Dalzell & Co.

Apr 19

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL
EST. 1996

In their own words

“We’re big on custom; we design and make pieces for individuals to give them exactly what they want. They can have a one-of-a-kind piece they’re not going to find anywhere else. Custom has taken off because the current generation getting engaged don’t want to see the same thing on the next person’s finger. They want their personal touch. We eat, breathe, and sleep diamonds, and on top of that are our design skills. There’s a lot of experience in terms of what will work, new ideas, and how to make things that are still functional. You can design a piece of jewelry that, on paper, isn’t going to hold up or isn’t physically possible to build. We have the experience to avoid that situation.”

-Steve Dalzell

Jason’s Interview with Steve

Jason

Welcome to Meet the Jewelers. Today, we have Steve from Dalzell & Co. Tell us about Dalzell & Co.—how did you start it?

Steve

I started it with $2,000 and a little office in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

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Jason
How did you go from there to where you are now?

Steve
Basically, just by appointment and custom work. From there, we did a couple of shows where we'd have an open house and end up taking over more offices, and we had to expand from there. We ended up on a main street in downtown Crystal Lake and rented a space there for about five years. Then a building on the corner opened up that used to be a Woolworth’s, so we bought that building and that's where we are today.

Jason
What would you say differentiates you from the other retail stores around the area?

Steve
We're big on custom, so we design and make pieces for individuals to give them exactly what they want. They can have a one-of-a-kind piece that they're not going to find anywhere else.

Jason
How often do people come in and ask for custom?

Steve
It is more than half of our business, it's taken off because this current generation that's getting engaged doesn't want to see the same thing on the next person's finger. They want to add their personal touch to it.

Jason
How does a process look like if somebody's getting engaged? Can you walk us through their experience?

Steve
From a custom standpoint, typically they're coming in and trying to see what they want for a diamond. Then, they usually have some ideas on what they want the ring to look like. From there, we'll draw it out. Once they approve the drawing, or if we make changes on the drawing, because a lot of times it's a process. And then they will put those together into, the final drawing, and then from there, we put it into CAD. We put it into a CNC machine and carve a 3D model. Once they're happy with that, we go to work and turn it into metal. Then we’ll cast it, polish it, finish it, set it.

Jason
How much of the process can our readers do online? Can they email you?

Steve
We can certainly do that. We work with people all over the place. I just finished a ring, delivered it yesterday to somebody that was down in Georgia. It was a referral from somebody that had done business with us and moved away. We get a lot of referrals by word of mouth and they're starting to come from all over, not just the local area.

Jason
Why should people trust you, Steve? What sets you apart?

Steve
We import diamonds, so I'm not just buying them from another importer. We do that on our own. We eat, breathe, and sleep diamonds—we've just been at it forever. It's a lot of experience in terms of what will work, new ideas, how to make things that are functional, because you can design a piece of jewelry on paper that isn't going to hold up or isn't physically possible to build.

Jason
We noticed you have a proposal generator on your website with proposal ideas. What's the funniest, most exciting, memorable proposal?

Steve
One of the best was a gentleman into snorkeling and scuba diving. He went and made this little wooden chest. He put the ring in a box in the chest, had another friend go out to where they were diving, go down, and put this chest on the bottom in the ocean. Tied a balloon to it, so it's something that she'd obviously be like, "Hey, what's that?" And took her diving. She went down and found it. It was pretty wild. That was one of the coolest ones. And he still has that chest.