Jewelry Design Archives | Stefan Witjes

A Featured Jewelry Designer in Our Shop.

Annette Ehinger’s hand cut gemstones

Every February, Stefan visits Europe’s largest jewelry trade fair in Munich, Germany. This fair houses some of the words largest and innovative jewelry brands, as well as the newest technical equipment in making jewelry. What attracts Stefan the most are the emerging artists that think outside the box while making luxury pieces. These artists he visits each year at the fair, to see what they have been creating over the past year.

One of these artists is Annette Ehinger from Pforzhiem, Germany. She has been making her award winning jewelry since 2004. Annette begins by selecting high quality raw gemstones and slowly hand forms these to find their perfect individual shape. Once she is satisfied with the gemstone, she highlights their beauty by suspending them within a gold setting, in either a pair of earrings, a necklace or ring. The special characteristic of her pieces, is that the stones are not held in a static setting but are free to move and catch the light.

Beautiful wrapped black jewelry box in a black satin ribbon.

Need Some Gift Inspiration?

We’d like to show you what Stefan has created for this Holiday season.

Stefan has made a selection of new pieces for you from his steel-diamond, gold and the very popular black collections, featuring beautiful champagne diamonds, black bracelets and a one-of-a-kind green tourmaline necklace.
Visit our website under GIFTS FOR HER for a detailed look at each piece.

Gifts for Her

Beautiful jewelry ideas in stainless steel featuring white and champagne diamonds.

Gold rings, bracelets and a green tourmaline necklace, ideas for luxury gifts.

Unigue gift ideas in black coated stainless steel featuring black and brown diamonds. in rings, bracelets and a pendant.

Not to be forgotten: Unique gifts for HIM!

Men's cufflinks from stainless steel with a matte finish. One has gold plating.

gifts for him

What is a Rutilated Quartz Crystal?

And how this gemstone found its home in a design by Stefan.

Many years ago, Stefan was walking through a trade fair held in the German countryside, where every year there is one of Europe’s largest gemstone fairs. Among the thousands of stones, a beautiful pair caught his eye. They were two rutilated quartz crystals, unusually clear, with strong silver-coloured needles of titanium dioxide shooting through them. Though this gemstone is not uncommon, it is rare to find one so clearly displaying the silver shots sometimes referred to as “The Hairs of Venus”. And to discover a pair of them together…? Truly unique.

The stones stayed in the safe for quite some time – Stefan waiting for the right moment and the perfect design to justify their beauty. Finally, only a month ago, eight years after uncovering them at the fair, the first of these treasures have inspired a repeat visit from one of our clients. The first stone has found its home in a gold pendant. The design has a minimal, yet strong architectural aesthetic, gently encasing the stone, allowing ample light to filter through.

Stefan is excited to share the finished piece with you here for the first time. Let us know what you think!

yellow gold necklace with a 9 diamond pendant J.9.009

Watch Stefan Create a New Ring From Recycling Gold

Do you have gold jewelry you never wear?

Jewelry often gets passed down from loved one to loved one. Unfortunately, over time, these pieces can become dated, left unworn and sadly forgotten. Stefan has worked with many clients breathing new life into old pieces. We’ve filmed a short series of Stefan re-purposing all the value, sentiment and nostalgia into a beautiful new piece of custom jewelry.

Starting with a private consultation, Stefan works with you to determine what kind of piece can be made from your gold and what best suits your desires.

Watch this first installment to see Stefan melt the gold and form a bar to begin the transformation

From this point, Stefan works the gold into the next stage: In this case, the formation of a special ring. Through careful cycles of hammering, bending, and filing, watch all the clips as Stefan slowly manipulates this beautiful old material into a new treasure.

Here are examples of rings Stefan has made with recycled gold

Custom made tourmaline ring made from recycled unworn gold.

18 krt gold ring with eternity white diamonds. Shown on a women's hand.

Do you want to see more of this process?

Watch the 4 Part series of Stefan creating the ring from recycled gold on our NEW YouTube channel!

VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Stefan Witjes, master goldsmith drawing out design of custom jewelry.

How Does Your Idea for a Custom Ring Come to Life?

The development from idea to reality.

You have a request for a custom made ring but how does your idea become a wearable piece of jewelry?

There was an important day coming, and one of our customers had an idea of a ring for his wife that included the birth stones of his three daughters: Tourmaline, sapphire and a diamond.

Sometimes Stefan starts with drawings and other times he goes straight to his machines to get a sense of how the raw materials interact. Using pen and paper can be an easy way to share ideas, changing shape and color quickly. But sometimes actually seeing the materials together and trying a test model can be a necessary way to rule out what works and what does not.

There have been lots of sketches and test pieces set aside over the years, but they are never thrown away. Each one contributes to the discussion of ideas and the collection of concepts that make up Stefan’s style and design history.

This is how your ideas get translated into realty.

Pen and paper drawing of a custom ring design by Stefan Witjes Amsterdam.

Pieces of jewelry in the workshop of jewelry designer Stefan Witjes.

Custom made ring from stainless steel with three gem stones, diamond, tourmaline and a sapphire.

What one of our customers says about working with Stefan –

“It was important to work with a designer not just a jeweller selling other people’s work. Creating a piece with Stefan is a core part of the value of the jewellery and telling the story to others of how we worked with him to design it gives repeated joy.” – Janet Cardinell, California USA

Want to see more jewlery?

We post regularly all the finished pieces that Stefan has been making in his workshop on Instagram.

Curious to Know More About Where Your Jewelry is Made?

We want to give you a look inside.

From time to time we will send you an email letting you know what Stefan is up to in the workshop and in the store. There is always something happening here and we’d love to tell you about it.

Stainless steel ring featuring an orange moon stone with small white diamonds set around it. Shown on a woman's hand.

18 krt gold ring with a large princess cut cognac diamond and matching smaller eternity set diamonds.

NEW!! Jewelry Route Amsterdam

A walking/biking route to 14 gold and silver smiths through the historic centre of Amsterdam, for everyone with a heart for jewelry and an appreciation for originality. Craftsmanship is central to the participating gold and silver smiths. All creations are Dutch Design and Made in Holland. The jewelry on display varies from ultra-modern to semi classic, offering you a broad spectrum of styles to admire.

The grand opening of this route will be Saturday May 20th.
Special for this occasion Stefan will involve you in the creation of his new jewelry line. See and feel raw materials, try some different models on and participate in the process of designing jewelry.

Check out the website for more information! www.sieradenroute.nl

VISIT JEWELRY ROUTE WEBSITE

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