Too cool for School; Green Lake client couple Josh and Karen

Karen caught Josh’s attention on the very first day of school. He was back into his regular class schedule, greeting kids from the past year and organizing himself for the new, when he saw Karen pass in the hallway. “Please tell me that’s not a student,” Josh recalled. And Karen definitely wasn’t a student; in fact she’d just finished up her masters at Seattle University.

Engagement photos are cool because they’re void off all the time pressures and confusion associated with the big day. For Josh – who’s from Oregon – and Karen –who’s from Michigan – photo shoots like these are great way to share the story with loved ones back home.

It’s difficult for faculty to get to know each other at school, so when Josh was able to talk to Karen at an after work mixer in Magnolia, he knew he’d have to make a stellar first impression. Was it love at first sight??? Well, we didn’t hear that verbatim, but after a good stint of weekly dates, Josh knew Karen was for keeps!

Karen’s ring boasts a beautiful center stone as well as masterful filigree work that highlights not only her personal style, but also her fun spirit.

The Ring: Custom platinum split shank tension style mounting holding a round diamond with filigree curls on each side of the center stone in 'V' shaped top face panels.

Josh worked directly with Green Lake designers to make a ring just for Karen. The process of design here in the Seattle studio is inquisitive, calling on all sorts of stories and personal tastes to cast the perfect ring specifically, and specially for one person only. We wish Josh and Karen a beautiful wedding in June, where friends and family will gather at the Woodland Park Zoo to see the happy couple married!

Photos courtesy of http://www.bethanyraelenestudio.com/

When Green Lake first opened its doors, 500 Rings served as a beautiful coffee table book for our shop to set out and hopefully associate ourselves with the level of artistry showcased inner amongst the pages. We still fan out books like these on the fireside table and coffee counter of our Seattle studio, but nowadays we’re proud to dog-ear a few pages just for us: The newest edition of Lark Crafts 500 Rings is set to hit bookshelves May 1^st, 2012, where page 203 will feature Green Lake’s own Adrienne Krieger .

Caribou antler, sterling silver, and CAD engraving (photo courtesy of http://www.adriennekrieger.com)

ABOUT Adrienne

Adrienne has been designing for Green Lake since 2007, where she really enjoys working with clients to create unique custom pieces of fine jewelry. Her designs tend to have clean lines, geometric shapes, surprising and subtle details, and moving mechanisms.

Hand fabricated 18K rose gold ring with black and white diamonds, a rose cut center diamond, and moving compass dial on bearings (photo courtesy of http://www.adriennekrieger.com)

Custom wedding set; the hand carved tree encases the opal engagement ring.

Adrienne studied art at Colorado State University, where she graduated with a concentration in sculpture and a minor in dance. Since moving to Seattle in 2006, her focus has actually been on both jewelry and dance. She has choreographed and performed with a Seattle-based aerial dance company since 2008. As Adrienne continues in her career, she draws on the inherent similarities between fine jewelry, body adornment, dance, and movement.

To see more of Adrienne’s work visit http://www.adriennekrieger.com

Promotion from Green Lake Engraver, Harry Caldwell’s first (and perhaps even overdue) gallery show.

Here at the shop we’re always throwing around this this notion that we’re not just a ‘normal jewelry store;’ we’re really all artists at work. So we’re all very proud when one of our own is highlighted nationally for their artistry and craftsmanship.

This month Harry Caldwell – Green Lake’s go to man for masterful engraving work – won a particularly positive review from his most recent Seattle gallery show in Metalsmith, the prominent publication that covers studio jewelry and sculpture. Caldwell’s first show, displayed at Pioneer Square’s CORE gallery, featured an array of intricate engravings, metal prints and original pen and ink illustrations.

CAPTION: Samples of Caldwell’s recent work, from left to right: Custom engraved stop watch, antiqued relief engraving (photos: Green Lake), and ‘Green Man’ engraving on sterling silver (photo: Andrew Caldwell).

 ABOUT HARRY 

Originally from East Lansing, Michigan, Harry has been a member of the Green Lake team since 2006. A graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial design.

SEATTLE — Joshua Gephardt, April 3^rd 2012: 

HOW DID THEY MEET?

Two last minute decisions to attend an anti-trafficking prayer meeting on the evening of June 25th, 2011 landed Josh and Aleya seated one row apart at a church in the University District. Little did they know Josh had literally been driving by Aleya’s house every week to Family Dinner night – living only 10 blocks from her. Amidst the prayer, Aleya caught Josh’s eye, and before he left that night, he “networked” and got her contact information. Josh’s perseverance overcame Aleya’s malfunctioning cell phone – and 3 weeks later Josh attended a baptism held by Aleya’s church at Matthews Beach Park. Their unofficial first date ended 12 hours later with Josh singing Aleya a song he’d written about his journey with the Lord: “Jesus don’t you know.”

The summer was filled with wonderfully long days that mostly involved doing things together (except for the 5 day hunting trip Josh took with Aleya’s Dad and brother!) Hours of talking, laughing, praying, going on multiple joint adventures and spending time with one another’s friends and family cemented the relationship.

THE RING

Soon summer turned to leaves falling. Joshua, a man of action, secretly worked feverishly on designing the ring with behind the scenes input from several trusted women, as well as an amazingly intuitive and brilliant “co-designer” Sophia down at Green Lake Jewelry Works.  With patience, creativity, and love, Josh, with assistance from his team, crafted a unique, yet timeless and one of a kind ring that will likely become a family heirloom.

The ring not only ended up transparently displaying Joshua’s love for Aleya but also beautifully alluding to her unique personality and style, and constantly garners all the comments and raves one might hope for… which ultimately just reinforce the love that the ring symbolizes.

PROPOSAL

December 22nd arrived. Aleya joined Josh & his siblings from Hawaii under the guise of a proposed downtown pre-Christmas dinner…

…little did Aleya know that as they bordered the #73 bus it was filled with 30 of their family and friends (including the surprise arrival of her sister, Lindsay, from L. A. and brother, Riley, from Bellingham) – all in disguise.

Nope, she didn’t recognize a one, even sitting a couple feet from her sister and Josh’s brother Ben (a trait she gets from her mother ☺)! Josh left Aleya’s side briefly to, “ask the bus driver a question” while Aleya chatted with his siblings, unaware of the 30 people hiding around her. Josh secretly retrieved his guitar; a strum queuing the a capella band of “passengers” to start up.

With song and rhythm, disguises began falling off to the sheer awe and delight of Aleya. The serenade continued singing, “if you want me to love you, all that you must do, is just say so,” and the crowd, and soon the whole bus was echoing in, “Say So, Say So, Say So!”

With the final strum of the song, Josh handed off his guitar and dropped his knee on the linoleum bus floor: “Aleya,” he said, “I’ve waited my whole life to meet you and I would like nothing more than to spend the rest of my life taking care of you. I love you with all my heart, would you marry me?” Aleya answered with a hearty – “YES!!!!!”

The city bus and their community gave a roaring cheer! After hugs from all, including the bus driver, they were sent off for a special evening together that ended in a stained glass chapel where lit candles and communion awaited them to celebrate with the author of it all…

Saturday April 28^th and Sunday April 29^th

10:00am – 5:00pm

Take advantage of this wide offering of brilliantly colored gem stones, brought in from the finest collections to be shown in the Green Lake Jewelry Works’ studio for one weekend only.

Find the perfect Mother’s Day gift with a wide one—time—only selection of birthstones.

 Door Prizes! Walk in over the weekend for a chance to win a FREE colored gemstone from Green Lake Jewelry Works.

 SPECIAL: Purchase any colored gemstone at the show and apply 10% of its total sale price as a credit toward a making a custom setting.

]]> http://www.greenlakejewelry.com/jewelryblog/?feed=rss2&p=538 0 http://www.greenlakejewelry.com/jewelryblog/?p=526 http://www.greenlakejewelry.com/jewelryblog/?p=526#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:38:35 +0000 Eric http://www.greenlakejewelry.com/jewelryblog/?p=526

Read more of the online version of SMART magazine.

Platinum men’s band with 22k yellow gold and bead-set cognac diamonds.

The winning ring was not the delicate diamond-encrusted bridal piece typically associated with platinum – or the kind most might have expected. Instead, it was a manly ring; a more exotic approach for a men’s band replete with diamonds that bore a color distinctly associated with prestige – Cognac.  It’s a ring for a man, a muchacho, a dude; mostly because it was designed by a dude. 

Spokesmodel Yyves with Green Lake Designer Charlie Herner

There’s no doubt that Herner is a competitive designer. On both the computer and at the bench, he approaches the creation of fine jewelry with a John McEnroe-like energy. And while his rambunctious enthusiasm for design fuels his good work at Green Lake, it’s this zeal for getting things done better and faster which seems to win him national recognition – Within the past year, Herner’s stole the first place spot in a total of three large jewelry design competitions.

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“There’s just something about the heft of platinum. It really brings out the masculinity in a piece. In thinking up a concept for this ring, I kept going back to its heaviness…”

Assuredly the look of tufted leather, accented with buttons, makes a bold statement; it’s reflective of bespoke fashion. To really make the platinum pop on this piece, Herner ‘cushioned’ the tops of the buttons with a sandblast finish, which is a nice contrast to the high-polished surroundings. And in keeping with this manly approach, he paired the platinum with a bit of regal 22k yellow gold to showcase 1.5mm Cognac bead-set diamonds.

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But what about the name of this band, 78^th & Cognac? Well, the color-treated diamonds are clearly the Cognac. But the 78? It’s the corresponding number on the periodic table of elements. Very clever, dude. 

To learn more about Charlie Herner and other terribly talented designers at Green Lake, visit the Artist Page.