Why I Don’t Accept Every Custom Order

I turn down custom orders.

That might sound strange for a small jewelry business, especially when custom work can be meaningful and financially important. But saying yes to every idea isn't good business, and it isn't good jewelry. A custom piece asks me to understand what someone wants, what the piece needs to become, and whether I'm the right person to make it. Sometimes I am, and sometimes I'm not.

I'd rather be honest about that early.

My work has a certain structure to it. I think in balance, proportion, stone placement, wearability, and how a piece will sit on the body. I'm methodical. That may just be how I am, or it may come from my engineering background, but I don't like guessing my way through a piece. I want the design to make sense before the silver is cut.

Some jewelers work best by taking a client's general idea and coming back with the finished piece. I usually can't work that way. I talk through the stone, the shape, the scale, the cost, and the construction. I also talk through the parts of the idea that may need to change. I keep the client involved throughout the process because I want them to understand what is being made and why certain decisions are being made.

For investment pieces, that matters. By the time the piece is finished, it should already feel familiar to the person wearing it. "It's just how I pictured it" should be a common sentiment.

That also means my approach may not fit every project. Sometimes the design is outside my eye. Sometimes the fabrication method is not something I do often enough to promise the level of work I want attached to my name. And sometimes the idea would be better handled by someone who works in that method every day. In those cases, I'm comfortable saying, “I’m not the man for the job, but I know someone who is.”

There are jewelers I trust who have stronger skill sets in certain areas, and there are artists whose design logic may match a client's idea more naturally. If I know that, I'd rather send the client in the right direction than force the project through my hands.

A custom order may be accepted if the materials, budget, design direction, timeline, and construction all make sense together. It also helps if there is enough trust for me to interpret the idea rather than simply execute instructions.

A custom order may be declined if the project needs a skill set I don't use regularly, if the timeline is rushed, if the expectations are unclear, or if the design would be better served by another jeweler.

Declining a custom order is simply me being honest about whether I can make the piece well. Sometimes that means I take the project, and sometimes that means I refer the client to someone else. Either way, the goal is the same: the piece should be made by the right hands, for the right reasons, and at the right standard.