What to Know About Us
- Barse Jewelry is known for colorful stones! The stones used in our designs are GENUINE stones
- Barse Jewelry has been creating beautiful jewelry since 1986, and is based in Dallas, Texas
- Our CAST pieces (like rings, structured cuffs, generally stones set in metal) are manufactured in our own factory in Thailand.
- Our CAST pieces are created using the age-old method of lost-wax casting, a technique that brings high quality and rich detail (unlike most jewelry that is mass produced by the thousands)
- Each piece is crafted and finished by hand
- Our CAST pieces are set in NON-TARNISH sterling, bronze and copper metals
- Our BEADED items are designed in our studio in Dallas, then hand-crafted in the USA or China.
Origins
Our story begins in the 1980’s with Melanie Barse. Melanie began her adventures in jewelry in her native Ft. Worth, Texas, with a small gift store run with her mother, Nancy Moore. Melanie’s natural ability to speak many languages lead her travels to Mexico, where she was one of the first people to begin importing sterling into the US from Taxco, Mexico. Her natural sense of fashion allowed her to select the trendiest designs. As a twenty-something, Melanie would scout the best pieces and bring them back to sell at the store.
But Melanie didn’t stop there. Her attitude has always been a fun and vibrant “Why not?”! She knew she could sell her expertly culled pieces to others, so she partnered with her husband Michael Gobril to form Barse Jewelry in 1986. The name Barse is an artistic legacy. Melanie’s great uncle, George Randolph Barse, is a renowned American artist with art in museums and institutions throughout the nation, including the Library of Congress.
Melanie’s intrepid style and eye for jewelry lead them to begin importing world-round, and the business grew to be a successful global import company. Soon her energetic travels lead to Asia, where she discovered the rich culture and opportunities in beautiful Thailand. She quickly adapted to the Thai language and saw the opportunity to create a factory where she could begin using her skills to design and produce her own trend-driven pieces.
The Jewelry
Each piece of structured Barse jewelry (rings, cuffs, anything set in cast metal), begins with a sketch that is refined into a precise three-dimensional drawing that will be masterfully interpreted by our artisans in Thailand. These artisans use the age-old method of lost wax casting, done by hand so that each piece retains perfectly crafted detail.
Production of our cast pieces is largely based in our own Thailand factory. Each perspective of jewelry is moulded, polished and set with stones that are cut specifically for our designs. Our mould craftsmen are masters at interpreting our designer’s creations and painstakingly form the moulds that will bring about our finished product.
The Barse factory utilizes the age-old practice of lost-wax casting. This method allows for the rich details and flawless finishes that you will find in Barse cast jewelry. Most jewelry in today’s market is produced with die-cast methods that allow for thousands of pieces to be pushed out with little to no hand-finishing. By not using this method, but instead honoring the lost-wax method, Barse Jewelry attains a quality found in fine jewelry.
Most stones used in Barse cast designs are cut from huge rough pieces of stone that we source from miners around the world. These stones are cut in our own factory by our expert lapidaries.
Generally we use genuine stones in our designs. Occasionally some of the stones that are used are dyed to achieve a desired color. It is common in the jewelry market for many stones to be heat treated or dyed to achieve different hues. We also occasionally use glass, crystal, or cz in a design when a certain colorful hue is desired with an extra sparkle.
Click here for more information on our turquoise.
Our beaded jewelry is produced world-wide, but many of our beaded items are hand strung locally in Dallas. We are proud to support local beading artisans, who achieve the quality we always strive for in our jewelry.
