Donna Vock: Owner of Vock & Vintage on Bedazzling Jewels
The Bespoke Design Experience and What it Means to be a Private Jeweler
Known for her truly one-of-a-kind and personalized bespoke pieces, Donna Vock, owner and designer of Vock & Vintage, is the biggest name in the jewelry business you might not have even heard of, and she is perfectly okay with that. “I never craved the spotlight. Making things and making others happy is what propels me.” Shunning the usual PR-driven route to success, Donna has relied on a strong belief that results and experience are what matter. Eventually, true jewelry lovers find their way to her.
Due to her discreteness and appointment-only business model, Donna has quietly built a nationwide following of savvy enthusiasts who love her style and swear by her level of service, attention to detail and impeccable quality and value. Aside from a passion for mixing both contemporary and vintage signed collectible jewelry of bygone eras, Donna continues to stir things up with her constantly evolving unique creations known for mixed materials of precious stone, metal, wood, glass, minerals and bone, often in unexpected combinations. Color and texture play key roles in all of her eponymous designs.
For the client, fashioning a bespoke piece is an intimate custom buying experience that connects designer and collector in a casual, personal salon environment intended to feel more like joining a friend in her dressing room than entering a bustling jewelry retailer. “You have to be in their groove because it’s about them, not me. It’s their look, their lifestyle, and yes, their money, so together we are taking a thoughtful yet somewhat adventurous approach to the end result…jewelry nirvana…and that’s different for everyone.”
Being a highly skilled private jeweler for her ever-growing list of clients takes years of formal training and a network of other highly skilled professionals at your disposal (goldsmiths, gem dealers, lapidaries, setters, enamellers, hand engravers, etc.) to make high jewelry dreams come true. With a singularly unique background in geology and engineering, as well as fine arts, Donna is as much an expert at making jewelry (orchestrating a complex series of steps and skillsets behind the scenes) as she is communicating the virtues of collecting with her clients.
Whether buying a special statement piece for yourself or a loved one, Donna insists that the key to every successful project starts with listening to the client. “It’s anything but transactional. It’s collaborative, and highly personal.” A bedazzling bespoke experience can require several meetings, either virtual or in- person to establish goals. All the while she’s getting to know her clients on a personal level as she guides them through the process of selecting both stones and style for whatever custom design they decide to commission. From price point to priceless, Donna takes her clients on their own uniquely memorable jewelry-making journey. Knowing that jewelry can have both sentimental and monetary value, this A-list designer is truly full service, advising clients in both buying and selling practices as they continue to expand their classic or contemporary collections – or both. Discretion is of utmost importance to Donna and insists the same of her team. “What happens in this salon, stays in this salon.”
These lessons were learned early on, and they stuck. At one point in her career, Donna was even entrusted with repairing and restoring some antique pieces for none other than Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Not even her goldsmiths knew whose items they were working on. It’s clear Donna still prides herself on how she fiercely protects the privacy of her high-profile clientele and is just as sought after for her discretion as for her technical prowess or critical design eye.
While she’s been running her own business since 1999, Vock was bitten by the jewelry bug back in the 1980s while working for some of the biggest names in the industry, including H Stern and Tiffany and Co. Her vast experience and dedication to consistent quality and the highest integrity are what makes Vock truly sparkle, just like her creations.
Since the pandemic, this devoted jewelry designer, who adapted her bespoke experience to the virtual world, has expanded with a location in Greenwich, Connecticut. “We found that our activity was truly nationwide, global in fact, but having a design atelier in Fairfield County close to home seemed logical. I’m very happy to have both locations.” She might think she is still under the radar, but Donna, who initially launched her brand in Aspen, has seen an influx of fans from around the country as well as buyers from overseas who are now flooding into their NYC showroom.
Wherever you find Donna these days, one thing has stayed the same – her passion for helping her clients find or create their own perfectly personal piece of jewelry. From concept through creation, she ensures that her loyal clientele receives not only an exquisite piece, but also an elevated experience. She also enjoys sharing her expertise with her team of young, dynamic women who are just as enthralled as Donna was when she first stepped into the realm of jewelry making and design.
Her own star-studded story started when she stumbled into an entry-level position at H Stern over three decades ago while doing some post-graduate work at Columbia. For this future in-demand jewelry designer, it was love at first gemstone. “My world changed, and I never looked back.” The science major began a long journey into fine arts and design in her free time, honing her skills 7 days a week.
Soon, Donna landed a jewelry aficionado’s dream job in the diamond office of Tiffany and Co. where she recounts a few memorable encounters with celebrities such as Madonna, who she remembers went mad for a pricey pair of one of a kind mismatched earrings that left a big impression on the young jewelry specialist.
Donna eventually began designing stunning and sold-out pieces for Lazare Kaplan Int’l and gained not only international recognition, but “an appetite for true creative expression and a definite appreciation for classicism that was fueling my own creative voice, but confidence and success doesn’t happen overnight.”
Fine jewelry is also a family affair. Upon becoming pregnant with her second child in 1994, Donna left corporate life and began helping her husband, Alex, build his own gem and pearl company called ProVockative Gems, Inc. Now world-renowned experts in emeralds, rubies, sapphires and antique cut diamonds, Donna’s extensive experience in product development and sales came in handy. “We’ve always been there for each other. I supported us when he started on his own in 1990 with $7,000 we’d saved. No financial backers, no line of credit. He’s the best in the world; a gem dealer extraordinaire, he’s my rock star.”
Fast forward to today and Donna, with a reputation as flawless as any D color diamond, is the most trusted source for both private collectors and retailers who are ‘in the know’ about the nation’s best bespoke experience.
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