Custom Engagement Ring & Custom Jewelry — STRUGA Custom Order in Bali Workshop

Custom Engagement Ring & Custom Jewelry — STRUGA Custom Order in Bali Workshop

Custom Order is the service through which we make a piece for a specific person: with the right size, engraving, chosen stone, in a material that isn't in the ready catalog. This isn't "personalization" in the "pick your ribbon color" sense — it's a full cycle, from the first conversation through casting and hand-finishing at our Bali workshop.

The ready STRUGA catalog is settled forms we release in batches: rings, necklaces, ear cuffs. Custom Order begins where the catalog stops. Someone needs a Brutalism ring in a non-standard size, someone wants a pendant with a Seymchan meteorite slice fitted to a specific stone, someone wants to rework an existing signet around their own monogram. All of that goes into the custom queue.

Matching wedding bands are a separate service — Dark Union. Everything else custom lives here.

TL;DR

- Custom Order — bespoke pieces in 925 sterling silver, copper-silver alloys, Seymchan meteorite, raw stones. Made at our Bali workshop.

- Lead time — 4–8 weeks depending on complexity (meteorite and hand engraving take longer).

- Starting point — one of the design families: Brutalism, Blade, Thorn, Signature Asymmetric, Signature Heart. You can also come with your own sketch.

- Engraving — dates, initials, coordinates, symbols. Reads especially deep on dark silver.

- Pricing — typical range $80–$2,500 USD. 50% deposit, 50% before shipping.

- Matching wedding bands — that's Dark Union, a separate queue.

- To start and describe the brief — use the Custom Order form.

What Custom Order means at STRUGA

Custom Order is a full bespoke process in which a piece is designed around a specific person — their finger, their chosen stone, their event, their wearing habits. It's not "the same ring, just in size 19.5" — for that we have a separate resize procedure, and it's simpler and cheaper than any individual order. Custom Order begins where a catalogue form stops answering the request: a different profile width is needed, a different relief depth, a different stone, an engraving on the inside, a paired pendant that doesn't exist in the collection, a ring with a specific slice of Seymchan meteorite for a 16.5 finger — anything that isn't on the shelf.

The difference between resize and Custom Order is fundamental. Resize is a mechanical operation: the jeweller opens the ring at the seam, adds or removes a millimetre of silver, solders it back, finishes the joint. It takes 5–10 working days, can be done on any catalogue piece, and doesn't change the design. Custom Order is project work: a sketch, agreement on proportions, sometimes a separate material order (rough aquamarine, a pallasite slice, a specific shade of Aged Copper), casting of the wax model, hand finishing, a finish chosen to match how the piece will be worn. Lead time is 4–8 weeks, depending on complexity and material.

Inside Custom Order we see five typical requests: a variation of an existing family in a non-standard size or width; a ring or pendant with a specific stone (often a rough tourmaline or aquamarine the client has brought themselves); a piece with a slice of Seymchan / meteorite on order; a deep engraving with coordinates, a date, a phrase; and a rework of an existing design — for example, taking a ring from the Brutalism family and making it in a feminine proportion with reduced mass.

Paired wedding bands are a separate story, handled through the Dark Union service, not through Custom Order. Everything else individual goes through the Custom Order form. The form is short: material, budget, timeline, a reference from the catalogue or your own sketch. Once you've sent it, we come back within 1–2 working days with clarifying questions and a rough estimate.

When to commission a Custom Order

Custom Order isn't "make me something beautiful" — it's a set of specific situations the catalog can't cover. Over three years of running this service, five or six recurring scenarios have crystallized as the most common reasons people come to us.

Sizes outside our stock range. Our standard ring grid runs from ISO 16 to 22. If you wear 14.5 or 23.5, the catalog won't help. This isn't rare: slim fingers on some people, large hands on others, knuckles reshaped by an old injury, a ring sized for the middle finger instead of the index. Through the Custom Order form we'll remake any existing model from the rings collection at your actual size. Lead time is the same as a normal Bali finishing run — 4–5 weeks.

Hand-engraving — date, initials, coordinates, symbols. Engraving is done by hand with a graver, not a laser. It reads especially well on dark silver: the engraved line sits lighter than the surrounding surface, and the contrast deepens over time as patina settles into the grooves. Most people engrave a date on the inside of the ring (not only wedding bands — Custom Order isn't Dark Union, so this works for single rings too), the coordinates of a place, two letters inside a Solid Heart, short phrases. We don't do long texts — neither the maker's eyes nor hands enjoy it.

Specific stones — Seymchan slice, raw aquamarine, black opal. Custom Order opens access to materials we don't carry in stock pieces: a Seymchan pallasite slice cut to your piece's dimensions (more on the meteorite as a material in Seymchan / meteorite custom orders), uncut tourmalines and aquamarines, dark opals, rare agate slices. We choose the stone together — we send photos of several options from current stock, and you pick.

Non-wedding pairs — pendants or rings. For close friends, parents and children, siblings — anything that isn't a wedding but calls for two matching or mirrored pieces. Wedding pairs are a separate track: Dark Union. Everything else paired lives here. We make two identical, two mirrored, or two pieces sharing a symbol with individual engraving.

Reworking an existing piece. People come to us with a grandmother's old ring, a pendant given long ago, a design from another workshop. We melt down the metal (if it's 925 or higher), keep the stones, and re-use them in a new piece built in the STRUGA story aesthetic. This isn't restoration — it's a rebuild.

A fully new design in our language. The rarest and longest path: 6–8 weeks, sketch from scratch, conversation, refinement. The starting point here is always one of our design families — Brutalism, Thorn, Blade — and we move outward from there toward a new form.

How the order process works

Seven steps from the first email to the package in your hands. I run every order personally — this is not a conveyor, and any attempt to turn it into one ends in bad jewelry.

1. Brief. You fill in the Custom Order form or write to me by email. The first message needs three things: what you want (ring, pendant, earrings), who it's for (finger size, neck length, woman / man / yourself), and why you're writing at all — a size outside the standard grid, a specific stone, engraving, a rework of an existing design, an idea from scratch. The more specific the first message, the less back-and-forth later.

2. Consultation. I reply within 24 hours. At this stage I clarify details by voice or text — what matters, what is secondary, what budget you have in mind. I ask for references: photos, screenshots, sketches, links to pieces from our catalog (Brutalism, Thorn, Signature Asymmetric are good starting points). If the task is non-standard, we discuss what is physically possible, what is not, and where the compromises are. Sometimes at this step it becomes clear that you don't need Custom Order at all — a catalog piece with a minor size adjustment will do.

3. Sketch and specification. I make a sketch (by hand or 3D, depending on complexity) and send a specification: materials (925 sterling, Aged Copper, Seymchan, Graphite carbon fiber), approximate weight, size, finish (Living Silver bright / oxidized / combined), timeline and final price. The specification is the document the finished piece is later checked against.

4. Approval and 50% prepay. If the sketch and specification work for you — we lock the order with a 50% prepayment. Zero reissue revisions at this stage; anything you wanted to rework should be reworked before prepay. After the prepayment the order goes into production, and the construction can no longer be changed — only cosmetics.

5. Casting and finishing in Bali. 4–8 weeks depending on complexity. A simple ring with a standard finish — 4 weeks. A piece with Seymchan meteorite, hand engraving or a rare stone — 6–8 weeks. Casting and finishing happen at our Bali workshop. I stay in contact with the master and send progress photos when the stage calls for it — stone setting, for example, or the final finish.

6. Check and photos before shipping. I check the finished piece against the specification — weight, size, fit, finish. I take photos on a neutral background and on the hand (or on a mannequin) and send them to you. If something is off at this stage, the piece stays at the workshop and gets reworked. This is the last control before the package goes out.

7. Shipping and 50% balance. Once you sign off on the photos, you pay the remaining 50% and the piece ships via DHL / international courier (depending on country). Tracking is in your hands on the day of shipment. After that — wear it, and a few months later Living Silver does its work.

All questions about a specific order go through the Custom Order form.

Lead time — 4 to 8 weeks

Timing depends on how far your order strays from what our hands already know how to do. The closer to an existing design, the faster. The further, the more iterations between sketch, wax model, and final finishing.

4 weeks — light variations on an existing design. A ring from the Brutalism family in a non-standard finger size, a Signature Asymmetric pendant with a different stone, a Signature Heart with a date engraved on the back. We already have the wax base — only adaptation and final hand-finishing at our Bali workshop are needed.

6 weeks — a fully new form from a sketch. When the order starts from zero: you describe the idea, we draw, we agree, we cut the wax model, we agree again, we cast. Each stage can carry one or two rounds of revisions, and that's normal — we'd rather spend an extra week aligning than release a piece you won't wear.

8 weeks — pieces with meteorite or rough stones. Seymchan meteorite requires separate preparation: cutting a slice to the needed shape, etching to reveal the Widmanstätten pattern, precise fitting into the silver body. Rough tourmalines and aquamarines from the Thorn family — every stone is individual, and the setting is built around the stone, not the other way around. This always takes longer.

What adds another 1–2 weeks. Hand-engraving with a complex motif (not just initials or a date, but an ornament, coordinates, symbols), dual-material casts using sterling silver and Aged Copper together, and Balinese ceremonial cycles — Galungan and Kuningan every 210 days, Nyepi (the day of silence) in March. We warn you in advance if your order falls on these dates.

We lock the exact lead time at the moment your Custom Order form is confirmed — after we've agreed on design and materials. Shifts are rare, but if one happens, I write to you personally.

Materials available for Custom Order

For Custom Order we work with the same set of materials as in our main catalogue. This is a deliberate constraint: we understand each of these materials technically — we know how it behaves in the cast, on the bench during finishing, and a year later on the wearer's hand.

925 sterling silver — the foundation of everything we make. A silver alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, the global standard for jewelry silver. We use it without rhodium — open to patina, to friction, to ageing in a meaningful way. A deeper read on the alloy is in our 925 sterling silver guide.

Aged Copper. A material we use as a counterpoint to silver. It appears in the Big Line Aged necklaces and Signature Asymmetric Aged pendants. On request, we can integrate copper elements into any piece — pins, plates, link segments. Copper breathes differently than silver, and silver next to it shifts toward a warmer, brown-graphite tone.

Seymchan meteorite slice. A slice of Seymchan pallasite — an iron-nickel matrix with olivine inclusions. After etching, the Widmanstätten pattern emerges. On request, we can set a slice into a ring, pendant, or earrings — every slice is unique, and we shape the piece around the specific stone. A deeper guide is here: Seymchan meteorite custom.

Rough stones. Raw tourmalines, aquamarines, spinel, black opal, rough sapphire — crystals with no cutting or polishing, in the form they came out of the rock. We work with them because faceting turns a stone into a standardised object; an uncut crystal keeps its geological history. For Custom Order, we select the stone for the piece — not the other way around.

Graphite carbon fiber. Our own carbon palette — Bloody Graphite, Arctic Graphite, Classic Graphite — a material we thread into silver structures across the RITUAL family. It doesn't darken, doesn't react to water, and holds its color.

What we don't work with. Gold — we don't have a gold production line, and we have no plans to open one; silver is our material. Diamonds — not our aesthetic; we prefer rough stones where you can still read the rock. If you need gold or diamonds, we'll tell you honestly: go to another maker.

The finish across all materials is Living Silver. No rhodium, no lacquer, open to patina.

STRUGA design families as a starting point

Most Custom Orders don't start from a blank page — they're variations on an existing family. It's faster, and the result is clearer: you see a finished piece in the catalog, and we discuss what to change for you. Below are the brand's five families and what gets customized most often in each.

Brutalism

The heaviest family. Architectural rings and ear cuffs with weighty geometry, developed in collaboration with an architect. Two things usually get adjusted on order: size (inner diameter for a specific finger) and weight — the ring can be made slightly thinner for everyday wear or, conversely, built up to full signet mass. The third common tweak is the degree of oxidation: V.1 with open geometry, V.3 with dark geometry, or somewhere in between depending on your request.

Blade

A chain link as a first object. The most common Blade customization is link count — bracelet length for your wrist, choker or chain length for the right sit (at the collarbone, under a shirt, lower). Less often — link thickness and pin material: the standard copper pins can be swapped for silver, or, rarely, for darker ones. All custom parameters go through the Custom Order form.

Thorn

Sharp, thorny links. The most frequent customization is the placement of spikes: on Thorn amulets and earrings you can change the density and direction of the thorns, making the shape more or less aggressive. The second option is rough stones set into the piece: tourmaline, aquamarine, occasionally other minerals on special request. The stones come wild, uncalibrated, so each piece like this is one of one.

Signature Asymmetric

The brand's first form. An asymmetric silhouette that recurs in pendants, clasps, links, rings, and ear cuffs. Customization here usually means pendant size (from miniature to Big Line format) and material — standard sterling silver or the Aged version with aged copper. Less often, engraving on the back of the pendant — it sits well on the wide flat part of the form.

Signature Heart

A heart with one rounded and one angular side. The family evolved from a light wire silhouette to Solid Heart and stud earrings. On order, people usually choose between three weights — light, medium, Solid — and decide on engraving: date, initials, coordinates. Engraving lasts longest on Solid Heart, because the depth of metal allows for a more pronounced cut.

Engraving — dates, initials, symbols

We engrave by hand with a graver, not by laser. The difference matters: hand engraving is a real cut into the metal, 0.2–0.5 mm deep, with a sharp edge and an uneven floor. Laser leaves a surface mark that fades over time; a hand cut only gets more legible, because dark silver settles into the recesses and by the second year of wear the letters read louder than on the day you received the piece.

What we do. Dates in any format (12.07.2024, VII.2024, Roman numerals). Initials — up to 4 characters, Latin or Cyrillic. Coordinates — latitude and longitude, decimal or DMS, your call. Short phrases — up to 30 characters including spaces; enough for one word or a short line. Symbols — cross, infinity, arrow, dot, triangle; for a custom glyph, send us a vector file and the master will adapt it to the cut.

What we don't do. Full names, long quotations, paragraphs of text, intricate ornament with thin lines (the cut blurs and won't read), emoji or typographic effects.

Outside or inside. Outside is a statement, visible to everyone, works well on the wide profiles of Brutalism and Blade. Inside is for you — contact with the skin, invisible to anyone but the owner. Most clients choose inside engraving for rings and outside for signets and flat pendants.

Engraving adds 7–10 days to the lead time and $40–80 to the price depending on the volume of cut. We discuss every detail and show a font sample when you place a Custom Order.

Pricing and payment

Custom Order is always a personal quote. We don't publish a "bespoke price list" because the figure depends on silver mass, materials, finishing complexity, and the maker's time. But we can give you the order of magnitude so you know whether you're in our range.

Small pendant or stud earrings — $80–200. This covers pieces in the Signature Heart logic, small amulets, engraved pendants, mono-earrings. Simple form, relatively little silver, hand-finished at our Bali workshop without rare stones.

Ring without a stone — $200–500. A custom variation built on Brutalism, Thorn or Signature Asymmetric: your size, profile, engraving, oxidation tuned to your tone. Same range for reworking an existing catalogue design to fit your hand geometry.

Ring with a raw stone — $500–1200. Raw tourmaline, aquamarine, sometimes black tourmaline. Price moves with the stone's size and origin — small inclusions are cheaper, large crystals with clean natural facets are more. Most bespoke men's rings fall inside this bracket.

Ring or pendant with meteorite / multi-material composition — $1000–2500. This is where pieces with a Seymchan meteorite slice on order live, along with compositions combining Aged Copper and Graphite carbon fiber, and heavy architectural Brutalism forms in custom geometry. This price is for the object itself; the cost of the meteorite piece is quoted separately.

The final number comes to you after the consultation and sketch approval — not before. Up to that point there are no obligations: you can stop at any stage without signing anything.

Payment in two stages. 50% prepay at the start of work — once the sketch is approved and the materials are locked in. That money goes to silver, stones, meteorite, and the start of casting and finishing. The remaining 50% before shipping, when the piece is finished and we've sent you the final photographs.

Currency. USD through the Custom Order form, paid by any international card or bank transfer. Read more about how we work and why we built STRUGA the way we did on the STRUGA story page.

Custom Order vs Dark Union — when to choose which

Two different services, and the line between them comes down to one question: is this a paired wedding set or not.

Dark Union is a narrowly focused service for couples making an engagement ring and wedding bands. It has its own process: we work with two people in parallel, synchronize sizing (partners' finger sizes are usually different, but the rings have to read as one pair), align overall geometry and depth of oxidation, sometimes a shared engraving across both sides. Consultations run with both partners at once, so one doesn't end up with a finished ring while the other has a rough sketch. Timeline is 3–6 weeks. Inside Dark Union we can also set stones — raw tourmalines, aquamarines, small Seymchan slices on request.

Custom Order is everything else. A single ring in a non-standard size. A pendant with a specific stone. Paired pieces that aren't wedding bands (two matching Blade chains for a couple of friends or business partners, for example). Converting an existing piece from a light finish to a dark one. Engraving on a finished catalog item. A ring with a meteorite slice cut to your finger size. Any variation of Brutalism, Thorn, Blade, Signature Asymmetric or Signature Heart adapted to your parameters.

If you're not sure which service fits — write to us through the Custom Order form and describe what you want in free form. If your description turns out to be a paired wedding story, we'll move the request into the Dark Union queue ourselves and continue from there. The one-way door runs only in one direction: paired wedding bands don't go through the general flow — there's too much specificity in synchronizing two people.

Examples of completed Custom Order projects

To make it clearer how Custom Order looks in practice — four cases from recent months. I'm leaving out client details, but the order logic and technical decisions are honest: this is how the work actually went.

Seymchan slice ring for an anniversary. The brief came in for an anniversary — they wanted one object the couple wears together, not matching wedding bands but a single ring for one of the two. From our current stock of Seymchan slices the client picked a specific slice from photographs — with a clear Widmanstätten pattern and a couple of olivine inclusions. The setting was developed in the logic of Brutalism — a massive architectural body around the slice, so the meteorite reads as "embedded in a slab" rather than "stitched onto a ring." On the inner side — engraved coordinates of the place where they met. Timeline 7 weeks: 2 weeks for sketch sign-off and slice selection, 3 weeks for casting and finishing, 2 weeks for engraving and the final finish. More on meteorite slices as a material in the Seymchan guide.

Paired pendants for twins. One of the more unusual orders: not wedding bands but a paired set for two adult twin sisters. The idea — two different forms that "understand" each other. One pendant we made in the Signature Heart family (Solid Heart, dense, heavy), the second in Signature Asymmetric (asymmetric silhouette, lighter in mass). We tied them together through a shared braided cord pattern — same length, same texture, same colour accent. Both carry a tiny engraving with one letter each. 5 weeks from sign-off to shipping.

Reinterpreting a reference ring in the STRUGA aesthetic. The client came with a photograph of a ring in the Chrome Hearts vein — massive, with a gothic relief — and wanted something with the same spirit but "not like everyone else's." We didn't copy the original; we took the logic of mass and reworked it through our language: simplified the relief, added an architectural chamfer from Brutalism, left a deliberately oxidized finish in the recesses with open convex planes for future patina. The result is a ring that reads as STRUGA but holds the same weight that drew the client to Chrome Hearts in the first place. If you're working through this niche — we have a separate piece on brands like Chrome Hearts and affordable alternatives in dark silver. Timeline 6 weeks.

Extended Big Line with an olivine accent. A commission from a tall client — the standard Big Line length sat too short on him. We lengthened the cord, rebalanced the distribution of links so the pendant lies flat on the sternum, and added a single olivine accent into the main pendant — a tiny grain set into the silver next to an Aged Copper slice. The result is a version of Big Line that only works at this height and these proportions. 5 weeks.

How to place an order

The main channel is the Custom Order form on the site. The structure is simple: describe the task in your own words (no technical language needed — write the way you think), specify ring size or chain length, attach 2–4 references (photos from our catalogue, Pinterest screenshots, an old piece of yours you want to rework). If there is a stone or existing material that should go into the new piece — mention it separately. The more detailed the brief, the fewer iterations later.

We reply within 2 business days. The first response is not an invoice but a conversation: clarifying questions, suggested families as a starting point, a ballpark on price and timeline. Once the sketch is agreed — a 50% deposit invoice, then casting and hand-finishing at our Bali workshop.

Alternative to the form. If the form does not work for you or you prefer email — contacts are on the STRUGA story page. It is slower (a free-form letter takes longer to process than a structured request), but the option is there.

Payment and shipping. Payment goes through strugadesign.com in USD. International shipping by EMS or DHL, 7–14 business days after the piece is ready, fully trackable. For urgent cases (birthday, anniversary with a fixed date) — we discuss priority queue at the sketch-approval stage.

On Bali. Pickup from the showroom (opening Q3 2026) or island courier. STRUGA pieces are also available at our B2B partners on the island — Hedonist, Barefoot Aristocracy, Soul Mate.

If you are unsure what exactly to order — write anyway. Half of our Custom Order projects start with the phrase "not sure this is even possible." Usually it is.

FAQ — Custom Order at STRUGA

How much does a custom piece cost?

Price depends on form, silver weight, and the materials set into the piece. Simple engraved rings start at $80–150 USD. Rings from the Brutalism or Thorn families finished to your size run $200–450. Pieces with a Seymchan slice start at $450 and up, depending on slice size. Complex paired compositions, pendants with raw stones, mixes of silver and Aged Copper — $300–1500. We send the precise quote after the sketch is approved; nothing is paid before that point.

Can I see a sketch before we start?

Yes, the sketch is a mandatory part of the process. Once you submit the Custom Order form, we discuss form, size, and materials, and I send either a hand drawing or a 3D render (for complex forms). We agree on the sketch, make revisions, lock the final version — and only then you pay the 50% deposit and the bench starts working. Nothing goes into casting without an approved sketch. It's insurance for both sides.

What if the result doesn't suit me?

Sizing is adjusted free of charge if it doesn't sit right — that's a normal part of the process; every ring is checked on the owner's hand after casting and finishing. Form or tone is harder: a custom piece is non-returnable, which is exactly why we spend time on the sketch and the conversation before we start. In practice, over the years we've had no returns — every question gets resolved at the approval stage. If something goes wrong on our side (a casting flaw, a sizing error) — we redo it at our cost.

Can I order a ring set with a stone I already own?

Yes, it's a common case. You send photos of the stone and measurements (or the stone itself by courier, if we're in the same country), and we design the setting around it. We work with raw tourmalines, aquamarines, spinels, garnets — our usual palette. Diamonds and high-value precious stones — also yes, but they require a separate consultation on the setting method. Seymchan meteorite slices, if you already have one, integrate into the design without issue.

Do you make custom children's jewelry?

Rarely and carefully. Thin chains and small studs for teenagers — yes. Massive rings from the Brutalism or Thorn families for a child — no: these are pieces for an adult hand, they look out of scale on a child and get lost quickly. If it's a keepsake gift — we'll consider it: an engraved pendant, a simple thin ring. Describe the brief through the Custom Order form and I'll tell you honestly whether it's worth taking on.

How do I order a pair of wedding bands?

Paired wedding bands are a separate service — Dark Union, not Custom Order. The logic is different: we work with two people at once, aligning both ring profiles, the degree of oxidation, width, and inlays. Lead time is 3–6 weeks. If you need paired rings not for a wedding — friendship rings, family rings, keepsakes — that goes through regular Custom Order. The line is simple: wedding = Dark Union, anything else paired = Custom Order.

Can I order the same design from a finished piece I saw on Instagram?

If it's our piece from the archive — yes, we'll remake it (keeping in mind that patina and finish will differ slightly; silver is alive). If it's another brand's or another maker's design — no, we don't copy, it's a matter of professional ethics. But we can take the photo as a mood reference and do our own interpretation in the STRUGA idiom — that's normal practice, and often the result turns out more interesting than the original.

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