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Designing a custom necklace to give as a gift is the ultimate way to show your love through jewelry. Jewelry is already such a personal and thoughtful gift, but the fact that you took the time and energy to create something specifically with your recipient in mind shows how much you care.
When it comes to designing a custom necklace, a lot of people don’t know where to start. As someone who has been making jewelry for years now, I can confidently say that it’s a lot easier to figure out where to get a custom necklace made when you know exactly what type of customization you’re looking for. Once you know what you want, all you have to do is find someone to make your vision come to life!
In this guide, I’ll walk you through all of your customization options to help you determine what type of custom necklace you’re looking for and where to get it made. The only thing you have to worry about is creating a beautiful piece of jewelry that you and your loved one will cherish!
Bottom Line Up Front
What you’re looking for in a custom necklace will most likely dictate where you want to go to get it made. Here’s a quick breakdown of my suggestions:
- If you’re looking for an initial, nameplate, or engraved necklace: Brook & York or Eve’s Addiction
- If you want a photograph necklace: Eve’s Addiction
- If you want to design a custom gemstone necklace: Kendra Scott is an affordable option with natural stones. Brilliant Earth or Jared are your best bets for precious or semi-precious stones
- If you want to design a custom necklace entirely from scratch: Talk to someone at your local jeweler on Etsy, or check out the in-store design studios at Jared.
Ethically crafted with the highest quality materials, our jewelry is made with supreme care and loving attention to detail. Everyone has a unique style, which is why we offer personalization to elevate your jewelry into a one-of-a-kind.
I’ll take a deeper dive into these places below so that you can decide which is best for your needs!
Why Get a Custom Necklace Made?
There are plenty of reasons to get a custom necklace made. Custom necklaces make unique, personal gifts for a loved one or yourself. They’re also a great way to mark a special occasion or milestone. If you’re designing a piece using quality materials that will last, custom necklaces can even become heirloom pieces that can be passed on to family members in the future.
Types of Custom Necklaces
There are different types of custom necklaces, and the term “custom necklace” might even mean something different to you than it does to someone else. Here are some of the most common varieties:
- Engraved necklaces: These are necklaces that are customized by engraving an existing part of the necklace, such as a pendant.
- Nameplate/initial necklaces: These are necklaces that will have an initial or name written out in metal as a charm or pendant. These can usually be ordered through a company that will give you standard options for style and font.
- Birthstone necklaces: These are customized by choosing one or more birthstones to feature on a necklace. Like the engraved and nameplate options, you’ll most likely be choosing from an existing necklace design and choosing which stone(s) you want to be featured on it.
- Photo necklaces: Photo necklaces incorporate a photo that you upload to a site or give to a jeweler in one of several ways. Some photo necklaces can be customized by making your photo into a pendant or engraving it on metal, while others will even project your image on the wall when you hold it up to the light! (More on that later!)
- Custom designs from a template: When you create a custom design from a template, you’ll work with a jeweler or use an online tool to select a necklace template (such as a pendant setting without stones in it) and customize it by choosing gemstones, metal type, accents, and anything else used to embellish the design. This is sort of the closest you can come to designing a piece entirely from scratch without having to pay for a fully custom necklace.
- Custom designs from scratch: This is the ultimate in customization, but it can be costly, depending on what you’re looking for. You’ll work directly with an artist or jewelry designer to design the piece from concept to sketches; then, they’ll craft the necklace for you and make your vision come to life!
Things to Consider when Choosing Where to Buy Your Custom Jewelry
- What type of customization are you looking for? Take a look at the list above to get a better idea of what you’re shopping for.
- What type of materials do you want your piece to be made of? Are you considering budget-friendly gold-plated or gold-filled options, or are you more of a “solid gold or bust” person? Do you need diamonds, or are you happy with white sapphire or even cubic zirconia? Your materials will be a huge factor that dictates how much your custom piece will cost.
- What is your timeframe for this project? If you’re looking for a necklace for your sweetheart and your anniversary is next week, you probably won’t have time to design a piece from the ground up, but you can get a necklace with both of your initials or your anniversary date and the coordinates to the place you met engraved on a pendant.
My Picks for Where to Get a Custom Necklace Made
Brook & York
Brook & York is a Connecticut-based company that makes “well-priced pieces fit for any occasion.” All of their jewelry is made in America, and they specialize in customized pieces.
They sell some solid gold necklaces, but most of their jewelry is made from gold-plated brass. That means it’s more affordable than solid gold jewelry, but it’s more likely to wear over time.
You can read more about the company in my Brook & York review.
Something to consider: While you can wear gold-plated jewelry regularly, you’re going to need to take some precautions if you want it to last. Don’t wear it in the shower, store it separately from other pieces that may scratch it, and avoid wearing too much perfume or lotion when wearing these pieces—the oils in them can wear away the layers of gold, exposing the base metal beneath them.
What They Offer
- Engraved necklaces with tons of options for pendants, charms, and chains.
- Initial pendants in dozens of styles
- Nameplate necklaces
- Birthstone necklaces made with colored cubic zirconia stones. Some of them can be further customized with engraving or charms
- Coordinate necklaces
- Monogram necklaces
Price Range
Prices for custom necklaces range from around $77 for a gold-plated initial pendant to $900 for a solid gold engraved pendant.
Ethically crafted with the highest quality materials, our jewelry is made with supreme care and loving attention to detail. Everyone has a unique style, which is why we offer personalization to elevate your jewelry into a one-of-a-kind.
What I Like
I love the range of styles Brook & York has available. All of their pieces feel like a cohesive collection, but there’s enough variety that you can really find something personal and tailored to you or your recipient’s taste. This is a great place to shop for bridesmaid gifts or delicate engraved gold necklaces that are suitable for any occasion really. Gold-plated jewelry is more affordable than solid gold and is an excellent option if you need to buy several pieces at once.
What I Don’t Like
While their jewelry is beautiful, many of Brook & York’s more affordable pieces aren’t exactly heirloom quality. They do have some solid gold pieces that will last you a lifetime, but most of their jewelry is gold-plated, which will tarnish and wear away with regular use.
Another thing that bothers me is that in several places, their website states that they use locally-sourced recycled materials to make their jewelry. Still, they don’t provide any further information on their sources or sustainability practices. Using locally-sourced and recycled material is awesome; I just want some evidence to back up their statements.
Kendra Scott
Kendra Scott is a jewelry company based out of and created entirely in Austin, Texas. They specialize in affordable natural gemstone pieces.
They sell jewelry made using both plated and solid metals with large, colorful stones in various natural and man-made gemstones, shells, and glass.
What They Offer
- “Color Bar” necklaces: you choose a necklace setting and metal color and then customize it with your choice of one or more natural gemstones from their list of over 50 options. In my opinion, this is the number one reason to shop here. If you’re looking for a custom necklace with colorful stones, start here.
- They also have a small but unique selection of engravable pieces that are worth checking out, especially if Brook & York’s engravable jewelry is too delicate looking for your taste.
Price Range
Prices range from $150 to $400 for engraved pieces and $40 to over $315 for Color Bar pieces. They also sell lab-grown diamond and solid gold necklaces in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.
What I Like
The Color Bar is a really unique customization option. It’s very easy to design and order your necklace online, and there are a ton of ways to make it uniquely yours. If you want to create a necklace that matches a particular outfit or are looking for a unique birthday gift for a friend, this is an excellent place to start.
What I Don’t Like
The style of these necklaces definitely isn’t for everyone—some of the pendants are pretty large and colorful, so I maybe wouldn’t use these as bridesmaid gifts unless you’re sure everyone on your crew will like them.
Eve’s Addiction
Eve’s Addiction is an online jewelry and gift retailer specializing in customized pieces, especially engravable and birthstone jewelry. They carry an almost overwhelming selection of jewelry and gifts. While they mainly stick to sterling silver, gold-plated silver, and cubic zirconia for their core collection, they do also sell solid gold pieces and pieces made with semi-precious stones like amber and morganite.
You can read more about Eve’s Addiction in my review.
What They Offer
- If you’re looking for birthstone jewelry for parents or grandparents, this should be your first stop. They have a massive selection of customizable multi-birthstone necklaces that make perfect gifts.
- Photograph jewelry: Eve’s Addiction offers a few different ways to customize your jewelry with a photograph. They’ll insert the photo in a locket, engrave it on a pendant, or craft a necklace that will project your photo onto a flat surface when you hold a light up to your pendant!
- Nameplate and Monogram necklaces
- Engravable necklaces including initial, coordinate, name, and roman numeral necklaces.
Price Range
Prices range from less than $20 for a metal-stamped pendant necklace to over $500 for solid gold engravable layering sets.
What I Like
As I said, I think that this is the place to go for colorful, multi-birthstone pieces. Necklaces designed with multiple children’s or grandchildren’s birthstones make fantastic Mother’s Day gifts.
I also really love the photo necklaces—particularly the projector ones. They’re such a unique and personal gift idea.
What I Don’t Like
Honestly, my biggest issue with Eve’s Addiction is that they have too many options to choose from. Their website feels cluttered, and I get decision fatigue when I shop with them. I understand that many people won’t see that as a bad thing, but I think I would be inclined to shop with them more often if their site was a bit more curated.
I’m also not a huge fan of the super brightly colored cubic zirconia crystals that they use in most of their birthstone pieces. I prefer the look of natural gemstones, though that’s a personal preference. I have many loved ones who like this look, so I’ll shop here for them.
Jared
Jared is a massive jewelry retailer with stores across the continental United States and online. They call themselves an “accessible luxury jewelry brand,” and I think that’s pretty fitting. They specialize in engagement rings and gifts, and while I would consider a lot of their pieces fine jewelry, they don’t have the same high prices and barriers to entry that other major jewelry designers do.
What They Offer
- Gemstone fashion pendants that you can fully customize using the tool on their website. You choose the style, center stone shape and color, accent stones, and metal type.
- Nameplate, initial, and monogram pendants
- Unique birthstone necklaces: including pieces tailored to couples, mothers, and grandmothers.
- Engravable pieces
- Each brick-and-mortar location has an in store custom design studio where you can work with their jewelers to create a custom design from concept to finished product.
Price Range
You can spend around $80 for a simple nameplate necklace or several thousand on a necklace with your name spelled out in diamonds. When creating a custom piece with their design studio, the sky’s the limit on what you can spend, so make sure you set a budget before going into the process.
What I Like
The gemstone fashion pendant tool is super fun to play around with. It’s a great way to customize a unique piece with birthstones or colored gemstones that are meaningful to you—it would be really fun to make a custom bridal necklace that coordinates with your wedding colors, for example.
I love that Jared has a longstanding reputation as a reliable company and that they’re extremely accessible. If you live in the continental U.S., there’s a good chance you’re within driving distance of one of their brick-and-mortar shops, but their website is always there if you’re not.
Finally, I really like that they have the custom design studio option. Designing a custom piece completely from scratch can be very expensive, but you can’t really beat it when it comes to personalizing your jewelry.
What I Don’t Like
When it comes to engravable jewelry, I think Jared is hit or miss. They have some nice pieces, but they also have a lot of stuff that looks too costumey for my taste. I think they look a little cheap. You won’t find as many options for delicate engraved gold necklaces here as you will at some of the other retailers on this list.
Brilliant Earth
Brilliant Earth is a jewelry retailer that’s most well known for their customized engagement rings, but they sell all sorts of jewelry, including custom necklaces. While it’s still relatively affordable, this is fine jewelry. Their necklaces are made from solid gold or sterling silver with real precious and semi-precious gemstones.
What They Offer
- The Design Your Own Gemstone Necklace feature allows you to choose a loose precious or semi-precious gemstone from Brilliant Earth’s inventory and pair it with a setting.
- Nameplate necklaces in various solid metal or diamond styles
- Engravable necklaces with and without diamonds or gemstones
- Charms that can be added to further personalize pieces
Price Range
You can spend under $100 on a simple engraved pendant or tens of thousands on a custom diamond necklace.
What I Like
If you’re looking for a simple, classy necklace made with real gold and gemstones, this is a great place to start. Even the affordable pieces from Brilliant Earth look expensive to me, and they’re well made from quality materials, so you know they’ll last a lifetime.
What I Don’t Like
While I love the “Design You Own Gemstone Necklace” feature for creating an elegant piece of fine jewelry, it doesn’t feel as personal as some of the other customization options on competing sites.
You’ll pick your exact gemstone—not just the cut, color, and size—which means you’ll even get to see any inclusions or imperfections in the stone while you’re creating the necklace. However, that’s not the type of customization that’s outwardly obvious. People won’t know unless you tell them. In some ways, you have even more control over the final piece, but you might not feel like you really “designed” it. It all depends on what you’re looking to get out of the experience.
Etsy
Etsy is a massive online marketplace where artists sell their handmade goods. You’ll find plenty of different sellers selling nameplate and engraved necklaces here using a variety of metals and materials. If you’re lucky, you might even find an artist that you like who is willing to make a completely custom piece from scratch for you.
What They Offer
What each individual seller offers will depend on their shop, but there are thousands of Etsy sellers to choose from. Common custom jewelry options include engravable necklaces, nameplate necklaces, letter necklaces, and photograph necklaces.
If you have something unusual in mind that you don’t think you’ll find at a typical jewelry store, such as a piece made from resin or leather, this is a great place to start looking.
Price Range
Each shop owner determines their own prices, but you can find jewelry for less than $10 or more than $50,000 on Etsy.
What I Like
I love that Etsy gives you the opportunity to work with and support small, independent artists. I also love it as a resource for “outside the box” jewelry that you won’t find in a typical jewelry shop. There are some very creative people in the world, and if you’re looking for something truly unique, there’s a good chance you’ll find it here.
What I Don’t Like
Etsy can be a great way to connect with independent artists, but there are a lot of shops on the site that you may have to wade through to find what you’re looking for. Sometimes it can feel impossible trying to narrow down your search.
I also don’t like how inconsistent Etsy can be. Since each shop owner is responsible for their own pricing and lead times, there’s a lot of variation. Depending on the shop and what you order, you may have to wait weeks or months for your piece to be made.
Finally, you really need to be wary of scams. As with all online marketplaces, not everyone will be who they say they are. If you find someone you think you want to work with, check out their sales history and reviews to get a better idea of what you’re getting into.
Your Local Jeweler
The final place I’d recommend for where to get a custom necklace made is your local jeweler, provided you have one. If you want to design a necklace from an idea in your head, nothing beats working one-on-one with someone in your community.
Even if you’re just looking for some simple engraving work, it’s worth seeing if there’s someone in your community who can do it for you.
What They Offer
The services your local jeweler will offer will vary, but many of them offer engraving and stone setting. Some may even be willing to work with you to conceptualize and craft a completely unique piece from the ground up.
Price Range
This will vary significantly depending on the jeweler, the size of their operation, and the resources available to them. I recommend discussing cost with them right away so that you can determine whether working with them will fit into your budget.
What I Like
Working with a local jeweler is an excellent way to support a member of your community. You can build a relationship with them and work together to make your vision come to life.
What I Don’t Like
Provided you find a jeweler in your area that you like, the only real downside to working with them is the cost associated with creating a custom piece. If you don’t already have a local jeweler in mind, finding one whose portfolio and prices you like can take a lot of time and energy on your part.
Depending on the size of their operation, it may also take a bit longer to get simple engraving work done locally rather than ordering from one of the sites above (though you won’t have to wait for the necklace to be shipped to you!)
FAQ
Question: How much does it cost to make a custom necklace?
Answer: The cost of a custom necklace will depend on the design of the piece and the ways you want to customize it. You can customize a simple, engraved necklace for less than $100, or you can spend tens of thousands or more creating a fully-customized piece of one of a kind fine jewelry.
Question: How long does it take to make a custom necklace?
Answer: If you’re looking for a simple engraved or nameplate piece, you could be holding your necklace in a matter of days. If you’re working with a jeweler to design a piece completely from scratch, it can take months before your necklace is finished.
Question: How do I turn a picture into a pendant?
Answer: There are plenty of places that will turn a picture into a pendant for you. Eve’s Addiction has a ton of options for photo jewelry. You can also talk to a local artist or someone on Etsy about creating a pendant from your photograph.
Final Thoughts
Before you decide where you’re going to get your custom necklace made, determine how you want to customize it. If you’re looking for nameplate or engraved jewelry, I recommend starting with a site like Brook & York or Eve’s Addiction. If you want to turn a design that’s in your head into a piece of wearable art, it’s going to take a little more effort (and money). Talk to your local jeweler, find someone you like on Etsy, or check out the design studio offered at Jared. Regardless of what you design, you’ll end up with a gorgeous piece that’s uniquely yours!
Ethically crafted with the highest quality materials, our jewelry is made with supreme care and loving attention to detail. Everyone has a unique style, which is why we offer personalization to elevate your jewelry into a one-of-a-kind.
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