Last month a client named Daniel forwarded me six listings for near-identical 1.5‑carat round diamonds. Every stone was graded F/VS2, every one claimed...
I get this question about once a week, and it always starts the same way. Someone walks in holding a ring they found in a drawer or inherited from an aunt....
Last fall a woman named Elise walked into my studio with a ring she’d bought at an estate sale in Santa Fe. She’d paid about $1,200. The ring was a 1920s...
I've had two clients in the past year bring in ring boxes that were tiny dioramas. One was a miniature library. The other was a snow globe. Both were...
Most ring-on-hand photos I see are terrible. I don't mean that as a jab at anyone's photography skills. I mean the lighting is wrong, the hand is posed like...
No. I'll say it again: no, it isn't. Last October a client named Julia came in on a Wednesday morning, slightly pale, holding her left hand out with the...
A ring box is not a safe. I've had clients bring in engagement rings that sat in a velvet-lined box inside a drawer for a year - no moisture, no impact -...
Daniel walked into my studio last fall with a sketch on a napkin and a budget that didn’t quite match it. That’s not unusual. About 70% of the custom work I...
The first time a client asked me about home try-on kits, I told her the truth: most of the rings are plated brass with CZ stones that look nothing like the...
The ring that feels fine at 7 p.m. in the jewelry store can become a dull throb by 10 a.m. the next day if you type for a living. I’ve seen it happen. About...
One essay, one object, one quiet recommendation — delivered slowly, the way these things ought to be.