Custom Jewellery in North Vancouver

Featured North Vancouver work

“We’re Iranian-Canadian, living in Lower Lonsdale. We brought my grandmother’s gold from Tehran — pieces my mother inherited — and asked Vanhess to redesign them into my wedding ring. Sitting with another Iranian family at the bench, in Persian, was the only way this could have been done. The whole family cried when they saw the final piece.”

— North Vancouver client (placeholder — replace with real Iranian-Canadian client testimonial)

What we make for North Vancouver clients

Custom Engagement Rings

Designed around your stone, your story, your hand.

Custom Wedding Bands

Matched to any engagement ring, in any metal.

Custom Necklaces & Fine Jewellery

Pendants, earrings, and everyday pieces.

Heirloom Redesign

Give inherited stones and metal a new life.

An Iranian family business serving the North Shore community

The Persian Trail along Central Lonsdale between 13th and 21st Avenue is the cultural heart of one of North America’s largest Iranian communities — estimated at around 30,000 residents on the North Shore. We are part of that diaspora. The fluency we bring to Persian-Canadian commissions isn’t learned from a textbook — it’s our own background.

That makes specific things easier for North Van clients:

• Sofreh aghd jewellery. When you ask us to design a piece for the ceremony tray, we already know the symbolic weight of every element — from the mirror and candles to the rings themselves — and we design accordingly.
• Heirloom Persian gold redesign. 18K, 22K, and 24K pieces brought from Iran arrive at our bench every week. We can date them by style, identify the region (Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Yazd), and propose redesigns that respect the original metalwork while serving the next generation’s wear.
• Persian-cultural stones. Nishapuri turquoise (firouzeh-ye Neyshabur), lapis lazuli, agate, garnet — we set them with the care these stones demand and have the supplier relationships to source authentic Persian-origin material when needed.
• Mina-kari and traditional motifs. Enamel work and Persian-Islamic geometric patterns can be incorporated into contemporary pieces when commissioned. Few Western jewellers offer this.

Several Persian-community jewellers operate out of Lonsdale storefronts and specialise in traditional 18K and 22K work — we respect them deeply. We sit in a complementary position: ground-up Western-style custom design (engagement rings, wedding bands, modern pendants) combined with full cultural fluency in Iranian heritage work, all from a family that lives both worlds.

For proposal locations, Capilano Suspension Bridge during Canyon Lights, Lonsdale Quay’s waterfront with the downtown skyline, Lighthouse Park’s sunset views, and Whytecliff Park near Horseshoe Bay are our most-asked-about backdrops. We’ve built rings designed to photograph against each.

Custom engagement rings & wedding bands for North Vancouver couples

North Van couples come to us for the full bespoke spectrum: solitaires, halos, three-stones, hidden halos, bezel and tension settings, low-profile architectural designs (popular with active wearers from a mountain-sport-adjacent city), and rare-stone commissions. We work with both lab-grown and natural diamonds and a wide range of coloured gemstones — sapphire (any colour), emerald, ruby, alexandrite, morganite, aquamarine, tourmaline, opal.

For Persian-Canadian couples specifically, we’ve done a number of commissions where the engagement ring is a Western-style solitaire and the wedding bands incorporate motifs or stones from inherited Persian pieces — a reset turquoise (firouzeh, a culturally significant stone in Persian jewellery), or melted-down 22K gold from a family heirloom integrated into the new band. These commissions take longer in design but tend to be the most meaningful pieces we make.

On stones, the lab-grown vs natural conversation has changed dramatically. The Knot 2024 study shows 52% of US engagement rings sold in 2024 had a lab-grown centre stone (up from 46% in 2023). Pricing has been the driver: Edahn Golan’s diamond analytics shows the average price of a 1ct lab-grown diamond fell from $3,410 (Jan 2020) to $892 (Dec 2024) — roughly a 74% drop. We show both at the bench, with loupe in hand, and walk you through the long-term resale tradeoffs honestly.

For diamond grading, GIA is the global standard. The 4Cs primer is the best pre-consultation read, and GIA Report Check lets you independently verify any GIA-graded diamond by report number.

Heirloom Persian gold and inherited jewellery — from one Iranian family to another

Resetting inherited Persian gold is the work that defines us at the North Shore bench. Many Iranian-Canadian families hold pieces brought out of Iran across decades — bangles, pendants, the kind of bridal sets given by grandmothers — in 18K, 22K, or 24K. The metal value matters; the cultural and emotional value matters more. We hold both with the care of a family that grew up around the same kind of pieces. We weigh and value at current spot using World Gold Council reference rates, talk through what the original piece meant in the family, design the new piece together, and melt the heirloom metal into the new casting. The family retains the full gold value — and gains a piece the next generation will actually wear daily, not store in a safe deposit box.

Heirloom redesign is a documented trend, not a niche service. An AP-wire feature noted that a growing share of couples are choosing to redesign heirloom rings rather than buy new, driven by sentiment and sustainability. The World Gold Council reports recycled gold supply hit 1,370 tonnes in 2024 — roughly 27.5% of total global supply, the highest share since 2012 — meaning heirloom redesign is part of a broader industry shift toward circular sourcing.

Pricing, timelines, and what to expect

Custom engagement rings: 4–6 weeks. Wedding band matching: 3–4 weeks. Heirloom Persian gold redesigns: 4–6 weeks depending on complexity. North Van couples should start the consultation 3 months before a proposal date and 2 months before a ceremony.

The average engagement length in Canada is about 14 months per The Knot Worldwide’s 2024 Global Wedding Report — so most North Van clients have time to plan a thoughtful design rather than rush. Our custom engagement rings start around CAD $1,500 (simple lab-grown) and most fall between $2,500 and $4,500. Wedding bands: $600–$1,800 typical in 14K or 18K. Persian gold heirloom resets are quoted on the original metal weight + new design labour.

After delivery, Jewelers Mutual recommends a fresh appraisal every two years. We provide a full replacement-value appraisal at delivery and complimentary 6-month inspections.

Common questions from North Vancouver clients

Getting to our Coquitlam studio from North Vancouver

By car: Highway 1 east across the Ironworkers Memorial (Second Narrows) Bridge to the Brunette/Lougheed exit — 35–50 minutes. Free covered parking at Coquitlam Centre. The Lions Gate Bridge route is generally slower in traffic; Second Narrows is faster.

By transit: SeaBus to Waterfront, Expo Line to Production Way, then Millennium Line one stop to Coquitlam Central — allow 75–90 minutes.

North Vancouver neighbourhoods we work with regularly: Lower Lonsdale, Central Lonsdale, Upper Lonsdale (City), Deep Cove, Lynn Valley, Edgemont Village, Parkgate, Capilano, Pemberton Heights, Norgate, Blueridge, Westlynn, Seymour (District).