ARMENIAN INSPIRED HALO 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.

DESIGNING YOUR PIECE

Ideas and inspirations used in your project.

YOUR SKETCHES

DESIGNER

Ellen L

One of the few locals, Ellen grew up right here in Washington. Her artistically enriched childhood was spent surrounded by the natural inspiration of the mountains and water. With constant inspiration around her, it was easy to choose a career in an artistic field. In 2017, Ellen graduated from Cornish College of the Arts, where she received a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design. A lifetime of educational experiences has allowed her to work in a wide variety of mediums. From creating a 3D model of DNA out of stained glass, to designing an app to navigate Seattle's traffic, she has worked hard to build a breadth of knowledge from which to draw from when designing.

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.

DIAMONDS + THE KIMBERLY PROCESS

Green Lake’s collection of diamonds only maintain gems with certifications from the GIA or other internationally recognized laboratories, all with an assurance of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme — the UN resolution passed in 2000 to ensure ‘conflict diamonds’ do not enter the global supply chain.

CERTIFIED CANADIAN DIAMONDS

Canadian diamonds are mined in the hinterlands near the Arctic Circle, with great attention paid toward minimal environmental impact. Many mines operate using wind and other renewable energies, and are mandated to incorporate complex systems that protect surrounding waterways. Delivered with fair labor practices, Canada is the only producer that guarantees the origin of its diamonds, as is detailed on your certificate.


Canadian diamond in the rough is a beautiful crystalline form, recognized by experts as an especially white diamond, lustrous and filled with a brilliant fire.


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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USIEL
CAD Designer

Bringing your design to life

WAX MODELS

Lost-wax casting is thousands of years old, and it’s how we still cast today. From the increasingly rare skill of carving by hand, to the employment of digitally guided milling machines, blocks of wax are cut down into precise models.

These models are used both for design ideation and adjustment and casting the actual piece.

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.

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.

JOE
Stonesetter

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.
JOE
Hand Engraver

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

Armenian Inspired Halo Ring

Custom 18k rose gold Armenian inspired ring holding (1) GLJW provided cushion cut diamond center stone kite set with pointed prongs at the NSEW positions. Wheel of Eternity inspired halo with (4) GLJW provided marquise cut diamond melee bezel set at the NSEW positions and (4) GLJW provided pear cut diamond melee prong set between the marquises. Additional (8) GLJW provided round cut diamond melee bezel set to separate each marquise and pear shaped stone. (2) Cast in place fern details form each shoulder with each pair encircling (1) bezel set GLJW provided round cut diamond melee. The remainder of the shank has a tapering round domed profile with hand engraved wheat patterning extending partway down both sides. The under gallery of the halo has an intricate woven motif surrounding (1) 18k yellow gold coin that has been assembled directly under the center stone. 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.

Owners Comments

Are we enjoying the ring? The ring makes me *blush*. I can't believe it's on my finger. Honestly sometimes I forget because it fits so comfortably, but it's just heavy enough that the rock tilts it to one side occasionally, as if to say 'Hey, remember me?' And I swivel it back in place and stare at it for perhaps too long lol. The fit is perfect, and I notice that the way you designed the undercarriage helps prevent the points from ever digging into my skin. So smart. It's been fun showing the limited number of family members we've seen over the past couple days, but most importantly a really sweet moment showing my parents all the design elements and where they came from. They were overwhelmed in the best way :)


Lucine