Taylor & Jacobson

I’m getting married next month, and besides first meeting and falling in love, the whole process all began with Taylor & Jacobson. My fiancé commissioned Catherine Galloway to design and make my engagement ring last year, and she made a beautiful ring which he helped give some basic design direction, knowing that I love sapphires. When I was a little girl, I saw a movie on A&E with Liz Taylor wearing an opulent opera necklace with sapphires and diamonds, and the image stuck with me. When my fiancé opened the ring box and surprised me, I was stunned by the gorgeous and elegant ring which was a much more «me» version than the over the top Liz Taylor adornment. While I wasn’t a part of the plan, he said that he enjoyed the design process with Catherine and that she communicated a lot and made the ring quickly.
Fast forward a year, and we contacted Catherine again to make our wedding rings. While again I wanted something simple, it was fun to watch Catherine sketch out our idea and hear her suggestions. My soon-​husband was given a family heirloom which needed some sprucing and sizing, while mine was custom made to fit the contours of my engagement ring. Catherine finished all of this way ahead of schedule, and I can barely recognize my fiancé’s ring, which had previously been very tarnished and much too big.
Planning a wedding has its challenges, but this aspect was by far one of the most enjoyable and flawless. Catherine is a pleasure to work with, so if you’re in the market for any custom jewelry, wedding related or otherwise, I highly recommend her.
I do!

First of all, I would like to preface this review by saying that it hurts me to write this review because Kent Jacobson is a wonderful person. He designed my wedding band and has worked with my family for many years. He now takes clients by appointment only. Our first experience with him was wonderful. Our past experience was horrible and is sure to be our last.
Recently, my husband and I welcomed our first baby boy. For a Christmas gift, I wanted to have a simple band ring made with his name engraved onto the inside. With each child we have, I want to add their name to it. Easy enough, right? I think not…
Due to Kent’s limited schedule and the fact that what I was wanting seemed to be fairly easy to make, I settled on meeting with someone else. Upon arrival, she seemed to be cold and almost disturbed that we showed up to our appointment. I explained what I wanted very thoroughly. We paid and were told that the ring would be ready in 3 – 4 days. Just in time for the holidays!
4 days later, I called to check our order status. We were then told then that the ring wouldn’t be in for another 2 weeks due to shipping issues from Louisiana. We were very disappointed but patient.
Finally, the ring was in. My husband picked it up. When he got home, to my surprise, the ring didn’t fit. The engraving was also not what I had specified. You could barely read the name. We then called immediately and scheduled to meet with Kent.
I met him and the ring was stretched to fit my finger. She had apparently ordered the wrong size. They then buffered down the engraving and sent me to another location to have the engraving done free of charge. I was annoyed but glad to finally have what I wanted and paid for. I went to this second location only to find out that they couldn’t do what I wanted either. I had specified to Kent that I wanted Edwardian Script. This engravers machine was not capable of doing that. Waste of both of our time.
After this, I was done. I went to another well known jeweler on North Main and they took care of me. I spoke with the hand engraver there and he engraved my ring without issue. It was exactly what I wanted. For curiosity sake, I asked them the value of my palladium ring. They quoted me half of what I paid. Very, very disappointing. They also wondered why I choose palladium. I didn’t, as the women at Taylor and Jacobson recommended this metal. I initially wanted white gold. They explained that palladium is a a softer metal that is the hardest to engrave on and isn’t necessarily the most longest lasting. Being that she knew I wanted to clearly engrave on this piece and have it for quite some time, why would she recommend it? Very confusing. She seems to either be uneducated in her trade, was trying to make more money of us, or had a palladium ring sitting around that she wanted to get rid of.
In conclusion, I wish Kent the best, but we won’t be back. I still have yet to get a call to confirm that my engraving turned out right. They probably aren’t even aware that I had to go elsewhere and pay out of pocket to have it done right. Quite frankly, I don’t even care. My priority is that my ring was done right and Spitz Jeweler made that happen.
My advice to Taylor and Jacobson is that they improve their customer service. The consultation should have been much much thorough and detail oriented. I can’t imagine the outcome had my idea been more intricate! They have yet to apologize to me or follow up. For the value and experience of choosing a special piece of jewelry, I would not recommend Taylor and Jacobson.

Having Taylor & Jacobson create my now fiancée’s engagement ring was the best decision I could have made for the following reasons
Service —
I had called around to many custom Jewelry makers in the bay area (all of the peninsula/S.F. & East Bay), the overall message was clear, that they can’t be bothered to even pretend to care. Time after time it was a curt request to book an appointment and to not bother coming down without one (even though I had not asked) and very thin/​impractical timeframes to meet.
When I called Taylor & Jacobson the person on the phone was polite and offered me a wide range of times to meet with a designer for a free consultation. During that consultation I had the benefit of meeting with Catherine Galloway, she spent a generous amount of time meeting with me, was polite, personable. It was nice to work with a craftsperson who valued my input as much as I valued their skill. The service was consistently good the four or so visits necessary to complete the ring.
Process —
We started with a generous consultation, where Catherine inquired about my (at the time) girlfriend, it was clear she wanted to know what she was like/​into. I brought some ideas in the form of photo’s I had found on the internet and gave her some keywords for my goals in for the project «delicate, vintage».
From there Catherine sketched the ring and we revised it over and over again until we had an agreed upon style. Next we selected stones and at the time non were inspiring so I came back later to review more stones in the style I had envisioned, we found the perfect one. A week or so later Catherine had a wax prototype ready for me to see and we agreed on the final style/​setting/​materials involved.
Timeframe —
The process was during a slow period for them so the timeframes are not necessarily normal but I was impressed with the overall turnaround time.
Consultation 1 – 2 hours and I was able to get an appointment the same week.
Stone selection 1 week later
Wax prototype 1 – 2 weeks later
Final product 1 month later
Price —
I found the price extremely competitive, other designers (private and major) are not even considerable after this process… There is nothing wrong with getting a Tiffany’s ring or going with a designer that everyone has heard of this season but in regards to quality and bang for your buck I would not consider going elsewhere. I simply gave Catherine my budget and her extensive knowledge provided options and she wasn’t shy about pointing out where we could be more conservative to make the whole project work.
Parking —
As a side note, it is helpful to just park across the street at the library, there is always parking there and it’s a 2 minute walk at worst to the office.
Final Product —
The ring is gorgeous, I would post a picture on here but I feel strongly that the design would instantly be copied and that is one of the best parts about not having a standard/​cookie-​cutter Tiffany ring. So go and make your own and share this great sensation. My fiancée feels that she has a ring that is unique as she is and when people see it they pull out their phones to take a picture. Do yourself a favor and go to Taylor & Jacobson before they start charging what they can (and rightfully should).

Catherine came highly recommended as I needed someone to fix my 23-​year-​old wedding ring which surprisingly had broken. She thought she could fix the original ring, but as it turned out, she had to recreate the whole ring. She did it perfectly and in fact, did a much better job than the original jeweler. She made it much stronger and I can’t imagine that this one will ever break! She went above and beyond to repair my ring and keep the original design. Now it is my turn to highly recommend her. I would give her 10 sparkling stars if I could!

I searched high and low for an engagement ring for my (now) fiancée. After much frustration in not finding one I liked, a coworker had mentioned that I should look into getting one custom made.
After seeking out numerous (roughly 20, all in the east bay area and San Francisco) jewelers who made custom jewelry, I happened upon Taylor & Jacobson. Walking in was the best decision I have made (next to proposing to my fiancée).
They took some drawings of ideas I had done (which looked like they were done VERY poorly), and worked with me to draw out what became a beautiful piece of jewelry.
They are VERY knowledgeable, creative, patient, reasonably priced, and no pressure.
I loved working with them; So much so that my fiancée and I are working with them to get our wedding band made through them as well.

We had a ring made from two older rings, and it turned out beautiful. Catherine is very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. She even repaired my dad’s wedding band that had to be cut off, and it turned out perfect. Gorgeous jewelry. We’ll be returning to have her design a wedding band to go with my engagement ring. Great service, quality work, great prices. Highly recommend!

I brought in my old engagement ring & another gold ring that had a missing stone where the original opal had cracked. Catherine found a perfect sized replacement stone for the opal ring & credited me a very good price to use the diamonds from my old ring to make a pair of stud earrings. Both were beautifully done; the cost was very reasonable & the service was persoanl & very fast. I will definitely use them again when I am looking for a special piece of jewelry or a gift. They were great!

Thinking of fine jewelry? Think Taylor Jacobson! Simply no substitute for artistic, custom, beautiful jewelry! Downtown Walnut Creek has a «gem» of a store here. They consulted and custom developed a gift for my wife that fit each and every criteria I had, leading to the perfect gift! Call to schedule a time to drop in, you’ll be happy you did!

Love Kent. Great designs. Had my wedding rings made with him!

Thank god they don’t have longer hours, or I would be broke. I would have fabulous jewels, but no food, because I would spend all my money –HERE-.
I recently decided it was time to upgrade some of my wardrobe basics. Kent was fabulous, he took the time to figure out what I wanted and helped to steer me away from what I thought I wanted [he explained why it wasn’t a good idea but was willing to do it if I insisted]. He also educated me on the process of selecting stones and grading them and the difference between lab created and natural jems. I was able to pick my stones, and the settings. They also cleaned any other jewelry I had with me when I came in.
FYI — The space is small, and it is appointment only. However, when you are ready to buy quality pieces this is the place to do it. When I picked up my work, they included an appraisal and the certs for the stones — not something you will get from a mall jeweler.

A wonderfully helpful store, very knowledgeable jewelers, beautiful jewelry designs and great prices.