I’m Christine, the designer behind Elvie, a fine jewelry line I design and make in New York City. My work centers on one-of-a-kind pieces, antique and unusual natural diamonds, and the collaborative process of creating something bespoke.

Elvie is named after my great-grandmother, a talented garment maker whose diamond wedding band and nameplate bracelet were among the first pieces of jewelry to make a lasting impression on me. I come from a family of people who worked with their hands: my grandmother was a hairdresser, my grandfather a sculptor, and I spent nearly two decades as a hairstylist myself before finding my way to jewelry.

My work draws from the proportions, settings, and construction of antique jewelry, with a particular love for old mine and other antique diamonds. I enjoy pairing diamonds with colored gemstones and creating pieces that feel simultaneously soft and architectural. I’m interested in how feminine and masculine design elements work together, and how a piece can feel delicate yet substantial, classic yet unexpected.

I studied diamonds and colored stones at the Gemological Institute of America and trained in metalsmithing and stone setting. That foundation shapes how I design, with equal attention to beauty, structural integrity, and longevity. I design every Elvie piece myself, working in CAD and by hand, and stay closely involved from the first sketch through the finished piece. I work with a master stone setter and a small group of trusted craftspeople, all based on 47th Street in New York City’s Diamond District.

A piece might begin with an idea, a reference, a feeling, or a stone you can’t stop thinking about. From there, we explore what it could become, finding the right diamond, working through the smallest details of a setting, and solving the technical challenges along the way. I love watching something that existed only in our conversations and our minds, slowly take shape and become a tangible thing of beauty.

More than anything, I love making something that feels entirely personal to the person who will wear it. Getting to create a piece together, knowing it will become part of someone’s life, is still the best part of my work.