Happy Stories From our customers

Today, it seems near impossible to write about jewelry. Our country has been hit by one of the worst storms in history and tens of thousands are without homes, electricity and water.

Our business caters to clients all over the world, but the USA is where we reside. When it takes a beating, we all feel it.

Today, this post is our minor virtual attempt at sending love and safety to all those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? ~Rose F. Kennedy

You may have never heard of Gustav Manz but you may have seen his work. Unfortunately, it was often behind the stamp of Cartier or Tiffany’s. But after decades, Gustav Manz is getting the recognition he’s due.

The jewelry maker Gustav Manz produced thousands of works in gold, silver and platinum, operating a Manhattan workshop from around 1901 to 1944. But his name shows up hardly anywhere.

He designed for higher-profile outfits including Tiffany & Company and Cartier, which put their own stamps on the precious metal. Only now are unmarked wares by Manz (pronounced Mahnz) finally receiving their due.

“Maybe he’s a little vindicated,” said Courtney Bowers, a historian who wrote her 2008 master’s thesis on Manz for a graduate program run by the Cooper-Hewitt museum and the Parsons school. During an interview at her family’s Manhattan jewelry workshop, she sported Manz gold rings with leaves engulfing turquoise and freshwater pearls.

Read more at New York Times.

Check out website dedicated to Gustav Manz and his work.

A garnet and opal bracelet by Gustav Manz and offered by Macklowe Gallery.

As a custom design jeweler in Scottsdale, people often assume that we’re capable of “copying” another jeweler’s piece of work. And while many customers seem 100% sure they want that ring that Anglina Jolie wore on the red carpet, with some digging, we find out much more.

You see, often people want the same feeling as that particular piece and not that exact piece. What we try to do is extract that essential concept and personalize it to fit you (and not Angelina Jolie!) It’s not that hard, really. Because like a thumbprint, we all have individual styles. Our job is to help you uncover it.

So feel free to be inspired by an ad in the latest Vogue. But then let us custom design a piece uniquely created for the greatest star in your life: you!

Below is a touching story of one woman who not only found therapeutic qualitites to jewelry making while in the hospital but realized the importance of paying it forward once she was released.

(Rachel Marolda is close to making her next $10,000 donation and hopes to do so after the holiday season. To order some jewelry that will benefit a great cause, contact her at 617-840-4490 or email crystalsforacause@gmail.com.)

Reading resident and Boston College Junior Rachel Marolda learned to make jewelry in 2006 while recuperating from brain surgery. She eventually made and sold enough jewelry to donate $10,000 to Children’s Hospital Boston, where she was treated. She will make her next $10,000 donation after the holidays.

Marolda had her first brain surgery in 2006, when she was just 14-years-old, to remove a tumor that was sandwiched between her pituitary gland and optic nerve. She became restless while recuperating, so her mother suggested she make jewelry. With help from her mom, and teaching herself basic techniques, Marolda began making earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

After recovering, she started working at a bead store in North Reading, Bett’s Bead Shoppe. Bett taught her new skills, how to perfect what she already knew about jewelry making, and paid her in beads.

Read more.

Rachel Marolda