Balefire Goods — Attraction in Arvada

My TLDR is that I’d consider going to Balefire again but with plans to over-communicate, be the project manager, and insist on accurate CAD previews. I was too chill about our custom engagement ring design process.

I’ll start with the good (the great, actually!): Stone sourcing — they found us the perfect sapphire after multiple other places told us it was too uncommon to find Transparent pricing — we were never surprised by fees or upsells and they didn’t sway me from my wish for a minimalist design Willingness to get creative — you could get super custom and in ideation it felt like nothing was off the table. Executionally, I'm not sure that's always the case.

I can’t give 5 stars because of poor communication and lack of representative CAD renderings.

Communication — multiple times we went 2+ weeks between email replies (even to set up follow up meetings!). We tried to meet virtually with no success. Emailing about design details was frequently unproductive, ideas and intents getting lost as they do in a game of telephone. In person appointments were disorganized and in the future I'd bring a list of priorities to check off to keep us on track. We'd walk away from our appointments saying to each other, "did our jeweler hear what we meant? Did we make progress on the ring design? I'm not sure." Lastly, as clients, we chose to be flexible about final delivery date given our jeweler’s comments about Balefire's busyness, but in the end it felt like we had to push their team to prioritize us in line at all (see scheduling difficulties). Lack of representative CAD renderings — critical design elements weren’t accurately previewed/talked about ahead of the final build, resulting in surprise upon delivery. I look back and see multiple instances where we and our jeweler misunderstood each other, inevitable when I myself am not a jeweler. However, frequent and accurate imaging/drawing combined with proactive communication (see above) would have kept us on the same page. I regret not being more insistent as this was the root of my frustration. To be clear, it’s still a beautiful ring in its own way and there were structural reasons the build deviated from our design vision. My issue is that those structural reasons were not clarified and resolved with us in detail before it was built — because if it had, I would have chosen a different setting entirely. Post-delivery communication was even more maddening, with suggestions that moved us further from the initial requested design and other elements (matte finish, etc) ignored, I guess because they could be done at some ambiguous later date.

The last communication we received from Balefire suggested we work with a different Balefire jeweler to revise the setting. It was a little shocking to hear, but I appreciated the directness. We haven’t taken Balefire up on it yet as it was simply too frustrating at the time. Now I’m not sure if we still can.

I'll finish by saying that the team was always respectful in person and I love the gemstone they sourced + how our first couple meetings went. However, as the process went on I became increasingly disheartened. I now look at the setting and mentally calculate if I can afford to have it re-done. Ultimately I took this as a learning experience for my first time building custom fine jewelry and hope this helps someone else.

Edited to add after their response: Our 47 emails were mostly trying to get on your schedule lol. 🙄 We chose a stone in the first round, brought in a design we liked, your team emailed over a few we didn't like, and we visited the shop like 4 times total to talk ring logistics. When you respond to your only constructive reviews with paragraphs that amount to "they don't get us," it really makes you wonder. Just super sad.

They're actually talented jewlers, just difficult to work with when you're not 100% agreeing with them. I had no prior experience making custom fine jewelry and had to learn through the process what to prioritize - that really makes me an incompatible...

— BaleFIRED —

TLDR: Thallot Jewelers is more efficient, less expensive and provides vastly better quality. You can also cast the metal for the ring yourself. Check them out instead.

Our experience with Balefire Jewelry — and Jamie in particular — was deeply frustrating and disappointing. What started as a promising interaction quickly soured into one of the most stressful parts of our engagement planning.

Jamie initially came off as personable, but any attempt to ask questions about design possibilities or explore small adjustments quickly revealed her impatience and intolerance for feedback. The moment we began to engage thoughtfully with the design process, her demeanor turned dismissive and rude.

Her inability to produce a very basic, elegant ring — something understated and timeless — was shocking given her branding. She outsources her CAD renderings, which means she couldn’t respond quickly or accurately to design questions, and there was a constant lag in communication and clarity. She gave up on the project just a month before the timeline we’d agreed on, leaving us scrambling to find someone new — during what should have been a joyful, meaningful milestone.

It’s also worth mentioning that her diamond pricing is significantly above market. Like $1K over the same lab made diamond from Thallot (same ca, color etc). She insists it’s because of “sourcing standards,” yet never discloses what those standards are, leaving clients like us with a vague explanation and inflated prices.

If you’re considering Balefire, we strongly suggest zooming in on the photos on their Instagram page. You’ll notice bands that appear bulky, inconsistent, or unfinished — thin, elegant bands in particular seem to be a challenge. There’s a roughness to the designs that lacks the crispness we saw from other jewelers.

Thankfully, we found Thallot, who saved the day. Their team was professional, kind, and fast. They produced beautiful, detailed CAD renderings quickly and involved us in the process in a way that felt collaborative and respectful. Thallot also let me participate in making the ring by melting and pouring through gold for the band (they call this their “Pour Your Heart Into It” program and it’s free!) what an awesome thing to take part in! We’ll be returning to Thallot for our wedding bands without hesitation.

Balefire may look appealing at first glance, but our experience was a letdown from start to finish. For something as important as an engagement ring, go where your vision is respected and your time (and...

I absolutely loved my experience with Balefire and would choose them for all of my custom jewelry needs! A friend of ours recommended this company when I was looking for something more unique and nontraditional in terms of an engagement ring for my fiancé. We didn’t want a standard men’s wedding band but rather something very different and more meaningful/personal to us since we were both planning to exchange rings and propose to each other - something that was unique to our relationship. The entire process was seamless and I felt like they fully understood what I was looking for from the very beginning. We both came in for an initial consultation and shared my fiancé’s Pinterest board of rings that were meaningful to him and styles that he liked, and his overall vision for a ring he was looking for. From there, he backed out of the process and I worked with both Baleigh and Jamie to bring his vision to life and surprise him with the most beautiful piece. They nailed it with the designs and found the most incredible stones for me to choose from – making it very hard to make a decision since they were all so beautiful. Since this was the first time I ever did this, I had a lot of questions on the process and the different materials and they were very kind and excellent partners in explaining everything to me and helping me make the best decisions. When I finally saw the finished product, I was brought to tears because of how beautiful and perfect it was. I felt like they completely nailed my fiancé’s vision and captured his personality and style in this ring. We are so happy to have met the awesome people at Balefire Goods and hope to be able to work with them again soon. In the meantime, we recommend Balefire to any of our friends and family who are looking to make...