He Walked In with a PowerPoint Presentation and Gold Coins
Most clients come to me with a mood board or a Pinterest save. Maybe some screenshots from Instagram. A few come in with nothing at all except a feeling.
This one came in with a full PowerPoint presentation.
He'd done his homework. He had reference images organized by category. He had notes on what he liked about each one and why. He had thoughts on materials, on chain styles, on historical eras that resonated with him. Unfortunately we had some technical issues and I never actually got to see the slides, but the fact that he prepared it tells you everything about the kind of thought he was putting into this.
He wanted to design a necklace for his wife. They share emerald as their birthstone. And he came in with a piece of gold he wanted to incorporate into whatever we created.
The Design Direction
His wife loves period dramas. Downton Abbey. Bridgerton. The gilded age, the elegance, the jewelry from those worlds. He wanted something that felt like it could exist in that era but was undeniably new. Not a reproduction. Not a costume piece. A real piece of fine jewelry that carried the spirit of that time without being stuck in it.
That's one of my favorite kinds of design challenges - bridging something historical with something contemporary. How do you honor a period's aesthetic without making it feel like you're playing dress-up? The answer is usually in the details. You take the design principles from the era, the proportions, the metalwork techniques, the settings, and you execute them with modern precision and materials.
For the chain, I spent a lot of time researching styles that were actually worn during the Victorian period. Most people wouldn't think twice about a chain. It's just the thing that holds the pendant. But the chain was one of the most important design decisions on this project, because it had to carry the same historical weight as the setting itself. We ended up going with a style that was specifically popular in that era, one I'd never used before and haven't used since. It was the right chain for this necklace and nobody else's.
The Emerald That Glowed
Finding the right stone was its own project. Most emeralds have a quality called jardine, which is the natural internal garden of inclusions that gives emeralds their character. Some look cloudy. Some look dark. The range is enormous.
The stone I found for this project was a Colombian emerald, just over two carats, and it was unlike anything I'd seen before. It glowed. Not sparkled, not shimmered. Glowed. From the inside out, like it had its own light source. The jardine was there, but minimal, and the saturation was this deep, alive green that you just could not stop looking at.
It was also an incredible deal. When we had the finished necklace appraised, it came back at over double what the client paid. That's what happens when you source patiently and know what to look for instead of buying from whoever your usual vendor happens to be.
His Gold, Her Necklace
One of the details that made this project special was that he brought gold to contribute to the piece. This is something more people are doing now, especially with gold prices where they are. If you have gold sitting in a drawer - old jewelry you're not wearing, even bullion - it can be repurposed and put toward new work.
We went with 18 karat yellow gold, which gave us that bold, warm tone that pairs so well with deep green. His original plan was 22 karat, but I recommended stepping down because 18k gives you significantly more durability while still delivering that rich yellow color. Necklaces catch on things. Chains take stress. That kind of technical guidance is part of what I bring to every project - I wanted something that was going to protect the emerald and hold up for decades, not just look right on day one.
The Finished Piece
The setting has beautiful claw prongs with a full bezel, paying direct homage to Victorian-era goldsmithing. The chain is historically accurate to the period. The emerald sits at the center of all of it like something that was always meant to be there. The whole necklace looks like it could be 150 years old, except it's brand new and it sparkles like nothing from that era ever could.
This was one of the hardest pieces for me to let go of. I said that to him. I was like, "I know this isn't mine, but I need you to know that this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever made." And it really is. The combination of that emerald with the gold, the period-accurate design, the thoughtfulness of every single choice he made - it all came together into something that I think his wife will pass down someday. And I hope that one day whoever inherits it will know how much intention went into every detail.
He was also working on a tight timeline. He wanted to present it to her during a trip, and we pulled it together just in time. They got to have that special moment together, which is really what all of this is about.
Bring Your Vision In
You don't need a PowerPoint to walk in. But if you have one, I'd love to see it. If you have an idea, a material, or a vision for something meaningful, let's talk about bringing it to life.
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