Made in Virginia 2012: Chamblin Design Jewelry, Richmond

Chamblin Design Jewelry

Chamblin Design Jewelry

Chamblin Design bracelet, made from sandblasted 18-karat yellow gold.

“A design can take days to weeks to go from conception to fruition,” says gemologist Marie Chamblin Dirom, who started her fine jewelry business, Chamblin Design, in 1993. “Midnight daydreaming, sketching, arranging and balancing of metal and stones, experiments with torch and tools at the workbench are all a part of the process.”

Glittering inside cases lining Dirom’s workshop and showroom in Richmond’s historic Fan District are necklaces, earrings and bracelets made with a rich, sandblasted 18-karat yellow gold featuring cognac diamonds, green garnets from Mali and opaque South Sea pearls among many other tastefully exotic gemstones. The effect is mesmerizing.

Though many of her designs have stood the test of time, Dirom’s hammered diamond bangle in particular, she says, has become a mainstay in her collection. “Many of my clients wear at least one all the time,” explains Dirom, who earned her BFA in fine craft from Virginia Commonwealth University and a graduate gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America. The delicate .75-carat diamonds in the stackable bracelet are ideal cut and priced at $4,200 individually or $12,000 for three. ChamblinDesign.com