Award winning Designers, Christopher Duquet Fine Jewelry Design in Evanston Illinois...
We Love Making Custom Jewelry
Our story starts with Christopher Duquet. We are a team of expert craftsmen and women that Christopher has personally assembled (requirement: must love jewelry making, must be awesome).
The truth is that we truly are a unique group of outstanding professionals and specialists in our fields who share a love of beautiful gemstones and jewelry design. Our expertise and passion is what fuels our work and keeps this jewelry store at the top of its craft.
Christopher Duquet, Gemologist & Jewelry Designer
A legacy...
Christopher Duquet Found his love of jewelry making at an early age. By 17 he was sneaking into the high school art studio at night to work extra hours on his first creations. After undergraduate work at Bowling Green State University, Christopher completed both a tour in the US Navy and a design degree in metal arts (Summa Cum Laude) from San Diego State University. Christopher continued graduate studies in jewelry at the University of Madison and also earned his Graduate Gemologist degree from the G.I.A. in 1989. Christopher worked for several master jewelers early in his career and eventually went solo in San Francisco before moving to Chicago to start Christopher Duquet Fine Jewelry in 1993. The rest as they say is history...
Read more about Christopher's story and how he was inspired to become a jewelry designer >
Sergey Bondarenko, Master Jeweler
Goldsmith, Inventor...
Sergey Bondarenko joined Christopher over 25 years ago and they have been working together ever since. Sergey is a master jeweler trained in Ukraine. He’s an amazing “miniature engineer” and often invents creative solutions to technical challenges the studio encounters on a regular basis. He is one of the best pure goldsmiths anywhere in the world.
Villi Djikova, Graduate Gemologist, Jewelry Designer
Thoughtful design...
Villi Djikova is a Graduate Gemologist and and expert gemstone broker that has been with Christopher for over 20 years. Villi is an amazing personality who has the ability to read minds when designing jewelry for our clients. Her thoughtful and gentle manner combined with excellent design knowledge has earned her rave reviews and loyal customers.
Terran Sapp, Jewelry Designer, CAD/CAM Expert
Tech meets design...
Terran Sapp joined Christopher over 10 years ago, directly from SCAD (The Savannah College of Art and Design) where she specialized in Computer Aided Design, earning in B.A. in Jewelry Design and Fabrication. Terran is an outstanding CAD/CAM technical expert and all around jewelry designer on the cutting edge of technology and processes in jewelry making.
Priscilla Borja, Jewelry Designer, GIA AJP
Connecting jewelry and people...
Meet Priscilla, a lover of baseball, bulldogs, and rock and roll. Priscilla is a seasoned veteran and well-versed in the industry. Priscilla went to school at The University of Missouri- Kansas City and has a background in psychology. Her forte and passion is people. She loves connecting jewelry and people together. Especially helping others discover self-expression through the art of jewelry.
Cordelia Herman
Cordelia, which also happens to mean deep sea jewel in Welsh, is the newest addition to our team. She has a bachelor's degree in Public Relations from Columbia College Chicago and is an Evanston native. She discovered her first love of jewelry as a child when she walked into a local bead shop where she’d later acquire her first job in sales and went on to teach lessons in beadwork and jewelry design where she found her natural talent of creative instruction and passion for working with people. Eventually, she branched off to work with other local designers to creatively collaborate and produce their designs. Her long-term sights were set on one day becoming a fine jeweler and designer. As divine intervention would have it, she came across Christopher Duquet, where she’s now weaving in her experience, intuition, and aesthetic sensibility to help her team and clients manifest their unique visions to life.
We got my engagement ring and wedding band, and my husband's wedding band from Christopher Duquet. We worked with Villi on my engagement ring and Priscilla on our bands. I never considered going custom with our rings initially - I thought that it sounded complicated and expensive. Then I found Christopher Duquet. They made customizing so simple and took all of our ideas and made it into reality. They were also very conscious of our budget and I never felt pressured to spend more than we wanted to. They are all very friendly and knowledgeable people, and are very committed to their customers even after they leave with their purchase. We recommend them to anyone looking for fine jewelry. - Michelle P.