Jewelry By Design

Brought the sacred ring The stone was secured and cleaned And her eyes sparkle.

Mark is super sweet, professional, and extremely talented. He created the engagement ring and wedding band for us. During the process, he was very patient to listen to our ideas while providing his professional opinions. He explained everything very thoroughly to us! We love the results and the service he provided. He even let me borrow a gorgeous petal necklace for my wedding for free. Highly recommend if you want to have an one of a kind special jewelry piece for you!

Fantastic service! We were looking for a custom jeweller to make our wedding rings but we wanted something a little special. My fiancee wanted her wedding ring to match up to her engagement ring, Mark patiently went through a few design options before we found the perfect design. Needless to say she loves it! Even when it came to my ring Mark helped me find a really cool design which really didn't do him any favours as design 1 didn't work out with the size stones we chose.

He is such a perfectionist he re-started my ring from scratch with a new size of stones. The quality of service and work is outstanding, I would highly recommend choosing Jewery by Design for your custom rings.

I was referred to Mark by a friend who has used him for years. Took in a bunch of old gold jewelry I've collected over the years. He examined each piece, knowing right away what region and time period it was from. Ultimately, I traded in the gold and instead had two beautiful custom rings designed. including revamping my engagement ring that was white gold (which I'm now allergic to) into a yellow gold and platinum stunned that still pays tribute to the original design. Plus had a GORGEOUS garnet and diamond cocktail ring made. I've never felt so fancy. Mark is kind, creative, and a true artist. Could not recommend him more.

I was on vacation in San Diego when my necklace broke. I searched for a couple of places in the area that would be able to fix it and that's when I found Mark. Immediately after reaching out to him he asked me to send him a pic of the necklace to see if he could actually repair it. I set up an appointment the next day and dropped off my necklace.

To my surprise, Mark decided not to charge me for the services because of the type of necklace I had. He educated me on the fact that my gold necklace was made of hollow gold vs solid gold therefore he felt it wouldn't be fair to charge because it might happen again. Mark was quick, knowledgeable and extremely professional. If I were living in San Diego I would definitely go back to his shop and purchase from him. I'm just thankful that I had the opportunity to meet him & super happy that he was able to fix my necklace for me. I'd recommend him to anyone.

I had several rings that belonged to my mother that I wanted converted into pendants. Mark has been phenomenal both in listening to what I wanted to accomplish and in designing stunning pendants from the stones that were part of the rings. Additional, he cleaned, resized and restored rings that I wanted to continue to wear. Mark communicates well and is an excellent designer. I highly recommend Mark!

Mark dialed me in with this stingray pendant to hold the barb I got stung with back in September! he even modeled it after the specific breed of stingray that stung me this guy knows what he's doing and he does it well

Working with Mark was such an amazing experience from start to finish! The engagement ring he custom made with my husband's help was exactly what I dreamed. After we got engaged, it was great being able to work with him and my husband to design the wedding band to go along with it as well as custom design my husband's ring. We recently went back to him to get my ring soldered, and I can't wait to work with him in the future on other custom jewelry projects. He is an amazing visionary and I love his work!

Mark helped my fiance and I design the most amazing engagement ring. My ring was made with a stone from my parents engagement ring and a band that my fiance's mom gave me and I am so grateful that we found Mark for this special project. The finished product is absolutely breathtaking and so unique. It is clear that Mark truly cares about his work and his customers.

He is very easy to communicate with throughout the process and he completed my ring sooner than he originally quoted. His pricing is also very fair. Not only is he incredibly talented, he is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. I highly recommend Mark to anyone looking for custom jewelry!

I had an idea to make an engagement ring out of a special piece of pottery for my girlfriend. This clay piece was from an ancient civilization dated about 2,000 years ago. After visiting several jewelers, I was feeling very discouraged. They were not willing to work with a piece so soft and fragile and told me it was pretty much impossible. Mark, however, took the challenge and made a beautiful engagement ring. He covered the pottery piece with a clear sapphire to protect it and yet made the red clay shine. The design turned out to be perfect for a unique and special ring.

Mark was wonderful in creating a custom engagement ring for my fiance and I. He took an heirloom ring from my grandma, and with my input and his creative vision, created a beautiful ring I will treasure forever. He created a ring with both an antique and modern feel to it, and uniquely mine! His attention to detail is key if you are looking to find a unique and timeless piece. The whole process was professional and he was fast on the turn around! Thank you again Mark

I came to Mark with an idea about a heart pendant for my wife's 45th birthday. He had a drawing back to me within hours. I met with him later to set parameters or size and budget and he designed a pendant that was beyond amazing. There's nothing out there to compare with the design and craftsmanship that Mark put into this pendant. We collaborated throughout to come up with a design that I can say was unique. Thank you Mark, I will see you later for the matching earrings.

Mark is truly skilled at creating custom jewelry just from a few ideas or pictures. He communicates throughout the process and sends pictures for your review. I am very happy with the finished product.

Great job and time with the Rings. Offer very good suggestions for the stones pricing was very reasonable. No hesitation recommending him

I cannot say enough good things about Mark and his business. Mark was incredibly helpful in creating a special, one of a kind ring for my husband when he was picking out an engagement ring for me. My husband has no knowledge of rings or jewels but Mark was patient and helpful in creating a design from the limited vision and information about me and my taste that my husband provided.

He can make anything from the most basic jewelry (like my husband's ring) to the most custom jewelry (like my engagement ring and wedding band). He was also able to create a beautiful ring from some diamonds my husband provided from his late grandma and had matching ones to supplement the rest of the ring. I love my rings, the meaning behind them and working with a professional like Mark to help us make decisions but also allow us to personalize with our own ideas when applicable. He will also provide lifetime cleaning to us when needed.

I am so grateful my husband found Mark to design my 10 year anniversary ring. He was able to listen to my abstract vision and turn it into a gorgeous and unique ring I will treasure for life. We only had to meet once to go over ideas and then a second time to see the wax mold and make minor adjustments. Mark is incredibly creative and talented and I couldn't have picked a better artist to create my ring.

I am thrilled with how it turned out and am proud to wear it! His pricing was fair and his turnaround time was incredibly fast. We loved working with Mark and highly recommend him to anyone looking to create a one of a kind piece and have a special experience doing it.

Mark did an absolutely fantastic Job designing this hummingbird pendant for my wife on our anniversary! This platinum hummingbird in flight represents my wife's mother. The pink diamond eye is my wife's birthstone. The Kunzite body is a rare tourmaline stone that was mined by our Daughter in our local San Diego mountains that we had cut to fit into the hummingbird.

The aquamarine tale stone is both our Son and my birthstone, so it's super special and represents everyone in our family. Of course we had to find at least an 18K gold chain because anything less irritates my wife's sensitive skin and Mark was able to come through with that request as well. Not only did Mark do a fantastic job in working with both exactly what we had in mind for a design, but he was also able to get it done in a tight timeframe in order to get it done on our anniversary which was amazing!

He was even more generous in giving us a great deal on a tight budget. I would recommend him to anyone for jewelry design work and we will certainly be back in the future for more special memories! Thanks again Mark!

Mark was wonderful - we are long overdue in leaving a review. We arranged for custom engagement/wedding rings at the very beginning of the pandemic and he couldn't have been more accommodating. The appointments were perfect and allowed for both of us to get exactly what we were looking for. The attention to detail and quality of the rings were perfect! We couldn't thank him any more for working with us to create our rings!

I had a great experience working with Mark. In preparation for my wedding, I brought in three antique aquamarine stones and worked with Mark to reset them into beautiful pendant necklaces. The aquamarines were left to me by my grandma when she passed away, but we knew very little about them. Mark was able to provide fascinating information about where the stones originated (South America in the 50s or 60s).

His knowledge was really impressive, and his creativity shined as we developed our vision for my wedding jewelry. With his guidance, we added diamonds and set the stones into a custom white gold setting. It was very special for my stepdaughter and I to have matching necklaces to wear on the wedding day, and also a great way to honor my grandma's memory.

The necklaces are in all our wedding photos and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Not long after the wedding, I returned to Mark for help turning the third stone into a matching necklace for our newborn baby girl. In addition, Mark allowed us to trade in some older jewelry pieces and stones to put towards the cost of the necklaces, which was very helpful. It was an overall great experience, and we would love to work with Mark again!

What can I say about Mark, his passion and his work, quite a lot actually. I first approached him about incorporating my fiancee's heirloom diamond into a new ring. Mark walked me through the design process and in the end its beauty is unrivaled. His artistry and technical skill make this something we will have trouble passing onto our own kids one day.

We then approached him about designing and creating my wedding band. I wanted a design inspired by Lichtenberg Figures, which while certainly a first for him, did not dampen his enthusiasm for the project. Mark again made the design process a breeze and his mastery brought a ring to life I only had seen in my dreams. Finally Mark worked to reconfigure a pendant we received into a different chain/fastener configuration and for the third time, he nailed it.

He always showed us his friendly nature (we always left with a smile on our faces), amazing design/technical ability, very reasonable prices for materials/labor, and most importantly a feeling that Mark would do anything to make us happy. We have recommended him many times to friends and family and will continue to do so for a long time. If you have read this review, do yourself a favor and choose Jewelry by Design.

I was looking for a very unique, Hawaiian design so I checked YELP for a jeweler. Mark had amazing reviews so I made an appt immediately! He was so sweet, trustworthy, flexible and incredibly talented! He created each petal and leaf just from the inner-creativity of his mind! He took the picture I had of a ring and turned it into this magnificent, one of a kind ring!

I wear it proudly and it makes me feel SO special! Each petal created fluidity and realism to the ring so at any angle, it looks "alive"! The leaves create open spaces so it doesn't appear chunky or enclosed. I'd recommend Mark any day for your next piece! He's a true, hidden gem in downtown San Diego! THANK U MARK!

Mark was absolutely amazing! We had a custom ring made out of my boyfriend's wisdom tooth with diamonds set within in. We were very worried about the structure of the tooth breaking, but he was extremely careful. He drilled down into the tooth to anchor the diamonds in the metal so they wouldn't budge. Mark is a true artist. He took such great care of us. Thank you, Mark!

Cannot say enough kind things about Mark, his eye for detail and excellent craftsmanship. He has an excellent assortment of gemstones and was able to acquire the perfect shade of purple sapphire I was looking for for my wedding ring. Mark was very easy to work with throughout the whole planing process and came up with the most gorgeous Art Nouveau- inspired result. I am proud to get to wear such quality art on my hand my whole life.

I came to Mark with a pearl I found in an oyster and no idea what I wanted. He was easy to work with and turned it into a great ring! If I find anything else in my food I want made into jewelry, I know where to go!

First off let me just say that Mark's work is ASTONISHISHING! I am not the easiest customer to deal with either. When designing my ring I was very particular of what I wanted and how I wanted it. Mark took my hand drawn idea and transformed it into real life. He has an impeccable eye for detail with the ability to create exactly what I wanted.

In the process of creating my ring I also had him resize a ring that my mother had given me for Christmas. However, after doing so I needed to actually resize it once more which he honored to resize the ring for any inconvenience to me and wanted it to fit perfectly. Mark hands down created even a better ring than I could imagine! If you are looking for a jeweler who is personal, reliable, and is going to do an amazing job then Mark is your guy! P.S Mark again is resizing my ring because I found it a little bit uncomfortable! As a hard customer with peculiar tendencies, I seriously recommend Mark for any jewelry design or repairs!

Let's be honest here, when you are dedicating a piece of jewelry to mark a once in a lifetime moment, you want that piece of jewelry to be just as special and important as the moment itself. That is what Mark does magnificently. The only specs I started out with were a pear shaped, big center stone, white gold and a cushion. Mark took that and ran with it in the design of my engagement ring.

He added so many special details I would have never thought to add. Such as having the center stone raised with such meticulous nature that the bottom of my high clarity morganite microscopically barley touches the casing it is mounted in. So difficult to describe so please refer to photos for a better 'picture'. With my husband's ring, I asked Mark to incorporate a center piece of wood into the band.

He explained why that wasn't a good idea (over time the wood can expand and ruin the ring) and then designed something I would have never thought of. He used a white gold band and actually hand drew in wood etchings to make the ring resemble a tree, and not just any tree but Koa wood (longer more continuous wood markings). He then added the black sapphires from one of my mom's old pieces of jewelry and used that as the wood knots in the ring.

The finished product is something everyone is stunned by and most importantly, it perfectly represented what we wanted in the ring as a resemblance of our relationship. Mark is not only a master of his trade in designing timeless pieces of jewelry but he's also so creative, honest, detailed and fun to talk to. He actually gets excited about his new designs and you can see his enthusiasm in his design process every step of the way.

He also provides you with several 'prototype' images as he begins his design process and keeps you involved and updated at every step of the way. He's also so accommodating when it comes to payment options and was even able to take our older pieces of fine jewelry (family heirlooms), melt them down, incorporate the precious metal into our rings AND gave us the most honest price for the remaining goods.

Mark is our jewelry guy, the one person I hope continues to make all the pieces of jewelry Tristan & I gift to each other one-of-a-kind unique, special and forever memorable.