A former customer called us a little over 3 weeks before her mother’s birthday to find out if we were able to create a diamond pendant setting for the 30 carat emerald cut aquamarine her father, Richard, had purchased. We knew it was going to be a tight squeeze, but Brian was excited about working on such a different and creative project. The setting was created in 18K White Gold with a diamond bail using approximately 1.80 ctw F/G VS Brian Gavin Signature melee and marquise diamonds.

Lesley, please pass my thanks along to your entire team. It is a beautiful piece and I am certain that my wife will love it. I look forward to working with you again. Richard

The intricate process is illustrated in the pictures and video below….

© 2011, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

About 2 months ago Teresa wrote in inquiring about having us reset her 1.94 carat rectangular radiant cut diamond into our Serendipity setting. She wanted the center stone to be bezel set similar to the design of the side marquise diamonds and Brian Gavin Signature melee and wanted to make sure to have it ready for her birthday on March 3.

She shipped in her diamond and waited patiently for about a month for us to create her magnificent new ring. She picked it up on March 1 and e-mailed us the following comments:

Hi Jamie, I was able to pick up the ring before work today.  What can I say – it's simply perfect and I am thrilled with the results! The details in the setting are amazing – even more beautiful than I imagined from the CAD rendering. For someone wanting a less traditional engagement setting, the Serendipity is ideal. After wearing it all day, I'm also pleased to find the narrow shank makes it super comfortable. Thank you so much for the photos, especially the "in process" shots. It's so interesting to see how my ring came to be! I really appreciate your help and responsiveness throughout the process and am so happy to own such a unique and gorgeous piece of jewelry! Thanks so much to all involved, Teresa.

Teresa’s Gallery of Pictures…

© 2011, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

The positive feedback from our customers continues to pour in. Following is a sampling  – more can be seen on our Testimonial Pages:

• Dear Jamie, The rings arrived safe and sound and they are amazing!  I can't believe that I am lucky enough to have my dream rings (and have an amazing guy who understood what this meant to me).  Thanks so much to you, Lesley and Brian.  What a great (and easy) experience it was and I'm hoping to be a longtime customer since I already have my eye on a couple of other pieces for future occasions! Please take care and thank you so much again for making my dream become a reality! Ronda
• Dear Lesley and Brian, the Diamond is stunning. She couldn’t believe the fire that was coming from the diamond. Her eyes were locked on that diamond for the next 2 days (actually, she's sitting next to me right now, still taking pictures, 3 days later). All her focus is literally on the diamond. She is just as stunned by the beauty of the classic tiffany style knife edge setting. No regrets with the decision to go with rose gold. It looks absolutely beautiful and original. She has been getting looks and compliments everywhere we go, including from the staff at Tiffany and Co. We went to compare her diamond to theirs and hers far outshone theirs. She is still in disbelief that she now owns such a perfect diamond. "It’s like a dream" she says. She is on cloud 9 and I don't foresee her coming down anytime soon. This was the diamond I had promised her a year ago and it delivered the full effect I hoped for. Thank you very much for the magnificent job and great customer service you provided for this purchase. You truly made my doubts regarding purchasing a diamond online disappear. A.H.
• Lesley, Thanks again for my beautiful three stone ring!!! I have it on right now. I feel like I am dreaming!!! I like the fact that it is dainty yet very elegant! It is perfect!!!! I have waited 25 years for a diamond ring. I am so glad that Phil found you and your husband to make our "dream ring". I am not one to wear a lot of jewelry. I like simplicity, but classy when I do, so this design was absolutely me!!! The middle diamond is amazing, very brilliant! It will take some getting used to wearing it. I went from a simple gold band to this gorgeous ring! I can't stop looking at my hand!!! I am also still enjoying my hearts and arrows diamond earrings that Phil purchased from you a couple of years ago. I love them too, and never take them off. Thanks again, and have a blessed day!!!! Sandy
• Denise, thank you for all your amazing help, and to all the others at BGD who helped to make this happen.  The 4 Prong Solitaire is Perfect! It's beautiful. What a wonderful surprise to see that you place white gloves alongside the ring so as not to spoil it when I give it to her! I have everything planned, and I will write back with all the details when all is said and done this coming week. She will love it. Thank you for absolutely everything….. I shortened my window from a few months to just a few short days and I was met with excitement from your end, and the ring still arrived within just a couple days as perfect as I could ever hope. The white gloves, the phone calls and dozens of emails, you did everything you could to make this one of the most memorable moments of my and Alyssa's life together and it will always be remembered. We look forward to everything we will do with BGD in the future. Talon
• Hey Jamie! I wanted to write and thank you again for your help with the engagement ring. I proposed to Sabrina at the peak of El Yunque in Puerto Rico and she said yes! She was completely blown away by the ring and she has gotten a ton of compliments on it! If you all are still interested in naming the style after her on the website, feel free to do so. Also, if you'd like some pictures from the engagement I can try to send some. Thanks again. We've set a tentative date of June 11, 2011 for the wedding. I'll be in touch a little closer to time to begin working on the band.  Steve
• Hello Denise, I gave my wife the ring, and she loves it!  It is a beautiful marquise and round ring, the workmanship is fantastic, and the diamond is everything I was hoping for.  I want to thank you again for the effort you put into getting it to us on short notice.  I also want to say thanks for the follow up emails and photos you sent, those were a nice touch. Thank you again for all your help, we look forward to doing business with you again someday. Sincerely, Rick
• Dear Brian, Jamie and Lesley, I picked up my micro pave ring today within a couple hours after it arrived! All I can say is wow! It is so stunning! The amount of fire coming off of that thing in today's bright sunlight was blinding! Thank you so much for making this such an easy process. I will be looking to you again for the wedding band. I especially want to thank Brian and Jamie for working with me and price matching my setting. Without that I wouldn't have been able to purchase this ring! You are a great company to work with and I will spread the word to all my friends! Thank you again, Sam
• Lesley, I picked up the halo engagement ring this morning and am blown away by how stunning it is! The pictures really do not do it justice. I love the millgrain on it and the hidden stones are amazing. I am so happy with the ring. Thank you so much for you help and patience throughout this whole process. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she sees this ring. It is going to be perfect! Adam
• Dearest Jamie, The 4 prong basket setting earrings are in fact amazing. They catch so much light, they look like the bulbs on a string of Christmas lights. REALLY white and bright. I didn't know earring could look so good. I will recommend Brian Gavin to everyone. We look forward to working with you on my daughter's engagement ring. Have a great weekend, Joy

© 2010, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

In October we received an e-mail from an Australian customer who had purchased a beautiful 4.27 carat supernova oval cut by Barry Bridgestock and was interested in having Brian design a setting for it. She was not really sure what she wanted re: metal color and design, but had collected several pictures and had created a Word document which she e-mailed in.

I have seen that Brian has a wonderful design aesthetic, so am hoping that he will be able to help me out with design, since I haven't been able to work out what I'm wanting.

Brian had a couple of long phone conversations with her and then we made arrangements to help her ship the stone to us. Having the stone in hand helped Brian to finalize the design.  He suggested a design that he had been working on for a while and she loved it. The final ring was created to the specifications of the stones using CAD and the renderings were e-mailed to her for approval. The finished ring, which included bezel set Brian Gavin Signature melee and marquise diamonds, was breathtaking. We managed to ship it out in time for her to receive it on Christmas Eve:

Dear Brian and Lesley, This will just be a quick email as I am on my i phone I just wanted to let you know my ring arrived today (and before Christmas yay!) and it is truly exquisite really a work of art. I thought it looked magnificent in Brian's photos but it somehow manages to look more amazing in real life. I'm thrilled with it and my husband thinks it looks like a fancy designer jewellery house – but couldn't think who he was thinking of – but I'd say that is a compliment from him I have been thrilled with the process of buying from Brian Gavin Diamonds. I would like to write more but will go and admire my ring some more for now. I will try and take some hand shots over the next few days to send through. I can't thank you and your team enough I just love this ring. Wishing you very happy holidays. I hope you now have a few days to relax. Kind Regards Alexis

After Christmas we received this follow up e-mail:

I have to tell you I have really been enjoying my ring. I haven't stopped admiring it since I got it on Christmas eve. At first I thought this ring is so amazing, I may never need another ring in my life. Then I came to my senses, and thought, well if this ring can turn out so amazing, what fun it will be to do further projects But really, I just adore this ring so much, it really looks like a work of art to me, the workmanship is just so exquisite… Thank you again Lesley and Brian and to your team, I really am an overjoyed customer, and have no doubt I will be back in the future. I decided I would like to work with Brian Gavin Diamonds on this project, because I wasn't sure what design I wanted, but had heard Brian had a knack for getting inside a person's head and helping work that out. He also has a great design aesthetic. I wanted a ring that was beautifully made, and working long distance I wanted to feel confident and comfortable in the product and service I would receive. I knew Brian Gavin Diamonds has a stellar reputation for all these things, and my expectations were exceeded in every aspect, so thank you. Alexis

To view details for this product please click here

This was a ring project that Brian and our jewelers really loved working on and it was hard to part with it and ship it out! Enjoy the story in pictures below:

© 2009 – 2010, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

You Ruined My Proposal…

Hi Lesley & Brian, It's been a little over a week since I proposed to my girlfriend, now fiance.  I just want to write a quick email to update and thank you both for making this beautiful ring in such a short time frame.  Oh, and most important of all, the ring fit her perfect! Hope you're not shocked by the email subject line.  But if you are, you only have yourself to blame.  ;-D    Here is the reason….

Ryan contacted us the third week of September and needed his custom engagement ring no later than October 7. He selected a beautiful 1.21 carat Brian Gavin Signature Hearts and Arrows diamond and wanted an 18K white gold custom ring incorporating Brian Gavin Signature round melee and marquise diamonds. We created the setting using CAD, printed the wax, cast the ring, set the diamonds and got the ring out in time.

I am sure all our readers will agree that the result is beautiful!

© 2009, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

In the middle of June we received an e-mail from a previous customer who had purchased Brian's A Cut Above hearts and arrows diamonds two years ago. She was looking to create a custom platinum “vintage” ring for her new cushion cut diamond…

…I just purchased one of Good Old Gold's smashing signature cushions and need to build her a permanent home. I am so enamored with this diamond that I've named it — Josette — waaaay off the deep end, even for a bling addict like me….So, Josette needs a special home — somewhat vintage with a bit of milgrain…

She e-mailed us several pictures for inspiration and had a couple of in depth phone calls with Brian. We provided her with sketches of several options. Once she had made her decision, we proceeded to design the setting using CAD and then we created her magnificent new custom, completely hand finished setting.

When we e-mailed her the pictures of her finished ring she e-mailed back:

Aiiiiiyeeeeeeeeeeeeyeeeeeeeeeeeyeeeeeeeeeee. She is beautiful! Exactly what I envisioned…Can't wait to get it on my finger. I'll have to moisture for the PS hand pics. LOL. I treasure my experience with you and Brian. Maybe I'll have a few minutes to drop by when I'm in Houston next month.

On receiving the actual ring, she e-mailed us this wonderful testimonial:

I'm sitting on the sofa staring at it. Driving home was a challenge with all of the sparkle flying around the car on this beautiful sunny day. I lost all civility driving to Fed Ex. I tailgated, laid on the horn, and flashed my headlights at all of the slowpokes on the road. LOL. I was awful but it was for a good cause. There is much to love about the craftsmanship of this ring. It is substantial yet delicate. It appears as though the diamonds are simply floating in formation which means there is no overwhelming presence of metal. I think this is what gives the ring such delicacy. The center stone prongs are nearly invisible allowing the cushion to take center stage. And the milgrain is the best I've seen and I've been around the block a few times, lol. Exquisite, perfect. Words are inadequate. I need to give you guys a hug so please accept a virtual one. Deborah.

The creation in pictures…

© 2009, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.

Over the past few months we have been approached by many colored stone collectors and enthusiasts about making custom jewelry for their sapphires, aquamarines, spesserite garnets, malaya garnets, beryls etc.  Apparently most custom jewelers are not willing to work with colored stones because they are softer than diamonds and tend to get damaged or break much more easily than diamonds. Being that we have two setters in the workshop who are comfortable working with colored stones, we have taken on quite a few projects. One of the first projects we undertook was an alternating round sapphire and marquise diamond full eternity band. The e-mail request came in as follows:

“I have eight 2.5mm round Yogo sapphires and was thinking of getting an eternity band made with them by alternating them with marquise shaped diamonds, all bezel set in gold. This would be for a size 7.25 finger. I was wondering if I could get an estimate as to how much something like this would cost?”

We put together a quote using the customer’s eight sapphires and eight .10ct G/H SI marquise shaped diamonds and the customer gave us the green light to proceed. As is the case with all our custom work, she was e-mailed the CAD rendering to approve before the ring was cast. She vacillated between having it made in 18K yellow or white gold and ended up selecting yellow gold.

On receiving her beautiful new band she e-mailed us the following:

“Hi Lesley, Thank you very much for the fabulous job you did. I love, love, love my ring! I'm so glad I stuck with my original plan and went with the yellow gold.”

Feast your eyes……..

© 2009, Brian Gavin. All rights reserved. Including all photographs, written word and video, but not limited to unless noted.