Goldschmiede einzigartig kreativ

Natascha Gisondi runs Goldschmiede einzigartig kreativ, a working goldsmith studio at Stampfenbachstrasse 159 in Zürich's Kreis 6, a short walk from the main station. She's a trained master goldsmith (Goldschmiedemeisterin) who normally makes and reworks jewellery to order, and on top of that regular bench work she opens the studio for private workshops where clients forge a piece themselves rather than commission her to make it for them. The workshop page sets out two distinct offers: a general jewellery-making session anyone can book, and a separate day built specifically around forging your own wedding rings.

The general course, listed on the site simply as Schmuck-Kurs, comes in two lengths. The 4-hour version runs from 10:00 to 14:00 with a base price of CHF 400. The 7-hour version runs 10:00 to 17:00 with lunch included, at a base price of CHF 650. Both prices cover the workshop time itself, without material: silver, gold or gemstones, plus any extra work done by Gisondi herself, a stone-setter or an engraver, are billed on top according to what you actually use. If you want to melt down or refine your own old gold for the piece, testing and processing that gold is also billed separately, which is a real option if a couple wants to work an heirloom ring into a new one.

For couples who specifically want to forge wedding rings rather than a general piece of jewellery, there's a separate listing titled "Eheringe selber schmieden" (forge your own wedding rings). It runs to a single format, 7 hours, 10:00 to 17:00 with lunch included, at a base price of CHF 1,520 for two people, again without material. So a couple forging two rings together pay one combined workshop fee rather than two separate course fees. Worth flagging plainly: this dedicated wedding-ring package is not offered at the shorter 4-hour length; that shorter option only exists on the general jewellery course, which a couple could still use to each forge a ring separately if they preferred, at the general course's own price.

What Gisondi's site is specific about, and what a lot of workshop pages leave vague, is how hands-on the day actually is. She describes herself as present throughout the session, demonstrating every step first, and taking over a genuinely difficult step herself rather than letting a first-timer ruin an expensive piece of metal. That distinction matters more for a wedding ring than for a general jewellery project. The one thing stated just as plainly is that liability for any injury or accident during the workshop sits with the client, which is standard for hands-on metalwork with a torch and tools, but worth knowing going in.

How the day is organised

Both workshop tracks start the same way: a design consultation, worked out against sample rings or your own ideas, and the site is explicit that this conversation has to happen at least 30 working days before the workshop itself. This isn't a walk-in booking or even a few weeks' notice. After the consultation you receive a detailed quote covering costs and payment terms before committing to a date. Appointments for both the workshops and for wedding or engagement ring commissions generally are arranged online through a booking questionnaire rather than by phone, though a phone number, 044 372 19 89, and an email address, atelier@einzigartigkreativ.ch, are also published for anyone who wants to ask something first.

Workshop days themselves only run on Thursdays or Saturdays, for both tracks. If you add gemstones or engraving to the wedding rings, the site notes that finishing takes about 4 more weeks after the workshop day, since that detail work happens off the bench afterwards. That's a genuinely useful planning figure if you're timing a pair of rings around a proposal or a wedding date: the forging itself is a single day, but a finished, set and engraved pair is a matter of weeks rather than days.

The contact page adds one more detail worth flagging for anyone comparing quotes across studios: if you go through the design consultation and then decide not to proceed, a service fee of CHF 100 to 150 applies for the time already spent. It's a small thing, but it's stated upfront rather than buried in the small print, and it fits the studio's general approach of quoting a base price for the workshop and itemising everything else on top.

Language, hours and who it suits

One thing worth being upfront about for anyone reading this from outside Switzerland: the site is entirely in German, including the online booking questionnaire, and there's no language switcher or English version of any page checked, home page, workshops page or contact page. Nothing on any of them points to an English-language service, so if your German is limited, it's worth bringing someone who can translate the consultation, or asking by phone or email before booking whether the session itself can run in English.

Outside the Thursday and Saturday workshop slots, the studio keeps fairly narrow regular hours: Tuesday 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 18:15, Wednesday 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 17:00, Friday 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 18:30, and only the 3rd Saturday of the month otherwise, with a summer closure from 13 July to 14 August. Stampfenbachstrasse sits in the Kreis 6 district north of the old town, close enough to the Bahnhofstrasse jewellers to combine with another appointment the same day.

The studio isn't only self-described. NZZ's lifestyle section Bellevue named Einzigartig kreativ one of three Zürich goldsmith studios worth visiting for reworking old jewellery, in a piece published in September 2025 that lists its Stampfenbachstrasse address alongside two others. Paired with an active Instagram account describing the business as running since 2021, that's a reasonable sign this is a going concern rather than an old listing nobody maintains anymore, and a search for signs it had closed, moved or changed hands turned up nothing: every current result points back to the same active site and the same address.

Against the rest of this category, this sits above the entry level on price: the general 4-hour course at CHF 400 already runs higher than this category's typical floor, and the dedicated wedding-ring day, at CHF 1,520 for two before any metal is added, sits well into the middle of what a private, one-on-one session with a working goldsmith costs in this city. What you're paying for is exactly that: individual time with the person who makes the jewellery day to day, not a shared class, on a workshop built around wedding rings specifically rather than adapted from a general format.

For a couple who wants to say they physically forged their own wedding rings rather than picked them from a case, this is a well-documented option close to central Zürich, with real numbers on price, timing and process rather than vague workshop marketing. The two caveats worth planning around are practical rather than disqualifying: leave at least 30 working days before the day you actually want, and be ready to handle the design consultation in German.