Custom Jewelry: Three Ways To Have It Your Way
The term "custom jewelry" is a relatively broad term and can incorporate all diferent degrees of customization. We thought it would be helpful to define and explain the three levels of custom jewelry that Sorella offers.
Level 1: Personalization of an Existing Piece
All of Sorella's jewelry is personalized jewelry, which means that all of our existing pieces fall into this category. We've designed the piece - the shape, size and all design elements - but you choose what personalization will be placed on the piece.
We can typically place any personalization (name, word, number, Roman Numerals, Chinese symbols, Hebrew, Horoscope and other symbols) on any of our pieces, space permitting. We can often accommodate your font preference (although an additional charge might be involved if we need to purchase the font) and can incorporate your custom symbols or images if they can be provided as a high resolution image.
Level 2: Custom Modification of an Existing Piece
This level begins with one of our existing pieces but incorporates a modification that materially changes the construction of the piece. Some modification requests have even inspired us to add new options to our collection such as double-sided pendants. Some examples of other modifications we've made for customers include:
-
We added a North star to the center of our roman numeral wreath pendant for a customer who wanted to honor her brother after his passing.
-
We reduced the width of our Hebrew message ring to 4mm for the groom whose tiny fiancé couldn’t sport the 6mm width.
-
We increased the size of our 20mm Round Chinese Symbol Pendant for a gentleman who wanted a larger size that had a little more bling!
Modifications often can be made for a minimal customization charge of $75 for the design alterations. If the piece is made in any precious metal other than silver, there could also be an price adjustment (up or down) to reflect the change in the amount of metal required.
Level 3: Creation of a Completely Custom Piece
At this level we're creating a piece completely from scratch. A customer comes to us with a design in mind - they may have a drawing or images or just a description of the piece they would like to have created.
We begin with a consultation to discuss the custom piece - the precious metal choice, size, design elements, gem stones (if any), and their budget. From there we can determine if it's a piece we can create for them and a rough cost estimate.
The next step is to move to the design phase. At this point, the customer pays a non-refundable design fee of $125, that will be applied to the final price of the piece. Our designer will then work with one of our craftsman to create a detailed production drawing of your piece using our CAD (computer-aided design) software. You'll review the CAD drawing and work with us on any modification you'd like, until the design meets with your approval. At this point, we will provide you with a final price. Full payment is required to move to production.
The custom design process can take as little as three to four weeks for a simple piece and four to eight weeks for more complex designs.
It's important to understand that a significant portion of the cost of creating custom jewelry is the time- intensive design and manufacturing costs that can only be spread across this single piece. Quite a contrast to a jewelry manufacturer who mass produces a piece and can spread the cost over the large quantity produced. So, while the precious metal chosen will also significantly impact cost, the simplest piece of custom jewelry in sterling silver will rarely cost less than $250. Pieces in gold, palladium and platinum, will obviously cost much more.
Another issue that often comes up is that of trademarked and copyrighted images and designs. Unless you own the rights to an image, design or logo, we cannot reproduce it on a piece jewelry. As a creator of original designs ourselves, we are very supportive of an artist's or company's intellectual property rights.
If you'd like to discuss a custom jewelry piece, please give us a call (800.692.1950) or fill out our
Custom Inquiry Form.
