‘Handmade’ is one of the most overworked words in jewelry. You deserve to know what it actually means.

It can mean a single artisan spent forty hours shaping metal by hand. It can also mean a factory assembled components with minimal machine assistance and someone applied the label anyway. The word itself doesn’t tell you much–what’s behind it does.

Here’s exactly what happens at By Shanira–not as a marketing claim, but as a description of the actual process between the moment you place an order and the moment a ring arrives at your door. 

The Industry Default (And Why It’s Worth Knowing)

Most fine jewelry sold in the United States, including pieces from reputable, well-known retailers, is manufactured overseas. That’s not a scandal. Skilled labor exists everywhere, and mass production has made fine jewelry more accessible than it’s ever been. 

But mass production means standardization. A given ring exists in predetermined sizes, finished to a consistent spec, produced before anyone has ordered it. You buy from what’s available. The ring is sized up or down from a standard. It passes through a distribution center, a showroom, and a retailer. At each step, the connection between the person who made the object and the person who wears it grows thinner. 

Knowing the default makes it easier to understand what’s genuinely different when something is made differently. 

Made to Order: What That Actually Means 

Every piece in Collection 01 is made to order. Not pre-made and sitting in a stockroom, and not manufactured in a batch held in inventory. Made–from raw material–after you place your order, to the size and specifications you’ve chosen. 

This is why the production window is 3-5 weeks. Not because the process is slow–it isn’t relative to what’s involved– but because the process is real. Solid gold is worked, a hand-selected stone is set, and the piece is finished by hand. The time is where the quality lives. 

The Process, Step by Step

Here is what happens after you place an order for a By Shanira ring:

 

Five steps. 3-5 weeks. One ring, made for one person. 

Why Los Angeles Specifically

Los Angeles has a jewelry district–centered on the Hill Street corridor in downtown– that most people outside the industry don’t know exists. It’s one of the most concentrated jewelry manufacturing communities in the United States, with generations of skill in stone setting, casting, engraving, and finishing that doesn’t exist at the same depth elsewhere domestically. 

Working in Los Angeles means working within that ecosystem–access to artisans whose skill in hand engraving and metalwork is genuinely difficult to find elsewhere, the ability to walk into a workshop and inspect a piece in person, and a supply chain short enough to be legible. From stone to setting to shipping, within the same city. 

It also means something less tangible but worth naming: accountability. When a piece is made from down the street rather than across the ocean, problems are addressed differently. Standards are maintained differently. That proximity is part of what you’re choosing when you have a piece made here. 

What ‘Handmade’ Means for the Object Itself

A made-to-order, hand-finished piece of jewelry behaves differently than a mass-produced one over time–mostly in ways you’ll only notice after years of wearing it. 

The Honest Trade-Off

Simply put, made-to-order takes longer. There is no way around that. If you need a ring in three days, this isn’t necessarily the right choice for that timeline–and we’d rather tell you that directly than overpromise on a rush. 

The standard production and shipping window is 3-5 weeks. If your timeline is tighter, expedited shipping is available upon request. 

Questions About Made-to-Order Jewelry

Can I customize a By Shanira ring?

Yes, within limits. Collection 01 designs are fixed — we don’t alter the core silhouette or stone shape of a listed piece. But we do accommodate requests around accent stone color and can discuss modifications through our custom order form. For a fully custom piece built from scratch, that conversation starts at the custom order page!

What does made to order mean for returns?

Since every piece is made specifically for you — your size, your metal, your stone — all sales are final. We don’t carry inventory to exchange against, and a ring made to your size isn’t easily transferred to someone else. This is a straightforward trade-off of the process, not a policy designed to protect us from returns. If there’s a quality issue with your piece, that’s a different conversation entirely — contact us directly.

How do I know my ring size before ordering?

Two options: 1. Use the ring size guide on our site; or 2. Upon request, we will ship a complimentary ring sizer to your door. 

Is handmade jewelry more expensive?

Made-to-order fine jewelry carries a different cost structure than mass-produced pieces — skilled labor, individual stone selection, and smaller production runs don’t have the economies of scale that factory production does. What you’re paying for is the process and everything it produces: a better fit, a more durable piece, and an object with a traceable, accountable origin. Whether that’s worth it is a question only you can answer — but it’s worth asking clearly.