The Storyteller

Patricia Carruth designs custom one-of-a-kind jewelry inspired by each couple’s love story

By Giuseppa Nadrowski

When Patricia Carruth was a little girl, she often found herself dreaming about the stories behind the glimmering gold treasures shining among the cases of her grandfather’s fine jewelry pawn shop, The Gold Mine — an icon of Detroit’s East Side. 

“I used to love going to his store and looking at all the jewelry. I’ve always been a storyteller,” she says. A self-proclaimed “lover of love,” Carruth at one time wanted to become a wedding planner, but after planning her own nuptials realized it was “a little bit too chaotic.” Wanting to marry her passions for fine jewelry and love of weddings, Carruth, who also worked at a jewelry store throughout college, launched Your Personal Jeweler in 2019. The Royal Oak-based boutique, with Carruth as lead designer, specializes in custom engagement rings and wedding bands and also offers proposal planning for those looking for a bit of help in orchestrating that memorable moment. 

Here, we chat with Carruth about what inspires her, the advice she gives her couples, and more.

Nearlywed: You create stunning one-of-a-kind jewelry. Where do you find your inspiration? 

Patricia Carruth: Through couples’ love stories. When you go to a traditional jewelry store, you have to look through their showcases and try to pick a ring that best suits you. I work backwards. I have sample pieces in store that they can come in and see what is drawn to them. Then we kind of combine all the different aspects of the rings that they like to create one that’s unique for them, adding personalized or sentimental details to really make the ring a one-of-a-kind, heirloom piece.

N: Can you give us some insight on the process of making custom jewelry, especially pertaining to nearlyweds — from what you discuss with them to how long it takes to create these designs?

PC: I feel that both people should be included in the process because it’s about their love story. When you come in for an initial consultation, we kind of go over your style, your likes, your dislikes, and try to figure out how to incorporate everything into your dream ring. Once you’ve decided on that, I do a CAD design where you will get a computer-generated image to show you what it’s going to look like before we proceed. Once that’s approved, I print out a resin sample that will give you a fit idea of what the piece is going to look like. That process normally takes a week to two weeks. And then once the stones have been selected, it takes around three to four weeks, up to six weeks, depending on the intricacies of the rings, to be completed. 

N: What is it like working with couples to create such important and meaningful pieces, and do you have any advice or wisdom you’d like to share with them during the process? 

PC: The best advice I can give is to listen to your partner, and that’s on both sides — the person who’s paying for the ring and the person who’s receiving it. There’s a lot of different ways that we can take your idea and make it affordable within your budget. A lot of people are unfamiliar with lab grown diamonds, but lab grown diamonds are a great, affordable way of getting the size and the look of a diamond that you want, without breaking the bank. Lab grown diamonds are real — physically, chemically, and optically. The easiest example I give people to explain it is ice. On a cold Michigan day, you can walk outside and see an icicle and then you can come inside your house and get ice out of the fridge. The only difference is how it was created.

N: What do you think it is about Your Personal Jeweler that truly makes it a unique destination? 

PC: The personal aspect of it. Before we even start looking at rings, I sit down and I talk to my couples. I want to hear their love story and what’s most important to them so that I can find a way to incorporate it into the ring. 

To design your dream ring, visit thepersonaljeweler.com.