BEE & DOPAMINE ENGAGEMENT RING

THE GREEN LAKE SHOP YOUR CUSTOM DESIGN 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.

DESIGNER

Melissa T

I got my first glimpse into the jewelry world as a kid, earning quarters for spotting tiny melee diamonds on the shop floor and watching in awe as my dad fired up his torch, shaping metal into something magical and meaningful. With a natural artistic streak and love of people, what began as a creative curiosity eventually became a full-time career. I began at Green Lake Jewelry Works as a young adult, spending a decade designing with clients in the Seattle studio. During that time, I mentored new designers, helped shape internal systems, and supported both the creative and operational sides of a fast-growing company. I also earned GIA certifications as a Graduate Diamonds & AJP. My work has been featured in Washington Wedding Day and I have been mentioned in In Store Magazine.

YOUR SKETCHES

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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KELSEY
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.

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.
KIRK
Fabrication Artist

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.

KIRK
Stonesetter

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

Bee & Dopamine Engagement Ring

Alex came to Green Lake Jewelry Works looking to design his soon-to-be fiancé a special engagement ring that was not only filled with details unique to their life together, but that was also pretty. He wanted to integrate her work as a Chemist and Microbiologist, including the molecule for dopamine to symbolize their love, and an adorable buzzing bee to represent her name Melissa, which means Honey Bee in Greek. The one problem in his own words was that “I’m an engineer. I don’t design things to be pretty. I wouldn’t know pretty unless it came into my life, changed it forever and convinced me I wanted to get married”. Cue the romantic music and tears! We put pen to paper and started working on his design, and pretty it was! With a golden bee, red and blue diamonds to create a true representation of the dopamine molecule, and interwoven vines for her love of nature, it blossomed into a truly unique and incredibly special ring for his beloved. He proposed in a lush magical park, on an arching footbridge over a stream, on a beautiful winter day… and she said YES!

CLIENT IMAGES AND COMMENTS

Each project is designed with and for a specific client, taking into account personal style and preferences.

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