Love prevails!
Wishing you all a happy new year. While this year has had its fill of challenges, I am grateful for all of the beauty and stories of love that have warmed all of our hearts and encourage me to keep doing what I love to do.
We have witnessed so many stories of love with many couples pivoting their wedding or engagement plans this past year. It has been incredibly inspiring to see the creativity that has come from this challenging year.
Looking back, some of my favorite moments this year included:
Hearing stories of love from so many of you: tears of joy, surprise engagements, smaller gatherings, eloping
Working hard in the studio with Honey Bunny (my French bulldog sidekick)
Doing things that I love: being creative, hiking, cutting sapphires, and of course, making jewelry
I feel gratitude for the beautiful moments that 2020 had (that may have been overlooked in years past). Its times like this that it is a reminder to live each day with purpose, and reminds me why I have the mission that I do with VK Designs Jewelry: responsibly sourced materials and working closely with my clients. I am committed to using only conflict free diamonds and sapphires, recycled and ethically sourced metals.
I work with organizations including Ethical Metalsmiths and Alliance for Responsible Mining, to improve the mining industry and community. 5% of each sale goes to support ethical metalsmithing and mining – which feels even more important and impactful now than ever before.
This year saw me creating sustainable jewelry with ethical diamonds, including rose cut diamonds, round cut diamonds, European cut diamond, and lab diamonds. One of my favorite projects was a custom rose gold and black obsidian ring. Another special project was creating a custom set of jewelry that included a rose gold wedding band, rose gold necklace, and rose gold earrings. We created a dainty pair of rose gold stud earrings as well as a black diamond engagement ring. We created many designs with lab diamonds for modern brides. I also cut many Montana sapphires – some that are yet to be set in a piece of jewelry, so keep your eyes out for those in 2021.
See our custom jewelry gallery to see more sustainable and minimalist jewelry we created this year.
Don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions: how are lab diamonds made? How to tell if diamonds are real? How are diamonds made and what are my option in cut and color? How do I choose between platinum vs white gold?
Sending you all love and words of encouragement in the year ahead. Thank you for sharing your stories of love – please keep them coming. Love always prevails!
With gratitude,
Valerie Kasinskas, Goldsmith