Striking the Right Note

4: Adam Foster

Because Sarah’s mom provided a large number of stones for the project, my first task was to determine which stones blended together in the best way to tell Sarah’s story. Ultimately, I went with the blue-hued stones, tying her ring into the waterways that she loves to kayak. Given the number of stones I was going to work with, I thought a ring would be the best way to showcase them, allowing me to create a nice, tight design without trying to spread the stones out over a bracelet or necklace. I settled on a ring design that Sarah could easily wear to a special event but one that isn’t so fancy that she couldn’t wear it daily.

Whenever I work with a client on a custom piece, I try to find an element of her story that we can tie into the design. It helps me to create a great piece of jewelry that also has an extra special meaning to it. It shouldn’t be something literal; it’s more important that it be subtle. Maybe a piece just looks like a pretty ...