The atelier
A small atelier in San Francisco.
Aurelia was founded in 2014 by Margaux Aurelia, a third-generation goldsmith trained in Antwerp and Paris. The brief — and it has not changed — is to make pieces that outlast the people who buy them.
Margaux Aurelia trained at her grandfather’s bench in Antwerp before three years at Cartier in Paris and another four with a small custom house in New York. In 2014, she returned to San Francisco — where her mother had grown up — and opened a two-room atelier on Maiden Lane with one master goldsmith and a single rule: never make a piece you would not be comfortable handing to someone else’s grandchild.
The rule has held. We are still small. Three master goldsmiths now share the bench. One designer carries the sketchbook. The front room is quiet — espresso, soft light, samples laid out on linen, one client at a time. We do not hold inventory beyond our signature pieces; everything else is made when it is asked for, in the order it is asked for, by the hand it was promised to.
Most of our work is bespoke — engagement rings, anniversary commissions, family stones reworked into something the next generation will actually wear. We also keep a small collection of ready-to-wear pieces: a solitaire, a tennis bracelet, a pearl drop, a chain. The pieces we have refined over a decade of asking the same four questions until the answers came back quiet.
Aurelia is family-owned, San Francisco–based, and intentionally slow. We work with two diamond partners we have visited in person, refine our own gold from 100% recycled scrap, and answer every email ourselves. If you write to us, you will hear back from Margaux or one of two people who sit beside her. That is the work.
Provenance
Sourced responsibly. Made by hand.
Every stone, every gram of gold, and every set prong in this atelier can be traced — back to a mine, a refinery, a single set of hands. Lab-grown options available for every commission.
Stones
Sourced responsibly
Every natural diamond is Kimberley-Process certified and traceable to a single mine. We work with two partners we have visited in person.
Metal
Recycled, refined
All gold is 100% recycled, refined to 18k in California, and re-alloyed at our bench. No newly mined gold enters the atelier.
Hands
Made by goldsmiths
Three master goldsmiths, each with 20+ years at the bench. Every commission is carried by a single hand from wax to polish.
Bespoke commissions
A ring made for one finger.
More than half of what leaves Aurelia is commissioned. We work from a single conversation — sometimes a sketch on a napkin, sometimes a stone passed down from a grandmother — and build outward from there. Eight to twelve weeks, beginning to end.
- 01
Consultation
A 90-minute conversation in our atelier (or by video). We sketch, talk through stones, metal, scale, and budget. No deposit.
- 02
Design & CAD
Two refined sketches, then a CAD rendering and a printed resin proof in your hand within three weeks. Revisions included.
- 03
Stones & metal
We source from our trusted partners — conflict-free natural diamonds, certified lab-grown, or your own family stones reworked.
- 04
Bench & setting
One master goldsmith carries the piece from wax to polish. Six to ten weeks at the bench, photographed at every stage.
As featured in
Vogue
The New York Times
T Magazine
Architectural Digest
Client stories
Held, worn, passed down.
A small selection of recent commissions and the moments they were made for.
Margaux sketched a setting for my grandmother's emerald in our first hour together. Six weeks later it was on my hand. I haven't taken it off since.
Eleanor R.
Aurelia reworked my mother's tennis bracelet for our tenth anniversary — same stones, modern setting. It's the most thoughtful gift I've ever given.
James & Priya N.
I wanted a quiet pair of studs for my daughter's eighteenth. We sat in the atelier for an hour. They arrived in a hand-lettered box. She cried.
Catherine L.
Begin your piece
Come and see the work.
Our Union Square atelier is open by appointment Tuesday through Saturday. Ninety minutes, one client at a time, no obligation.