L. Priori Jewelry

Lauren Priori’s studio at 1002 Wisconsin Avenue NW sits in the Waterfront Center at the lower end of Georgetown’s Wisconsin Avenue, near the C and O Canal and the Georgetown waterfront. The studio operates by appointment, which establishes the format from the start: this is not a retail floor where a customer browses display cases but a design consultation practice where a client comes with a specific goal and the studio’s resources are dedicated to achieving it.

Priori’s background is unusual in the custom jewelry market. She graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Gemological Institute of America, where she spent a year grading diamonds, identifying gemstones, and learning jewelry design and manufacturing. The combination of a business education and a GIA training in gemology and jewelry-making produces a designer who understands both the technical and the commercial dimensions of the jewelry market in a way that the purely craft-trained jeweler often does not.

The custom engagement ring is the studio’s primary offering. The design process begins with a consultation about the client’s aesthetic preferences, the type of stone they have in mind (or the stone they already own and want to set), and the practical requirements of the ring as a daily-wear object. From there, the studio uses 3D-engineered wax renderings to show the client what the ring will look like before the metal is cast. This is the stage where design decisions are revised and refined at low cost rather than after the metal has been worked. The final piece is produced after the client approves the rendering.

Heirloom redesign is the second major service category. Many clients come to the studio with a piece of jewelry that has family history but is unwearable: an old setting that is damaged, a ring that no longer fits because the stone is in a prong setting that catches on everything, or a necklace that belongs to a different aesthetic era. Priori takes the existing stones and metals and creates a new piece that the client will actually wear while preserving the material from the original. The design process is the same as for an original commission: rendering, client approval, production.

The appointment-only format means that visits are scheduled around a specific project rather than as a general browse. Clients who want to explore what is possible before committing to a commission can book an initial consultation that does not require a design decision at the end of the appointment. The Wisconsin Avenue address is accessible from the Georgetown waterfront and from the Wisconsin Avenue corridor, with street parking available on the surrounding blocks. The phone is (202) 758-0545. The studio’s Waterfront Center address at the rear of 1002 Wisconsin Avenue places it in the Georgetown waterfront complex, accessible from both the Wisconsin Avenue street level and from the canal and waterfront side. For couples who want to make the ring appointment part of a Georgetown afternoon that includes a waterfront walk or a meal nearby, the location is a useful starting or ending point. The appointment calendar is available at lpriorijewelry.com, and the phone is (202) 758-0545 for clients who want to discuss a project before scheduling a formal consultation appointment.