MARY'S CLIMBING VINE INSPIRED RING
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.
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
As a GIA Graduate Gemologist and Jewelry Design and Technology scholarship recipient, Michelle knows what she’s talking about.
After years of serving as a diamond grader for the nation’s foremost laboratory at GIA Carlsbad, she sought a return to her creative roots as an artist with metal clay and jewelry, returning to school once again for technical proficiency in CAD.
As a designer at Green Lake, Michelle reverse engineers and breaks down big ideas, marrying different elements to create entirely new pieces.
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.
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.
CERTIFIED FAIRMINED GOLD
In an effort to transform mining into an active force for social development and environmental protection, the Alliance for Responsible Mining developed the Fairmined Standard, a certification that assures worker’s rights and safety while adhering to environmental guidelines.
By ensuring your ring is Fairmined, you’re ring is helping to transform the industry by bringing mining communities out of the poverty and dangerous working conditions they’d otherwise experience without global participation.
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.
HAND FORGING
The subtle nuances of hand forged details are unmistakable. Whether a piece is fabricated entirely by hand or includes a few handmade elements, hand fabricated details cannot be replicated by casting alone. This ability to not just polish rings, but create them from fire and pitch with traditional tools, makes a piece like yours distinct in its quality.
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.
ARTFUL FILIGREE
Filigree is the thinnest of wire extruded from precious noble metal, and fashioned by hand into delicate curls to add intricate details to open spaces. The ability to form fine wire like this is almost a lost art. In a world of mass produced jewelry, it’s a skill that takes years to master and it imbues pieces with a beauty that’s nearly impossible to match.
HAND ENGRAVING
Hand engraving is the pinnacle of the jeweler’s craft, displaying fine artistry in crisp detail. It takes perfectly honed, hardened steel tools, a steady hand and years of dedicated practice to get it right. Green Lake's skilled engravers maintain world class craftsmanship within the increasingly rare art form, of which this piece provides a stunning example.
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
Mary's climbing vine inspired ring
Custom 18kt fairmined yellow gold ring holding (1) 4-prong set customer provided oval cut sapphire center stone. The center setting has an organic wrapping tree-branch shape with the prongs leaf shaped. Split tapered shoulders with cast in place and hand fabricated leaves sitting between the splits on the shoulders, on both side faces, and partway down both sides of the shank. Hand fabricated filigree curls wrap between the leaves forming a "climbing vine" effect. (1) Row of milgrain sits along the center of the top face of the round shank. Hand engraved vine work extends along the top face of the shank and each leaf has hand engraved vein detailing. This ring has a round shape and a high polish finish.
CLIENT IMAGES AND COMMENTS
Each project is designed with and for a specific client, taking into account personal style and preferences.