches, it also allows me to check for any wear and tear issues that could be coming up because of lifestyle or other factors. I find that a little preventative maintenance goes further than trying to solve problems after they happen.

A lot of my clients find that it's a nice anniversary tradition. They come down for a visit, drop off their rings, grab a coffee or lunch in the Distillery and then pick them up 20-30 minutes later all sparkly and polished. I love it as I get to see all the rings that I have made over the years come back, and I get to re-connect with clients and chat. The pictures to the left are of a set that I made a couple of years ago that recently came back for maintenance. With the minor scratches gone and a little clean for the diamond they look as good as the day they said
"I do"

Distillery must see

For those of you who have never visited my studio, I am located in Toronto's Historic Distillery District - a collection of old Victorian buildings once home of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, turned into a funky collection of shops, galleries, and restaurants. I consider myself very lucky to work in such an inspirational place, full of artists and creative people. When it first opened in 2003 there was a bit of a touristy feel to the district, but over the last couple of years the area has really come into its own, settling in and starting to feel like a community. With recent additions of new condominiums, there are more and more people calling the Distillery home, helping to foster the neighbourhood feeling.

There is also construction going on right across the street, where they are building the Athlete's Village for the Pan Am Games that Toronto is hosting in 2015. I think the plan after the games is to retrofit the buildings into condos. What that means for me, is that the city and province are fast-tracking a plan to develop the area around the distillery, and that's great news as it will bring more people, and better transit to the area, which is currently most easily accessible by car...

So that's the back-story, but my real intention with this post, and in some future posts, is to tell you about some of my favourite places and things that can be found in the Distillery. Or to put it a different way, the 3-4 things a person should do to have a great Distillery experience. Your first stop should be my studio of course, where you need to come in and get decked out in diamonds and sapphires, I mean positively dripping with gems... once you've done that, your ready for lunch!

Next stop is the Brick Street Bakery for the best sandwich ever made - the "Brick Street Club." Let me set the scene... Warm, marinated chicken breast, thick sliced bacon, chipotle mayo with a hint of spice to it, lettuce, tomato, and red onion on Brick Street's very own chibata buns... This sandwich is so good, I get a little sad when I'm half-way through and I know that it's almost over. Brick Street has a board full of sandwiches (along with breads and sweets) and there are a few close seconds - the Lamb Kofta, and the Boxing Day Sandwiches are amazing in their own right... but the Club goes to eleven on my scale of ten!!!

Garnet Deco ring finished!

Well here it is!
After weeks of working on it the Garnet Art Deco ring is finished and in the case ready for the right person to come along and fall in love with it. Going with a Garnet is not typical of the era... but I think it's ok to bend the rules a bit when you are doing an interpretation.

I know these photos are very similar but they each show a slightly different angle and there is so much going on in this ring that I decided to use them both. It's the kind of piece that needs to be held and looked at for a couple of minutes to really appreciate the detail. I had a guy stop by the studio yesterday and ask "Is that the garnet ring from the blog?" My little ring is a celebrity!