Looking for a fine jewelry manufacturer near California

[Alexmalex]

I am looking for a new jewelry manufacturer near California with experience in fine jewelry. It would be ideal if I can have CADs edited, pieces cast and stones set with the same person. For some reason I have not had much luck, as most manufacturers refuse to show images of their work, and I cannot verify their experience with fine jewelry.

My current jewelry manufacturer in LA has proven to be unreliable and untrustworthy. I really need someone who does fine work, is priced competitively, and is reliable. What I am not looking for is a jewelry storefront who will then outsource my pieces to another casting company. I am looking to go right to the source and work with a casting company directly.

Thank you in advance!

 

[lovedogs]

No idea where you can work with a casting company directly. David klass does great work for a good price point. Victor canera does hand forged work at a higher price point, but you get what you pay for in terms of details. I'm not sure how many jewelry designers act as their only bench. It seems quite rare these days.

 

[TreeScientist]

Check out EVS Designs. He's also located in LA. His prices are extremely competitive in the realm of CAD/cast custom jewelry, and he is kind, polite, and responsive to inquiries (usually responds to every e-mail within 24 hours). He did an amazing job on my fiancé's E-ring, and I'm currently working with him on another project. He's the only guy I'll use for custom jewelry. And yes, he does his own CAD design and casting, can source any diamond listed on the open market, and has a jeweler on his team for setting and finishing (as far as I'm aware, this is "his" bench, meaning the guy does work exclusively for him). So basically he's a one stop shop.

He has an Etsy shop where you can see some of his pre-fab designs, but you can also go through his own website for custom design projects:
https://www.evsdesigns.store/index.html

 

[SimoneDi]

Also Maytal Hannah in LA does beautiful handforged work.

 

[TreeScientist]

Also Maytal Hannah in LA does beautiful handforged work.

Yep, MH and VC do beautiful work too, but that's at quite a bit of a higher price point then CAD/cast pieces. So if the OP is looking at cast pieces, I'm not sure if hand-forged would be in his budget.

 

[SimoneDi]

Yep, MH and VC do beautiful work too, but that's at quite a bit of a higher price point then CAD/cast pieces. So if the OP is looking at cast pieces, I'm not sure if hand-forged would be in his budget.

Ah, I see. Reading again, I actually think that OP is looking for a larger volume manufacturer? Maybe DK? Or maybe he can point OP to a different bench. Not sure really..

 

[Alexmalex]

To clarify, I am looking for casting companies, rather than jewelry brand names like DK and VC, etc. In that case I would just be paying for their brand name.

 

[Karl_K]

This is the wrong place to ask, this is a consumer forum.
I will say that at least in my area hardly anyone is casting in house.
They do the cad and wax and have it cast by one of the large casting companies near Chicago then finish it in house.
Some of the large casting companies do offer cad and wax service but the minimal order is often in the 100+ range of each design per order.
Some even offer finishing.

 

[lovedogs]

This is the wrong place to ask, this is a consumer forum.
I will say that at least in my area hardly anyone is casting in house.
They do the cad and wax and have it cast by one of the large casting companies near Chicago then finish it in house.
Some of the large casting companies do offer cad and wax service but the minimal order is often in the 100+ range of each design per order.
Some even offer finishing.

This.

 

[Emeraldsaremyfavorite]

David Klass, Victor Canera, Mark Broumand, Sam- IceRock. All great and reliable

 

[TreeScientist]

This.

This X2. Casting companies do not design. They cast for designers. As @Karl_K said, they may do some designs of their own, or do designs for large corporate customers, but they're not going to do a custom design for a single, one-off cast. That's not their business.

You're a consumer, so you'll need to go through a jewelry designer. Your best bet is to find a CAD/cast designer with as low of a mark-up as possible.

If you don't want to do that, best of luck finding a bulk casting warehouse that will do a one-off design for you...

 

[LLJsmom]

To clarify, I am looking for casting companies, rather than jewelry brand names like DK and VC, etc. In that case I would just be paying for their brand name.

You wouldn’t be just paying for their brand name. The quality of their work is what you are paying for. But, if you think you are just paying for the name, then...oh well...

 

[bludiva]

This X2. Casting companies do not design. They cast for designers. As @Karl_K said, they may do some designs of their own, or do designs for large corporate customers, but they're not going to do a custom design for a single, one-off cast. That's not their business.

You're a consumer, so you'll need to go through a jewelry designer. Your best bet is to find a CAD/cast designer with as low of a mark-up as possible.

If you don't want to do that, best of luck finding a bulk casting warehouse that will do a one-off design for you...

I'm not in California but I'm sure there are small manufacturers out there that can do design and casting in house.

OP it's not clear to me what exactly you need but DKJ for example does fabrication for other designers tho i don't think their casting is in house. There are likely others that only work with wholesalers/trade since this is a consumer forum not sure anyone here would have those leads. Good luck!

 

[Karl_K]

I'm not in California but I'm sure there are small manufacturers out there that can do design and casting in house.

Yellow gold maybe, but white gold and platinum not likely these days specially plat/ru which has toxic fumes.
In CA anything and everything is toxic waste making it even less likely.

 

[bludiva]

Yellow gold maybe, but white gold and platinum not likely these days specially plat/ru which has toxic fumes.
In CA anything and everything is toxic waste making it even less likely.

Ah maybe...i dont know enough about the differences in the law...maybe the type of metal makes it more difficult to find in CA. I know we have some in this part of the country but my state is less concerned with pollutants or toxicity :/

 

[Victor Canera]

@Alexmalex You should be able to find some decent manufacturers if you look around. I’m sorry I don’t have a recommendation because we don’t really deal with any ourselves.
If you are needing platinum manufacturing, keep in mind almost no manufacturer will do casting in house. That’s almost always outsourced to a platinum caster. For gold, there are some manufacturers that can cast in house but they’re pretty rare these days because of the conditions that the fire department and the department of health place upon the vendors. There are only specific buildings in town that have the infrastructure to support casting operations. Casters use heavy chemicals that can really damage the plumbing in a building so the buildings have to definitely support that.

I really appreciate others’ recommendation of us but we haven’t really opened up our manufacturing to wholesale accounts due to retail demand. Vendors have asked before. It might be something that we could revisit if it’s a good fit in the future. Where were you 10+ years ago?, Ha!

Good luck

 

[Karl_K]

To give you an idea how nuts the environmental laws in CA are a guy I talk to occasionally does vapor coating for copper bus bars(electrical connectors) so they dont corrode and it helps with flashing/arcing on relays..
When drawing them from copper round stock they use a vegetable based lubricant basically the same as cooking oil.
It is actualy edible.
The next step it to clean it off which starts with dawn dish soap wash.
In CA the dish soap water and the rinse water is toxic waste, no where else on earth is that the case.
So basically they ruled that dish water is toxic waste.
He ended up moving out of CA.