Heirloom redesign by mail

Heirloom redesign by mail is the same redesign Sara does across the bench in San Clemente, with the piece arriving by insured courier instead of in your hand. It begins before anything ships. Photograph the piece in daylight, near a window, on a plain surface: one shot from the top, one from the side so the height of the setting shows, one of the inside of the band where a hallmark or karat stamp usually sits, and one next to a coin or a ruler for scale. If a stone is loose or a prong is missing, photograph that too. Send the photos to Sara by WhatsApp, text or email, along with what you know about the piece: who wore it, what you would like it to become, and anything you want kept.

From the photos Sara can usually tell the cut and approximate size of the stones, whether a center stone is an older cut, and what the metal is likely to be from its color and stamp. She tells you what she sees and what she will confirm in person: a loupe check for chips and thin girdles, and a metal test for the karat. Then she designs the new piece in Rhino3D around the stones you have and sends renderings. You revise together until it is right. Only then does the piece travel.

The piece stays with you through the part of the process that is really about you: deciding what it should become. You see the new design from every angle while the original is still in its box, so there is no leap of faith and no moment where something is cut before you have agreed. And because the design happens on a screen, a family in Surrey, Sydney or Seattle works with Sara exactly the way a family in San Clemente does.

Photos are a start, not a verdict. A stone that looks clean in a photo can show a chip under the loupe, and a yellow metal can turn out to be gold-filled; Sara confirms both when the piece arrives, and the design can shift a little if they surprise her. Shipping adds a week or so each way compared with a studio visit, and a piece crossing a border may be inspected, so the paperwork describes it honestly as personal jewelry sent for repair and return.

Anyone who has inherited jewelry and does not live near San Clemente, anyone who wants to decide on a design before letting the piece out of their sight, and families spread across cities or countries, since the renderings reach everyone at once.

What can be reused is decided stone by stone. Most diamonds and sapphires can be reset. Softer stones such as emeralds, opals and pearls are judged one at a time, and some are better kept as they are. Gold is reused where its karat and condition allow, or refined and credited toward the new piece. A worn setting is usually retired, and you can have it back if you would like to keep it.

Tell Sara the ring size you know, in any system, or ask her to mail a sizer. The Design Studio can show a stone of your heirloom's measurements in any setting.

What drives the cost is what is new: the metal for the new piece, less any credit for the old gold; any stones added; the setting work; and the design time. Insured shipping each way is quoted with the piece. The stones you already own are the reason a redesign often costs less than a new ring. Sara quotes after she has seen the piece, and before anything is made.

Pack the piece so it cannot move: a small zip bag inside a rigid box, inside a plain shipping box, with nothing on the outside that says jewelry. Use the carrier and insurance Sara names, and keep the tracking number. The finished piece comes back the same way, tracked and insured door to door.