ABBIE'S SAPPHIRE 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.

DESIGNER

Michelle L

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.

YOUR SKETCHES

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 Beyond® 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.

SAPPHIRES

From Victorian-era jewelry to contemporary design, sapphires are a favorite gemstone for bridal pieces to last the ages. A gemstone from the mineral variety corundum, sapphire gets its blue hue from the element titanium as the crystal develops over eons, deep within the earth’s crust. Subtle differences in chemical composition, such as varying amounts of iron, can produce colors that are deep and inky to others that are lighter, with a cool iridescent sparkle.

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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MICHELLE L
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.

CASTING

At the workshop, the model was cast in a specialty plaster-like investment and heated to release the wax or resin from its mold, then cast using a specialized induction casting machine from Italy.

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.

CHRISTOPHER O
Stonesetter

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.

CHRISTOPHER O
Filigree Artist

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.
CHRISTOPHER O
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

Abbie's Sapphire halo ring

This exquisite 14k rose gold ring showcases a pear-shaped green sapphire as the center stone, skillfully secured in a prong setting. Encircling the centerpiece are 26 meticulously French set round diamonds, forming a dazzling halo. The split shank design of this ring is adorned with two meticulously handcrafted filigree curls on each shoulder, adding an elegant touch. Delicately engraved with a scroll pattern on the top face, this ring boasts intricate artistry. The round curve taper shank, accompanied by milgrain edges, enhances its graceful appeal. A lustrous high polish finish completes this extraordinary piece, ensuring it radiates timeless beauty.