CUSTOM SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT RING

THE GREEN LAKE SHOP YOUR CUSTOM DESIGN YOUR GEMSTONE MODEL & CASTING THE JEWELER'S BENCH YOUR FINISHED PIECE

THE GREEN LAKE SHOP

Translating our client’s ideas into beautiful custom jewelry
to celebrate the iconic moments in life since 1996.

Your piece was crafted in the
the Seattle studio

The Seattle shop was our first large scale facility with room for 50+ artists. It includes a state of the art casting and production shop, all visible to the public. The design studio has 14 design stations, private meeting rooms and a full scale coffee and wine bar.

Green Lake Jewelry Works opened its doors on Seattle’s Green Lake Drive in 1996. Since then, its craftspeople have grown to win national recognition for excellence in the art of fine jewelry making with two distinct workshops where each piece is made by hand.

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The flagship Seattle studio is home to all metal casting and a majority of 3D printing technologies for Green Lake Jewelry Works. Its workshop is also home to some of the most talented jewelers in the country, where a tradition of dedicated craftsmanship is passed from masters to journeymen and women.

YOUR CUSTOM DESIGN

Custom jewelry at Green Lake always begins with ideas, inspirations, and a sketch, where the many design elements that make for the perfect ring are discovered through ideation.

Oftentimes, a ring will go through many iterations and changes along the way before the final look is achieved.

DESIGNER

Sophia

GIA Graduate Gemologist, GIA AJP. Sophia combines a flair for artistic design and technical expertise in jewelry creation, as well as client vision and taste to produce stunningly beautiful, unique pieces that will light up the room. Sophia has examined and sourced thousands of gemstones, and her experience can both articulate exactly what clients are looking for in a gemstone as well as assess qualities often missed by the naked eye. Throughout her studies in fine arts and metalsmithing at the University of Washington, she developed creative and professional skills that make her an invaluable asset to Green Lake—and a trusted designer to our clients. Sophia is a Graduate Gemologist through the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Sophia is Green Lake's most prolific designer with over 2000 completed custom pieces and literally hundreds of named 5 star reviews from these satisfied clients.

YOUR GEMSTONE

Your gemstone was hand and eye selected from thousands of stones that we view before choosing the finest, most beautiful gems that suit our very choosy designers and clients.
We are as picky about our gems as we are about every other aspect of our work.

GREEN LAKE GEM LAB

Above and BeyondTM Gemstones

The Green Lake Gem Lab sources rare stones through a responsible network of globally dispersed miners and reputable traders, and verifies the validity of each gem with sophisticated testing equipment and independent certifications.

MONTANA SAPPHIRES

Green Lake’s collection of ecologically sourced Montana sapphires come from small-scale, low impact mines that sort through alluvial deposits which were once the riverbeds of ancient waterways.


Sapphires discovered in this region of the world come in a wild array of color - from lush peach to deep teal - and it's exceptionally rare to find any two that are alike. From Victorian-era jewelry to contemporary design, sapphires are a favorite gemstone for bridal pieces to last the ages. A gem variety of corundum, sapphire gets its colors from subtle differences in chemical composition, such as varying amounts of iron or titanium. This produces colors that range from deep and inky to lighter tones, with a cool iridescent sparkle.


Sustainable mining stewards

Sapphire mining in Montana is an echo of the original gold rush. Today miners search for the very stones that many of their own prospecting ancestors had unwittingly tossed to the wayside, on an 1860's-era search for gold. Today these miners use both sustainable and environmentally friendly systems to protect their communities and legacy.

3D MODEL

CAD

Engineering the X, Y, and Z coordinates of a design is not only a way to inform sophisticated milling and growing machines to create a model; they’re also a powerful way to communicate the vision for a ring.

Realistic renderings and physical models help transform sketched ideas into reality in an interplay between the client, the designer and the CAD team, all of whose input and ideas help create something that both looks right and fits perfectly.

The entire Green Lake project team collaborates on each piece, adding nuanced details and subtle improvements to the design, all while making sure that design cohesiveness, stability on the finger, and stone security are perfected.

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INAE
CAD Designer

Bringing your design to life

CLEANUP & DETAILING

Each ring in a small casting batch shares a common vein of gold or platinum, from where it’s cut and prepared for setting. Rough castings first need to be carefully cleaned and polished before more bench work can be done. Even the inner surfaces are carefully detailed.

100 PERCENT RECYCLED

Green Lake’s use of gold and platinum comes from 100% recycled or certified Fairmined sources. We are one of the nation’s first adopters of recycled casting grain certified by SCS Global Services. Today we return all scrap and unused noble metals for refining in a transparent supply chain.

CRAFTSMANSHIP

All areas of old-world jewelry making are completed in a single workshop. Master gold and platinumsmiths receive rings from casting and set to care for each pieces as a one-of-kind, collaborating with designers to ensure each detail is included.

GEMSTONE SETTING

It required steady hands and confident mastery to set your gemstone for a lifetime of confident wear. Gems can be especially small and terribly rare, so the responsibility for this final stage in crafting a ring falls to our most experienced professionals.

ERIC HARMAN
Stonesetter

FINAL POLISH

Each custom made item in the Green Lake workshop receives a final polish before it’s carefully inspected and reviewed for standards of excellence. Each project is at last stamped with the Green Lake leaf quality mark before delivery.

YOUR FINISHED PIECE

Custom surprise engagement ring

Custom 950 platinum ring holding (1) 4-prong set GLJW provided oval cut green Montana sapphire center stone. (4) Cast in place leaves at the top of each shoulder each holding (1) bead set GLJW provided round cut diamond melee. Short splits in the shank that extend to the halfway point on each side of the ring that are made to appear as the vines for the leaves. The bottom half of the ring has a solid domed band. This ring has a round shape and a high polish finish.