Gregore and I travelled to Paris for the first time to attend our annual AJDC retreat…Paris is such a beautiful city because of its architecture and parks. We extended our stay by 10 days beforehand, and happily were able to celebrate Gregore’s birthday with our friends …

Today I want to share a very sweet stud earring. It  show's off David's smaller cushion shaped rubies nicely, and adds a unique flair to the prongs in which they are set. In fact we do 3 versions, one with marquite diamonds, carre  diamonds, and round diamonds as you see here. We plan on making one with pear shaped diamonds too. 

Designing for emerald-cut stones can be a challenge. The reason is that they lend themselves to straight lines and angles so the impact can often be on the formal side. With this design we were aiming for a more casual feeling that could be worn easily during the day with jeans and t shirts.

Lately we have been designing  stud earrings. This fashion accessory is understated and feminine. David Gross has lovely matched round pairs in blue sapphire and in ruby. It is too easy to just put them into a four prong setting. We wanted to create something unique and pretty. Gregore has a real flair for drawing with arcs. Though we both design for David we leave the final decision to him because he knows his taste better than anyone. 

There are "many ways to skin a  cat", an unfriendly saying but the meaning is right. As for designing fine jewelry the saying holds true. When I am asked to create ideas for stones a customer might own I consider 2 main things, will it make sense to the customer and how can I save some time in creating the design. I need to save time because there is often  a time frame the client has or that I have if work is a little backed up. Rushing a design in reality is nearly impossible because ideas come to us, and often when we least expect them. But as  practiced designers it happens that we end up with a large reserve of ideas that have worked in the past or newer ones that one just wants to try out.

It was in tropical Santa Barbara that Gregore and Jennifer-Rabe Jewelers became a reality. Gregore arrived from gorgeous Vancouver, Canada with its majestic mountains, and scintillating rivers; Jennifer-Rabe from "La Costa del Sol" the  Mediterranean coast of Sicily and later in Southern Spain. The exposure to these richly beautiful, natural landscapes, combined with a lot of freedom to play as children, created a fertile ground from which to blossom as artists.

The opportunity to work with beautifully cut and polished Sapphires has been a real privilege for us at the Gregore and Jennifer-Rabe jewelers workshop in Santa Barbara. I say this because many of the stones in the corundum family come with their native cuts. These are done usually to maintain weight to create more value. Still a well faceted stone has the hard edge brilliance that a not so well cut stone lacks. At the same time, great care needs to be taken while handling the stone during setting not to scratch it in any way, or it will be very obvious.

Every year AJDC has a retreat, sometimes in the USA or abroad. The members who are able travel great distances for a short period of time, to participate in meetings and leisurely activities. Most important it is a chance for very old friends to see each other again. Friendships have lasted since AJDC's inception in the 1980's. 2017 the retreat is in Santa Barbara hosted by Gregore and Jennifer-Rabe Jewelers. We will be sharing beautiful Santa Barbara. We are sad Cesar is not here to share his cuteness. 

Cesar our mascot, our companion, our member of the family, we miss and love you. We know you are happy where ever you are. We will keep you in our hearts always, as a dear and loved friend.

One of the nicest experiences has been when Gregore and I were approached by old friends Tommy and Denise to make her engagement ring. They had been together for some time and like many other older couples they had been a little cautious about marriage. But when Tommy came to us his excitement was palpable. He was sure Denise was the right one, the true love of his life, and Denise had made it clear she really wanted to marry him.