Charles Winston

I was born into the business. My family has been in the diamond business (as told by my father) since about 1740. I started from the bottom up, learning to grade and sort polished and rough diamonds to hand making jewelry from raw platinum and gold.
 

The pieces that pay homage to my families legacy. My replica of the Hope Diamond is one that really strikes a cord with me. This is probably one of the most famous or infamous diamonds in the world, donated to the Smithsonian Institute in November 1958. Another ring is what we refer to as the “Joan Ring.” This is a replica of my mother’s engagement ring, given to her by my father around 1947. When debuting it on JTV in studio C with Jennifer Miller, there were signs all over the studio that my mother was with us.
 

The style of my jewelry is best described as “a tad over the top”. I like designing pieces in Moissanite Fire or my Bella Luce in the style that my family was known for. Big and I mean huge diamonds (or the look of) that will make people stare!

My process is pretty much like most designers. First, I find out what the client is looking for. Bridal? Fashionable? Classic? Then I find out the budget. There is no point in designing something that will be out of the client's budget. From there, we do a hand rendering…. Sometimes it's not the prettiest as I am not good at drawing, but I can get my point and idea across.

Once we see that we are on the same page, we then recreate the design in a computer-assisted design (CAD). This is a 3-D rendering on the computer that looks like a picture of an actual piece. Once this is approved, we make a wax model from the CAD. If that meets the client's approval, we then cast the item in either gold or platinum (or for our wholesale clients, generally in gold or silver.