FAQs

Because it doesn't exist yet when you order it. Your piece gets cast, cleaned up, set, engraved and polished by hand in South Australia. The extra time is what keeps the quality where we want it.

Sometimes, but ask first. Email us at support@loujewellery.com.au before you buy and tell us the date. We'll tell you honestly whether we can shuffle the queue. If we haven't confirmed a deadline, please don't assume one.

Email us as soon as you can with your order number. If your piece hasn't been cast yet, changes are usually easy. Once it's further along, some changes mean remaking parts of it, so there may be a cost. The earlier you catch us, the better.

Email us as soon as possible with your order number. If we haven't started making your piece yet, we'll cancel and refund it, no drama. Once it's been cast or engraved it's genuinely yours, so at that point talk to us and we'll find the best option.

You'll get an email with tracking the day your piece passes final polish. If you want a progress update before that, use the Track your piece page or email us with your order number and we'll tell you where it's at on the bench.

Catalogue pieces, no. Custom commissions start at $800.

Yeah, it's the heart of what we do. Rings, signets, pendants, chains, bracelets, cuffs. Bring a sketch, a photo, a rough idea, or just the story behind it, and we'll design it with you.

1. You email custom@loujewellery.com (or DM us) with your idea: a sketch, a photo, or just the story.
2. We chat through design, material, stones and budget, and give you a price.
3. We put together initial 3D renders so you can see the direction, often within a day or two.
4. A 50% deposit locks it in. We refine the render until you're happy, and nothing gets made until you approve it.
5. We make it: cast, set, engraved and polished by our team in Adelaide. The balance is settled and it ships to you tracked.

Custom commissions start at $800. Where it lands depends on the design, the metal, and any stones. Tell us your budget up front; it's the fastest way to a design that works.

Always. Every custom piece gets a 3D render for your approval before production starts. Nothing gets made until you're happy.

Absolutely. Any piece can be remade as a custom in solid 9ct, 14ct or 18ct gold. Email us and we'll get you a quote.

Usually yes, and it's often a small surcharge rather than a full custom job, because we just need to source the stone. Email us with the piece and the stone you're after.

We won't do a straight copy of another jeweller's work. What we will do is design something original that carries the style you love, and honestly it usually ends up better because it's built for you. Your own family pieces are different: we're happy to faithfully replicate or rework something you already own.

Yes. A personally designed signet, a family crest, a drawing on a napkin, all good. Send it through and we'll tell you what's possible.

Yes, and these are some of our favourite projects. We can replicate a worn family ring, rework a design to carry names or dates forward, or build a new piece from photos of the original. Start by emailing clear photos (front, side, underside) and the story. Sometimes we'll ask you to post the piece to the workshop so we can work from the real thing.

It depends on the piece and the material, so ask us before you assume either way. Send photos of what you've got and what you're imagining, and we'll tell you straight what's workable.

Yes. Engagement rings, wedding bands, and matched sets, all as custom commissions in silver or solid gold with stones sourced for the piece. These get the full treatment: renders to approve, and honest guidance on what wears well for daily life. Start early if you've got a proposal date.

Yes. Pieces that carry someone's memory are some of the most important work we do. Email us and tell us the story. We'll take it from there, at whatever pace you need.

Yes. Names, dates, initials, inside-band messages, artwork on signets. Most catalogue pieces can be engraved and every custom can. If you're not sure whether a piece takes an engraving, ask.

Catalogue pieces come in solid 925 sterling silver or 24 carat gold plated. The plating is 24ct gold bonded to solid sterling silver. It's a proper bond, not a spray or a dip. If you want solid gold, we do that as a custom in 9ct, 14ct or 18ct.

Gold plated is 24ct gold bonded over solid sterling silver. It looks identical on day one, but the core is silver, so with heavy daily wear the gold layer will slowly show wear over the years. Solid gold is gold all the way through. It never wears through and looks the same in ten years. The trade-off is price.

Sterling silver can develop a patina over time. That's normal for real silver and it polishes straight off. Gold plated pieces hold up well, but with hard daily wear the plating will eventually show wear. Solid gold doesn't tarnish or fade at all.

Sterling silver: soap, water and swimming are all fine. Just take it off for harsh chemicals like bleach or chlorine-heavy spa water. Gold plate: be a bit gentler and take it off before swimming, showering or the gym, so the gold layer lasts.

Our silver pieces are solid 925 sterling silver, the same standard used in fine jewellery everywhere, and most people wear it with no issues at all. If you have a specific metal sensitivity, email us before ordering and we'll talk through the right material for you.

Adelaide, South Australia. Every piece is designed and made by our team at the workshop on Gilles Street. It's not white-labelled, not imported, not "designed in Australia, made elsewhere".

It's bonded, not painted, so it doesn't peel or flake. What happens with years of hard wear is gradual thinning at contact points, the same as any plated piece. If yours ever wears down, talk to us about re-plating.

Use the ring sizer on our website, or get sized at any local jeweller and tell us the result. If you're between sizes, go up. And if you're buying as a surprise, borrow a ring they already wear on that finger and we can size off that. When in doubt, email us. We'd rather spend five minutes on sizing than resize a finished ring.

Both work, just tell us which. If you give us a plain number like "size 8" we'll read it as US sizing. Australian and UK sizes are letters, like U or Z+1. If anything looks ambiguous we'll check before casting.

We resize it. Head to resize.loujewellery.com.au, pop in your order number, and the portal walks you through it: choose the new size, we email you a prepaid return label, and the resized ring comes back to you by Express Post at no return-postage cost. Allow 2 to 3 weeks once it reaches the workshop.

The resize portal shows you the exact price for your ring and size change before you pay anything. Small adjustments cost very little; bigger jumps cost more because the ring sometimes needs to be recast rather than stretched. Postage is covered both ways: you get a prepaid return label, and the ring comes back by Express Post free.

Most rings, yes. Very large jumps (more than a couple of sizes) can mean remaking the ring rather than stretching it, and some designs with full engraving or stones need extra care. Start at the resize portal and we'll flag anything unusual.

Yes, custom and engraved pieces can usually be resized or adjusted. Because of the labour involved there's a cost. Email us and we'll quote it.

Measure a chain you already own and like, or grab a piece of string and a ruler. Chain lengths are in the product options. If you're stuck between two, tell us how you want it to sit and we'll recommend one.

If your order hasn't shipped, email us straight away and we'll change it. After delivery, get in touch and we'll sort out what's possible; depending on the piece there may be a cost.

After dispatch: Standard AusPost about 3 to 7 business days, Express 1 to 3 business days.

Yes. If checkout accepts your address and shows a shipping rate, we ship there. Most international orders land in 7 to 14 business days after dispatch, depending on customs.

Every parcel is tracked, domestic and international. The link activates once AusPost scans the parcel, so if it looks dead for the first few hours, that's normal.

If it stalls for more than 7 days, email us. We'll lodge an investigation with the carrier and keep you updated until it's resolved.

First check with household members, neighbours, and your local post office, since parcels sometimes get scanned before the final handover. If it still hasn't turned up, email us and we'll open an investigation with AusPost and stay on it with you until it's resolved.

Yes, just enter the delivery address you want at checkout. Posting a gift straight to the recipient works great, and if you want the parcel plain and unbranded, ask us and we'll make sure of it.

Email us with your order number as soon as possible. If your piece hasn't shipped, we'll update the address here, easy. If it's already on its way, we ship with AusPost, so you can usually redirect the parcel to your new address or local post office through the AusPost app, and we'll help from our end too.

Wear it. It's made for that. Beyond that: rinse off sunscreen and salt water when you think of it, keep it away from bleach and harsh cleaners, and give silver a rub with a polishing cloth when the patina builds up.

A silver polishing cloth handles ninety percent of it. For grime in engraving, warm water, a drop of dish soap and a soft toothbrush, then dry it properly. Skip abrasive pastes and "dip" cleaners on gold plated or stone-set pieces.

Gently. Warm soapy water and a soft cloth. Don't use silver polish or abrasives on plating; you'd be polishing the gold layer off.

Somewhere dry, ideally in the pouch or box it came in. Silver kept in open humid air patinas faster. Chains stored clasped and hanging (or laid flat) don't knot.

Cards, Shop Pay, PayPal and Lou gift cards at checkout. Custom commissions are invoiced by email through Stripe.

Custom pieces work on a 50% deposit to lock in your spot and start production, with the balance settled before your piece ships. You can also just pay in full up front if you'd rather. We invoice by email, so there's no awkward checkout for a piece that doesn't exist yet.

Yes, all prices are in AUD unless your local checkout shows otherwise.

Yes. The Lou Gift Card is on the site, from $10 to $300, delivered digitally. Good for people who want the piece chosen by the person wearing it.

Every piece ships in its own box, ready to hand over. If it's a surprise and you need the parcel plain and unbranded, just ask when you order and we'll sort it.

We're a working workshop, not a retail store, at 175 Gilles Street, Adelaide. If you want to see pieces, talk through a custom idea, or drop something off for repair or resize, email us and we'll set up a time to swing by.

• Orders, shipping, resizes, repairs: support@loujewellery.com.au
• Custom commissions: custom@loujewellery.com
• We're also on Instagram (@loujewellery) but email is the fastest way to get a proper answer with your order attached.

Lou and a small team at the Adelaide workshop design and make every piece. That's also why the queue is measured in weeks, not days.

Lou documents a lot of the making on Instagram and YouTube. If your piece is a custom, you'll see it as a render before it exists, and sometimes on the bench after that.