Sarah Bennett heads our design team here at Gemporia. She tells us a little bit about collaborating with Glenn Lehrer.
I have collaborated with several designers over the years and normally, so as to not dilute my vision, prefer to go it alone. But working with Glenn Lehrer is very different and has to be treated as such. Glenn offers jewellery designers a completely new perspective, an alternative option, a journey in a unique and utterly fascinating direction.
Due to the fact that he can combine several colours in just one gemstone, there are very few restrictions when working with Glenn.
Together we can travel to the edge of design and return with an outcome that is at the boundary of modernity and yet at the same time can create a piece that will remain stylish for years to come.
Inspirations normally come in all shapes and sizes, in all sorts of locations. But when working with Glenn’s various cuts including the TorusRing, KaleidosCut and QuasarCut, I tend to allow the gem plenty of space so that it can dance with the light.
When we decide to add accent gems, we ensure they still draw the eye to the central gem.
Design Process
01: CONCEPT
My team and I work in the opposite direction to most jewellers. We don’t start with design and then try and find a gemstone or crystal to fit our design, we start out with the gemstone. The concept has to begin with nature and this reverse process is central to our design mantra and philosophy.
02: SKETCH
We usually start the design process with a pencilled sketch. We are all about colour, so always sketch in the gemstone with as accurate a colour match as possible. We literally have to purchase coloured pencils from all over the
planet to give us the widest palette of colours possible.
03: CRAFTING THE FIRST PIECE
Depending on the style, we either hand craft the first piece or turn our sketches into a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file and that feeds a state-of-the-art 3D resin printer to create the Master piece. Then we undertake what we call our “First Piece Inspection”. Here we evaluate whether the piece is a true representation of our creative sketch. If it is, then we put it through dozens of quality control tests, including the bit I hate the most, the dreaded drop test!
