Maddie K.
Google
A word of caution for comissions...
I will preface this by saying, Daniel’s work is beautiful, he has real talent, and if you see items in his gallery or online shop that you like, and are happy with the price point, by all means spend your money here. He deserves to be paid fairly for his work, as does any skilled artisan. However, his lack of communication and assumptions became a pattern, and as someone who has been gaslit before, a few interactions felt very reminiscent of that. I would like to share my experience in the hopes that someone else avoids my situation (after speaking with friends I’m unfortunately already not alone).
I recently received a ring I commissioned from Daniel. As a small shop owner who does custom work, and who has worked with a jeweler before to customize my own wedding ring set, I went in with a certain set of expectations for this interaction. This experience was so wildly different from what I expected, I can’t see myself returning.
From beginning to end – because of the spotty communication among other things– the whole process took about 9 months. We ended up with a ring in the end that is beautiful, and that I will wear, but ultimately isn’t quite what I had hoped for, and I wasn’t as involved with the design process as I’d hoped to be. This ring was the second –unexpectedly completely finished– piece that we were presented with after weeks/months of silence and questions still left unanswered. Only after this second “prototype” was finished did he finally answer some of those questions, at which point we discovered his hourly rate was more than 5x any average I could find for a Master Jeweler in the area. I’m all for charging what you feel you’re worth, but this amount was not expected nor disclosed at any point prior, otherwise we wouldn’t have gone through with the down payment.
We knew he charged at least a bit more than we’d seen for the kind of piece what we were looking for. We had hoped that by spending a bit more money on a commission from a more experienced artisan, we would have more close contact and communication with regard to design and customization. He did say he was more than willing to continue to work with us until we were satisfied, but in the end we were both frustrated, I felt lied to, and we ended the transaction. I ended up receiving the ring wrapped in a scrap of cotton and tossed into an old used ziploc bag (seemingly out of spite, I assume this isn’t standard practice for him).
So, make of that what you will, and I advise anyone looking for a commission from this shop to ensure design details are clear (provide example pictures/drawings), rates are disclosed, and agreements are made on paper before any deposit is made.
*Edit to reply*
Sure thing, I’ve added a picture of the ring as I received it