By Nancy Brumback, Contributing writer
Marlborough??”Mother's Day, graduations and weddings fill the spring and summer calendar, and Joy-Den Jewelers in downtown Marlborough has the perfect gift for each of these special occasions.
Chad Yesue, owner, shops the jewelry markets for special pieces and interesting designers, and can also work with a customer to design and create a one-of-a-kind piece.
Recently, he faced the challenge of designing a wedding ring for a professional hockey player whose knuckle was so enlarged from repeated injuries that any ring that fit over the knuckle was way too big on the finger. Yesue designed and is patenting a hinged wedding ring. The ring opens like a hinged bracelet, and the hinge and snap are just about invisible when the ring is closed.
“We like to solve our customers” problems,” he said.
Those solutions include thoughtful advice on buying gifts, and the chance to look at what Joy-Den has to offer on the company's website, www.joy-den.com, and Facebook page.
For Mother's Day, Yesue noted a new twist on the traditional mother's ring. Instead of each child's birthstone on a ring, he suggested thin stackable bands with the birthstones. “One husband added two diamond bands to go with the children's birthstone bands.”
Other popular items are bracelets with interchangeable clasps, an updated version of the charm bracelet. Children can pick out a favorite clasp from a wide variety of seasonal motifs, initials, animals and enameled pieces.
Joyce Marino, who founded the business, sold it to Yesue several years ago and remains as manager, suggested pendants for necklaces.
“There's a pendant of a mother embracing a child, and you can add the child's birthstone to it. Or we can create a series of small pendants, each with a stone representing a child, that slide together to form a larger pendant.”
Joy-Den carries many items that would make perfect gifts for bridesmaids and groomsmen.
Bernardi, an Italian designer, creates earrings, necklaces and bracelets with tiny faceted sterling silver beads plated in platinum that glitter like diamonds. Among the available designs are interlocking circles, a symbol particularly appropriate for weddings, Yesue said.
Designer Edna Haak offers stretchy bracelets mixing textures of smooth beads, faceted beads, sandblasted beads and wire coils in a variety of styles to either mix or match for the wedding party.
Or Yesue can create custom freshwater pearl bracelets for under $80 to match or complement the bridesmaids” dresses. “I ask brides to bring me a swatch of material and we can match the color or create a bracelet in softer or neutral colors to go with that dress.”
For the groom or groomsmen, Yesue suggested a titanium watch, made for the jeweler by Belair, that comes with a warranty and lifetime battery replacement. It can be engraved with initials or the wedding date.
Key rings make a good gift for groomsmen, in lightweight titanium for under $20 or sterling silver for $150. Monogramming is free.
If the couple is still looking for the groom's wedding band, Joy-Den has a large selection in platinum, white or yellow gold, or palladium, a white metal in the platinum family that is hypoallergenic and priced less than gold.
“Wedding bands in titanium and tungsten are lightweight for men who are not used to wearing jewelry, and are durable and inexpensive,” he noted.
Joy-Den will engrave whatever sentiment the couple wants inside the rings.
“One bride had “put it back on” engraved in his ring,” Marino recalled with a laugh.
Most of these pieces also make excellent graduation gifts.
For local high school graduates, Joy-Den has the exclusive rights to sell key rings, charms and bracelet clasps with the Marlborough or Hudson town signs on them.
Joy-Den Jewelers is located at 209 Main St. in downtown Marlborough, with ample free parking nearby. For additional information, visit the website, www.joy-den.com, or call 508-480-0309. The store opens at 10 a.m. weekdays and 9:30 a.m. Saturdays, closing at 5 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 6 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m. Thursday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday. It is closed Sunday and Monday.
