How Computer Aided Design is changing the engagement game

So, say you’re meticulously planning your dream Pinterest wedding one Tuesday night and land on the ring of your dreams (and you may or may not actually have a potential fiancé. It matters not.)

Suddenly you are in a dilemma because you remembered that your potential fiancé is supposed to use your grandmothers ring.

Dilemma: How do you combine your grandmother’s ring and your Pintrest ring? CAD (Computer Aided Design).

Through Hales’s CAD software, Matrix and Counter Sketch, jewelry can literally be designed virtually, combining several inspiration pieces, and materials. This enables the designer to collaborate with you during the design process. (Allowing you to use the Jewels from your grandmother’s ring with the design from your Pinterest board.)

“CAD software has changed everything, and we are pleased to be able to offer this service to Greenville,” said Shannon Waters. Hale’s Jewelers is one of the only Upstate jewelry stores that has this software in house. Other stores send off their general designs to a studio to create the style virtually.

“There was only so much I could do fabrication wise. Traditionally, we would carve it out of wax which is a whole different skill set. Now we can design it on the computer rather than 8 hours of carving wax,” said Matthew Campbell.

Campbell has been a bench jeweler for 25 years but now uses CAD software at Hale’s. Before, craftsmen such as Matthew would have to draw the design, create a wax prototype and then the ring would go to a final casting. The casting process is still unchanged but CAD software has open up a myriad of designing possibilities.

Here’s how those Pinterest dreams become realities with Matrix and Counter Sketch Software:

Step one: The customer comes in with a design idea, some jewelry pieces they want incorporated, an old piece of jewelry they want refurbished or a photograph of a design.

Step two: The customer and the designer collaborate to create the design in CAD. This design can be as complex or as simple as you want. The designer can send photos to the customer until the design is tweaked to perfection.

Step three: The designer now has all the ratios and measurements to go straight into production. Hale’s Jewelers in Greenville has a full staff of master jewelers that will bring the design to fruition.

Step four: Slide that beautiful piece of artwork on your finger, or the finger of someone you love, and admire the heck out of it.

With a ring that beautiful and as unique as you are, you don’t even need a fiancé… treat yo self.

All photos by Chelsey Ashford Photography.