Jewellery design in Canberra

I would never trust anyone in Canberra except Jeff at Vangeli.

My whole family goes there and so does a lot of my friends.

We love Jeff. He’s fun and he really knows his stuff.

His jewellery is just gorgeous (especially my brand new “bling” ring).

You do have to book early though because he is in high demand.

He’s the oldest. He has the most experience. He’s the best. I’d never go anywhere else.

I have been trying to find a good jeweller for weeks now for an engagement ring and wedding bands. First I tried Aharoni, his rings did not feel uniform in depth or comfortable to wear forever. He was very helpful though, if not fairly salesy. Has the solid mokume rather then sleeve if anyone is looking for that.

Having high hopes for Harry Rose after reading the reviews on this page, they were only to be dashed when we found his quotes were the most expensive of anywhere we went (twice the price of the jeweller we eventually went with, and more than Creations as well). His mannerism was a bit strange, like he didn’t really want to help us or something. We had to ask a lot of questions to get any information and left there still feeling quite unsure.

We tried McGlades, found the service a bit mixed – a girl who hardly knew anything and a young guy who seemed quite knowledgable. Either way, they said they won’t set stones brought in by the customer (they were the only jeweller we found that wouldn’t) and when we got a quote on a stone from them, it was much much higher than the one we were intending to buy. Overall left there feeling pretty meh about them.

Next was Creations in Manuka, they were helpful and just beginning to do work with Mokume as well. Have a glass screen through which you can watch them work on things. I felt uneasy with their prices, which to me felt fairly high. But they seem fairly knowledgeable and I think would be a good place if you want to commission something either very classic or a bit unusual/organic looking.

Bilk in Manuka had some amazing stuff, lots of unusual rings with unusual techniques. The shop is fairly minimalistic but they have more designs in the computer and in the drawers and do very interesting, very unusual things by commission. They had some very heavy and some very light lacey designs but all unusual. Definitely worth a look if you love design and want something completely special, not out of the box.

Dimitries in Woden I also found great, they sat me down straight away and we looked through hundreds of designs on the CAD program where we were able to play with every feature of the design, before even committing to buying a ring from them. They don’t manufacture on site but they seem happy to spend inordinate amounts of time with you until there is a design that is exactly what you want.

Finally we ended up in Village Jewellers in Manuka. Tony there was soooooo helpful, and went through lots of different ideas with us. He was completely honest with what could and could not be done, what was a better and worse idea and why, and he gave us loads of different options with no pressure to buy. He told us what would be done by him onsite and what he gets done offsite. His prices seemed completely reasonable especially for the great service he gave. We decided to set some very small stones in a ring we already owned and he ordered in a few different colours so we could see them before we decided. Then he does a ring mock-up before he sets it just to make sure you are happy with it. Old-fashioned service and value – we went with Tony!

Aharoni jewellers in Civic are fabulous, especially if you want something really special. We recently got our engagemetn and wedding rings made here.. (loved them so much we got them to make earings too – i get comments about my engagement ring all the time). I love their work and they were more than happy to use some of my own peices to melt down for gold/stones to offset the price.

I just wanted to add yet another recommendation for Harry Rose. I know nothing about jewellery and turned up with an old family heirloom to use as my engagement ring. Harry quickly resized the ring for a paltry fee, cleaned it up beautifully, told me interesting things about the history and design of the ring and was generally lovely and fun to chat to throughout the whole exchange.

I am sure we’ll be using him for the wedding bands as well, and I have been recommending him to everyone I know. What a champ!

I have to vote against Eitan Aharoni Jewellers in Civic. My partner and I commissioned Eitan to make an engagement ring. 3 weeks after the initial delivery date we finally received the ring, The band was lovely and exactly what we had asked for but the setting was something I would have expected from a first year apprentice. The claws were completely different sizes and all bent up and at different intervals around the stone. The claws also pointed off at weird angles instead of into the centre of the stone. I mistook his eccentric arrogance for artistic passion. He was monstrous to deal with. I will not be back.

Go online and check out Melbourne, know what you are looking for in quality and clarity, Melbourne is much cheaper, than Canberra, a friend did just that and got a beautiful diamond ring.

grump said :

Creations (I think) in Kippax (only jeweller in Kippax anyway).

+1

Old post, yes, but I just thought I’d correct this – it’s Exquisite Jewellers at Kippax. And they are fantastic. I’ve bought jewellery from them as well as having various repairs etc.

If you know what you’re looking for (and at), it can be worthwhile going to the Gem Show to buy the gems yourself and have them made into whatever piece of jewellery you choose. I had a sapphire ring made this way (at Exquisite Jewellers) and not only was it cheaper than buying a ready made ring, I was also able to choose a very unique sapphire which means more to me than a standard blue one… or, heaven forbid, a man-made one.

Katydid said :

Harry Rose in Civic: http://www.harryrose.com.au/

He made our wedding rings (we had some strange requests), and he did it quickly, at about half the price other jewellers were asking.

He’s also a lot of fun – we had a great time just chatting with him.

Just want to say thanks for this post. I actually found it browsing for jewelers to hand make some wedding bands back in October last year. Harry was exactly as you described, and extremely patient.

We are both extremely happy with our wedding bands, and can’t recommend Harry enough!

Briolette in Manuka has never let me down. I’ve had a number of pieces made for my partner – in addition to her engagement and wedding rings.

I had a terrible experience with Vangelli in Woden even after i had heard quite a few good reports about Jeff. My engagment ring was good however when he made the matching wedding band it didn’t exactly match the diamonds were the wrong size and i had a to really push my point across before he would re do it. Once that was done about 6 months later 3 of the smaller diamonds fell out (at different times) and if you look closely enough you can would think the two rings were made by different jewelers. I certaintly wouldn’t reccomend this jeweler to any of my friends.