OVAL SAPPHIRE RING WITH MARQUISE DIAMOND CLUSTERS & FAIRY INSPIRED VINE DETAILS

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
Bellevue studio

The Bellevue shop is a state of the art custom design and production studio where the artists work in full view of the public. This location is also the heart of our stone cutting dept, with a full time lapidary on-site cutting Sapphires and other gemstones from rough.

The design Bellevue studio has 15 design stations including 3 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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In 2016, celebrating 20 years of artistry, Green Lake Jewelry Works created a second studio in Bellevue, WA with the aim of creating the perfect environment for both jewelers and clients.

Named one of the ‘Coolest Stores in America’ by Instore Magazine, the Bellevue studio is 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

Chelsea K

I was raised in a creative atmosphere in Southern California. I inherited my passion for fine art from my dad, who creates surrealist paintings and sculptures, while I credit my love of fashion to growing up listening to the hum of my mom's sewing machine and watching her rapidly sketch elongated fashion figures. Jewelry as wearable art has always felt like the perfect combination of my interests. I earned my bachelor's degree in fashion merchandising from California State University Long Beach, along with my Graduate Diamonds and AJP credentials from the Gemological Institute of America. I spent five years at Mark Schneider Design, where I worked my way up from apprentice to Design Director. During that time, I designed for the engagement ring and color gemstone jewelry collections, competitions, and custom requests. I’ve been honored with three design awards: First Place Custom Distinction in the MJSA Vision Awards, as well as a commendation and a First Place in the CPAA International Pearl Design Competition.

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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TYLER P
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.

EINAR S
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.

EINAR S
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.
EINAR S
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

Oval Sapphire ring with marquise diamond clusters & fairy inspired vine details

A custom 950 platinum ring, gracefully entwined with a flowing vine and leaf motif, cradles a luminous oval sapphire center stone in a classic four-prong setting. Nestled alongside, a delicate cluster of three marquise diamonds adds a soft, organic sparkle, evoking the beauty of nature in bloom. Handcrafted fine-wire filigree dances within the openwork of the twisted, tapering shank, accented by six round diamonds that catch the light with every movement. The piece is brought to life with a brilliant high-polish finish, celebrating artistry, elegance, and the timeless romance of natural design.