Evelyne-M

Evelyne-M is a small goldsmith brand and shop on Badenerstrasse in Zurich's Kreis 4, built entirely around one person, Evelyne Meyer. The site's own banner puts it plainly: Evelyne-M has traded as a Swiss goldsmith and fine jewelry brand since 2010, and the name over the door is also the name at the bench. Meyer, born in 1982, presented her first collection of costume jewelry and accessories that year, then spent 2012 training further with internships in Switzerland and the US before the brand took the shape it has today. For a category where a workshop is only as credible as the evidence that someone actually makes things there, that kind of continuity matters more than a polished storefront.

The commitment that shows up hardest in the site's own language is materials. Evelyne-M says it works consistently with recycled gold and precious metals, holds the Oekogold certification, and sources only from ISO-9001-certified production partners whose environmental and ethical standards are backed by RJC certification. That is not a generic sustainability line bolted onto a supplier list. The site breaks its supply chain down by task: stone cutting and setting is done with specialists in Canton Zurich, carbon fiber work is handled in Bern, diamonds, tourmalines and sapphires come from Swiss dealers the studio has worked with for years, other gemstones are sourced directly from a family-run business in Singapore without a middleman, and chain jewelry and some hoop earrings are made in Italy by specialist workshops. It is an unusually detailed account for a shop this size, specific enough to read as an actual production map rather than a marketing paragraph.

Custom work runs through four named paths rather than one generic bespoke page: a custom-made wedding band, a one-off engagement ring, a signet ring, and a broader "make it your own" commission for anniversaries, a birth, or reworking a piece that already carries meaning. Each starts the same way, with a personal appointment with Meyer rather than an online configurator. For an engagement ring, that conversation covers material and stone choice alongside how the ring will sit against a future wedding band, and a couple can bring in a stone they already own for the setting. Meyer works with an in-house stone cutter who can shape a client's own mineral, and the site states that a personalized lab-grown diamond can even be produced in Switzerland from material the client supplies. Wedding bands follow the same appointment model: comfort, design, material, the color of stones and metal, and the shape of both hands get worked through in one sitting, and a couple can choose from any Oekogold-certified recycled metal or have their rings made from their own old gold.

The gemstone and diamond detail

Evelyne-M publishes an unusually long diamond and gemstone guide rather than leaving stone choice to a showroom conversation alone. Its own collection's colorless diamonds are graded G-H on color and VS-SI on clarity, evaluated under 10x magnification, which the guide explains means most inclusions are hard to spot even with that magnification. Beyond the classic white stone, the shop works with milky diamonds, opaque rustic diamonds, salt and pepper diamonds and galaxy diamonds, and offers asscher, brilliant, radiant, oval, marquise and princess cuts. Its stated favorite colored stones are Montana sapphire, grey spinel and tourmaline, the last running from red rubellite through blue indigolite to green verdelite. None of this reads as padding: it is the kind of detail a workshop publishes when stone sourcing is genuinely part of the pitch rather than an afterthought.

Booking as a newcomer to Zurich

Everything on the site itself is written in German, aside from English category labels in the shop navigation (Rings, Earrings, Necklace, Bracelet) and the brand's own tagline. Nothing on the pages checked for this listing states whether Meyer or her team conduct consultations in English, so an expat buyer should confirm the appointment language by phone or email rather than assume it. Contact runs through the phone during opening hours or the concierge email address, and the studio says every email gets a personal reply, with a note to check the spam folder if nothing arrives within 5 working days. The shop sits at Badenerstrasse 119 in the 8004 postcode and has been there since 2020, its third address on the same street: it started at number 131 in 2014 in a space of barely 20 square meters, moved to the larger number 129 fifteen months later in 2016, then to the current premises in 2020. It marked 10 years on Badenerstrasse in 2024. Opening hours run Wednesday to Friday from 12h to 19h and Saturday from 11h to 17h, closed the rest of the week.

Anyone timing a Zurich trip around a ring commission should build the shop's own scheduled closure into the plan: Evelyne-M shuts from Monday, 27 July through Thursday, 13 August 2026, ships no packages during that window, and reopens Friday, 14 August from 12h. The site frames this as a recurring summer break rather than a one-off, so it is worth checking again for future years rather than assuming the same dates repeat exactly.

Pricing and after-sales

Evelyne-M does not publish commission pricing online, so a quote for an engagement ring or wedding band comes out of the consultation rather than a price list on the site. The ready-to-wear shop still gives a sense of scale: pieces run from a CHF 22.50 stud earring up to an 18-karat gold signet ring at CHF 5,250, with plenty in between. On returns, purchased items can be sent back or brought in within 14 days of receipt, in original packaging and unworn, with the delivery note or receipt, though the customer covers the cost of return shipping. That policy reads as written for retail purchases rather than bespoke commissions, and the site does not spell out separate terms for a custom-made ring, so it is worth asking directly what applies to a commissioned piece before paying anything toward it. The site also does not publish anything about customs duty or shipping costs for orders leaving Switzerland, so a buyer planning to take a finished ring abroad should raise that at the appointment rather than assume it is covered.

The business, registered as EVELYNE-M GmbH in the Zurich commercial register at the same Badenerstrasse address, backs up what the site itself says about where it operates. Alongside new commissions, the studio also runs a ReNew service for reworking old jewelry that still carries emotional weight, either through small adjustments or a full remake using the same precious metal, handled personally by Meyer rather than farmed out.

Verdict

For an expat planning a Zurich engagement ring, Evelyne-M's biggest strength is how specific its own account of the work is: a named goldsmith, a supply chain broken down by task and country, a diamond guide detailed enough to double as a short education, and four distinct commission paths instead of one vague bespoke offer. The catch for an international buyer is that none of that has been put into English yet, and pricing, shipping abroad and commission-specific return terms all wait until you are on the phone or in the room. Neither is unusual for a workshop this size, and both are easy enough to settle with one email before booking a flight. Time a visit around the studio's opening days, work around the late July closure, and Evelyne-M is a solid stop for a ring that was not pulled off a shelf.