The Custom Design Jewelers II

Best Custom Jewelers in town. Ask them what you want and they will make a mold for you prior to making your ring. Mr. & Mrs. Cho are very experienced and as good as it gets. They have pre-​designed jewelry as well as any design you have in mind. They can get you any diamond you want so skies the limit. Definitely check them out if you need some bling!

The best jewelry purchasing experience ever! I cannot say enough wonderful things about Mr. & Mrs. Cho! When I decided to propose to my now husband, I only had a couple of weeks to get a ring and I wanted it to be very special, unique, and fashionable. After reading some reviews for local businesses, I walked into Custom Design Jewelers with a sketch of what I was envisioning. Mr. Cho took the time to walk through all the logistics with me and make sure he knew exactly what I was looking for. He used his expertise to suggest the best size for the stones and bands so that the ratio would be perfect for my husband’s hand. He gave me an initial quote which – get this – ended up being LOWER than the final price! What a wonderful feeling! Not only was the ring ready several days before the promised by date, but I also got to see a plastic version after it came out of the custom mold and give feedback on it. The final product was absolutely perfect and my husband loves it! When it came time for my husband to get me a ring, Mr. Cho helped him craft a design that ties in perfectly with my husband’s ring. We get so many compliments and will absolutely come back for any other custom jewelry needs we may have!

Very sweet and helpful, no obnoxious hard selling. Made the experience easy for Holiday shopping.

I called to ask if they could solder a charm onto a charm bracelet. I was told yes. I brought in my bracelet, introduced myself as the caller from earlier, asked again if I could have a charm soldered onto a charm bracelet, and was once again told absolutely. I went in a week later to pick up my bracelet and the charm had not been soldered on. I was told by the owner that he didn’t think it was necessary. I said again that I had specifically asked for the charm to be soldered on to the bracelet. When this was not understood, I said I would just take it elsewhere. I was then asked by the owner to pay. I refused, saying I would not pay for work that had not been completed. I’m incredibly disappointed as I had had high hopes for this store. I was hoping that this experience would lead to me having some custom jewelry made but I will not be going back.

I had nothing to do with picking out my engagement ring (my husband did a fantastic job on his own!) but when it came to finding the right wedding band, I did a lot of searching. My mom recommended I check out Custom Design Jewelers as she bought a necklace and earring set for my sister when she got married a few years ago.
Mom was right! Not only did Mrs. Cho help ME find the perfect ring, my husband also found a ring he loved, and both AT THE BEST PRICES! I am a shopper, and I looked around quite a bit for pricing and for something unique and I found it all in one place.
She even offered to clean our rings before our wedding free of charge.
The kicker is, when I came to pick up the rings, not only were they spotless, but she included a small gift as well! What amazing service from a beautiful and kind lady. I love my ring, and after reading these other reviews, I’ll have to bring in my scraps and see what other magic is possible!
Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Cho!

This high rating is for the jewelry repair. I did not buy any jewelry here, but was very impressed with Mr. Cho who personally resized a ring I bought from Jared Jewelers sight unseen over the internet like the idiot I am. The ring has a custom imprint on it and is obviously a poor quality band. I would have returned it except for the fact that Jared won’t take back custom jewelry for any reason, including bad craftmanship. Don’t buy from Jared. Buy local from somebody nice and helpful like Mr. Cho at Custom Design Jewelers.
But I digress. The point of the review is that the ring was too big and other jewelers were afraid to resize it due to the custom imprint. The fear was that heating the ring might ruin the custom imprint. However Mr. Cho did the work right in front of me and it took less than 30 minutes. He made the ring a half-​size smaller and did a great job. It fits perfectly now. I can see a little seam on the inside, but overall the ring looks better now than it did when it was new. He is an artist for sure, and charged a very reasonable price for the work.
Next time I’m in the market for jewelry I’m going to this place first. No more buying jewelry over the internet for me.

Mr. and Mrs. Cho are the nicest most hardworking couple I know!
My wedding rings were custom made by Mr. Cho. He is such a talented jeweler and I cannot say enough nice things about the both of them. They not only repair jewelry, they can custom make anything from scratch. He will help design the piece with you. Then call you in to either try on the wax ring, approve the setting, etc, then cast the metal of your choice into a masterpiece. It can’t get any easier than that!

I’ve been wearing a ring on my right hand ²⁴⁄₇ since my junior year of college, when I bought myself a nice ring to celebrate getting an A in the hardest class of my life. That ring has meant a lot to me for many years now (bought in 05), so when, a few weeks ago, one of the settings broke and a stone fell out, I was devastated. The stone was lost, and the setting was stabbing my hand, so I had to stop wearing the ring.
My mom came to visit, and solved everything – she brought me one of the rings that my dad had given her when they were still married, a beautiful, incredibly fiery opal in a gold setting. However, the ring was too small, and, honestly, the angular, pointy setting was borderline dangerous (the main reason she rarely wore it was that the angles in the setting occasionally hurt her). We went to Custom Design to see if they could take the opal from the ring, melt down the gold, and create a ring that would better suit my lifestyle. My mom also brought two smaller opals she had, thinking maybe they could be set in beside the main opal. Mrs. Cho took the ring, the stones, and our information, and said she would call us back in a few hours with information.
She called back with a very reasonable price quote for the opal solitaire, as well as with the two stones. Although the two stones being added would have earned them an additional $ 50, she and her husband recommended against it, saying that it wouldn’t look as good. When a business has enough integrity to encourage me to spend LESS money there because they know I’ll be happier, I’m willing to trust them. We went with the simpler setting, hoping it would be the kind of ring that I’d like.
I just picked up my ring and WOW! Did they ever deliver!
I am in awe of how beautiful the ring is. The setting is perfect, the fit is exactly perfect, and the stone looks AMAZING. It was a high quality opal to begin with, so there was no doubt that it would look good, but the setting has it at such an angle that it catches the light and really brings out the fire.
I have a fairly small hand, and Mr. Cho made the ring such a size that it doesn’t overpower my hand (my last ring was TINY, but I still felt looked pretty sizable on my finger – if I ever get engaged, my future fiancé is in LUCK when it comes to diamond shopping, AMIRITE?), but at the same time, the stone is sturdily held. It’s a surprisingly large stone, and the setting holds it perfectly.
I’m not much of a jewelry girl, never have been. My old ring, and now this new one, are the only really NICE pieces of jewelry I’ve ever owned. However, I feel like I might become a jewelry girl because of how giddily happy this ring is making me. I haven’t stopped smiling since I put it on, and I keep taking every opportunity I can to look at it (writing this review has been ridiculous, thanks to my constant pauses to look at the ring).
Mr. Cho is clearly a top notch artisan, who took a piece of jewelry with a lot of sentimental value and turned it into something that matches my style, but holds onto the beauty and emotion of the original. Mrs. Cho is a delightful woman to work with and was kind and cheerful every time I’ve interacted with her.
The only reason I give four stars instead of five is that I left work early on Wednesday to try to get in before closing (6 PM), arrived at 5:15 PM, and they were already closed and dark with no signs or explanation anywhere. However, I made it at 5:50 today and they were still open, and Mrs. Cho was as sweet as expected.
I wish I was more of a jewelry girl, because I want to get ALL THE THINGS from them!

I lost one earring from a pair while camping in Tahoe in July. I held onto the remaining earring until I was finally motivated to go to a jeweler who could recreate the lost earring. I’ve gone to custom jewelers before but not in SF. Based on Unilocal reviews Custom Design Jewelers seemed to do a wide range of jewelry (not just resizing and designing engagement rings) and they were close to my office.
My earrings were a pair of studs in the shape of asymmetrical triangles. The two earrings matched but were not the same, rather mirror images of each other. So it wasn’t something you could just cast a mold of to recreate. But the woman at Custom Design Jewelers assured me her husband could do it.
A week later (actually two weeks but only because I was slow to go pick it up) I had a pair of earrings again. I could still pick out the new one but it was very very good. I asked other people to evaluate and they couldn’t tell the difference. Total cost $ 80. Steep. Yeah, maybe when I could get another complete pair for the same price but for replacing something of sentimental value I thought it was reasonable.
Go here if you know what you want and just want someone to make it for you. I get the impression from talking to them that they’re not going to the best at brainstorming ideas with you.

I must confess, I purchase, and have jewelry made. Last year I went to Custom Design Jewelers. I’m a bit embarassed to say I was considering going to another jeweler, along the same Street. I’ve read these glowing reviews. One question is coming to my mind now…
«John, you have purchased a REAL strand of Tahitian Black Pearls, last year from Custom Design… WHY THE HELL WAS I CONSIDERING GOING TO A PLACE THAT HAD HORRENDOUS REVIEWS??? — When I’ve had excellent service at Custom Design Jewelers?»
They even replaced a clasp that broke on my Strand of Black Pearls… By the way, i love them so much I wear them very frequently… Custom Design produces and excellent product. I know know I’m going to them within the next couple of weeks to look for a means of getting a White Pearl Brooch to complement my Pink Sapphire, Diamond, and Japanese White Pearl Earrings.
Thanks Custom Design,
John Maxwell

as good as service/​quality you will ever get

I LOVE MRS. CHO & MR. CHO so damn much. Take all of your loose stones, scraps of gold, and they will design the most beautiful works of art for you! they have the thinnest Italian white gold that is to die for.
ethical jewelers, i will always do business with them.

Mr. Cho made my dream come true. Five Stars and THANK YOU!
Um, I guess Chad did too but Mr. Cho put it all nicely together in a cute shiny something. ;)
We had an idea of how we wanted ‘the’ ring to look like but somehow couldn’t find a jeweler that we liked. A couple weeks — maybe even months — into our engagement Mr. Cho was introduced to us and with his drawing and crafting skills he just produced the perfect one. He walked us through the necessities a setting must have and showed us little variations that would make a ring more comfortable.
All in all we trusted him the second he started putting our thoughts onto a piece of paper and it looked exactly how we had pictured it. I just knew then, that we made the right decision to wait until we’d find the perfect jeweler. And Mr. Cho is… the perfect jeweler.