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I've read all about Leon but who does lovely pave in SF?

ml2

Rough_Rock
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Mar 18, 2011
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Looking for someone who can rival "the master" out here in San Francisco - for a halo ring! My fiance and I went through one rather unfortunate round with an upscale local custom shop and are looking for a new custom (preferably handmade, not cast) goldsmith with a good rep for pave... thank you so much for any leads!
 

ml2

Rough_Rock
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Mar 18, 2011
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72
beautiful beautiful stuff on his website - but we're hoping to work with someone within driving distance, which could be outside of SF but not by 5 hours unfortunately! lucky LA/NYC girls...
 

Mayk

Ideal_Rock
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Feb 12, 2011
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http://www.sareenjewelry.com/

After an unfortunate experience with a melee halo setting I decided to go with Sareen Jewekry in southern California. They sent out samples and I then did my own design. It will be ready 5/20. So excited. I had access to them through Emma Parker Jewelry in Seattle. Tim is Awesome!!!! The best custom service ever. Super patient and great ideas and very competitively priced!
 

Bella_mezzo

Ideal_Rock
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Is Mytal hannah out there?
 

Gypsy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Joe Escrobar doesn't do their work in house (in Campbell) and neither does Darren MCClung (Palo Alto) but both their benches can do gorgeous pave custom work for you. They will help you locally, but send the work out to their designers to be done.

The prices can be higher than working with Leon though. But their results are worth it.

Wouldn't recommend anyone else... maybe Langs in SF if you want vintage/antique style.
 

Gypsy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Bella_mezzo|1304628980|2913246 said:
Is Mytal hannah out there?

LA
 

tigian

Ideal_Rock
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There is a store called Pave in Berkeley on 4th street and I know they do their own work. I stopped in a couple weeks ago and they had beautiful pieces.
 

ml2

Rough_Rock
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Mar 18, 2011
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Thank you all so much for the recommendations! It seems crazy that SF wouldn't have some go-to trusted goldsmiths to do the delicate work I've come to know and love looking at so many of the rings on this site...

Mayk - i wonder if your "unfortunate" situation was like ours - the first go-round on our engagement ring ended up a bust - the goldsmith accidentally put diamonds in the band (we wanted plain shank), but to be honest, the pave on the halo just didn't wow us - the halo didn't face up white/sparkly/diamondey, more like shiny engraved metal almost... "fortunately" the situation with the band allowed us to decide to just try our luck elsewhere instead of having them remake it...

I guess I'm nervous about working with someone without being in the same area code/time zone which may be a little silly... will check out these recommendations and might just have to get comfortable with the idea of going outside of the bay area...
 

CharmyPoo

Ideal_Rock
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Dec 10, 2004
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The challenge is not about a go to goldsmith but finding one that can match the pave done by Leon. I don't know many other than Steven Kirsch and 23rd Street Jewellers. I haven't seen Victor's work in person but the photos are looking good.

I am in Hong Kong at the moment and have been surprised at how well done the pave is here even from the local stores. This doesn't help you though.
 

Mayk

Ideal_Rock
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mI2. We had issues losing stones. Once from the halo and then from the shank.. Both within a six weeks. Decided change now before the wedding. I will have the new one 5/20. They sent samples to me to review. They were beautiful. I went through a jeweler in Seattle Emma Parker Jewelry. We live in Floride. I did tons of research on line. So I hear you about a local shortage of talent. The rings here certainly speak volumes about the talent that is out there.
 

shiny29

Rough_Rock
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Apr 6, 2009
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I second Joe Escobar. My friends wedding set is by them and it's beautiful. She has a cushion halo.
 

ml2

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Messages
72
Some of the stuff on these websites is AMAZING! and so glad there are recommendations for close by - since campbell and palo alto are both closer than LA and Hong Kong, we're going to start there, but I'd never heard of some of these other places (so thank you!) and my fiance said he'd be happy to make the roadtrip down to LA (SWEET but that's a haul) so we're keeping them on the list...

just for background... here was the sad first attempt... (and don't get me wrong, it is beautiful (still thrilled with the center stone!), but see what i'm saying about the halo coming across more carved metal-esque instead of diamond sparkle?) might be hard to tell with these cell phone pics... but the halo we modeled it after was so much brighter and whiter despite having the same size little stones...

so%20sad.jpg

anyways, THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!
 

slg47

Ideal_Rock
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do you have a close-up pic? I would definitely check out pave work by all of the vendors before you go with them to make sure they can achieve the look you want. That setting doesn't look terrible but I definitely see a difference between that and the Leon/Steven Kirsch/Victor Canera pieces that have been shared on PS.
 

ml2

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
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slg47 - this is a little closer up... but i was taking cell phone pics so the detail gets kind of lost...

another thing was that we wanted half pointers in the halo because that's what this other halo had that we really liked, but does anyone have thoughts on going up to 1 pointers? fiance thinks that'll give us more diamond/white/sparkle, but I'm worried that it'll start making the halo too wide - I really want to keep it delicate!

oh and lastly - Gypsy - even though Joe Escobar, etc. don't do their pave work in-house, can we expect that they will have samples of their work (not just other designers) that we can check out? thanks!

so%20sad%202.jpg
 

Gypsy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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ml2

Rough_Rock
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Mar 18, 2011
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Gypsy - THANK you for forwarding that link! her ring is stunning! I'm getting excited and less nervous about round 2...
 

Gypsy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Glad to help. :wavey:
 

ml2

Rough_Rock
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Mar 18, 2011
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gypsy and shiny29 - i can't thank you enough for the Joe Escobar recommendation! my fiance and I drove down this morning and walked in and found a custom design of theirs that is almost EXACTLY what we've been looking for for two months!!! there MAY have been a high five involved :appl: the pave work is absolutely beautiful - just a whole different league from anything we've seen - and they were confident they could make the modifications we wanted (which isn't even much) with no problem. I am just so relieved and thrilled that we got a second crack at this - it is going to be just lovely, i'm so excited! thank you again - everyone! - and i'll be sure to post pics of the finished ring - 3 weeks!! yayayayay!!
 

Brown.Eyed.Girl

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ml2|1304829044|2915293 said:
gypsy and shiny29 - i can't thank you enough for the Joe Escobar recommendation! my fiance and I drove down this morning and walked in and found a custom design of theirs that is almost EXACTLY what we've been looking for for two months!!! there MAY have been a high five involved :appl: the pave work is absolutely beautiful - just a whole different league from anything we've seen - and they were confident they could make the modifications we wanted (which isn't even much) with no problem. I am just so relieved and thrilled that we got a second crack at this - it is going to be just lovely, i'm so excited! thank you again - everyone! - and i'll be sure to post pics of the finished ring - 3 weeks!! yayayayay!!

I was just about to third the Joe Escobar recommendation (stopped by a couple months ago when I was in town to look and they had really gorgeous high-quality stuff) but I guess I don't have to now! :)

That is wonderful news that you found just what you were looking for - congrats! Can't wait to see pics of the finished ring!
 

Gypsy

Super_Ideal_Rock
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I'm very happy you found what you are looking for. They have a nice selection of quality goods at Joe Escobar, plus they stand behind their merchandise.

Can't wait to see the finished ring!
 
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