Avant Garde Jewelers

Category:	Jewelry Store
Address:	5408 Parkcrest Dr, Austin, TX 78731, USA
Phone:	+1 512-451-0338
Site:	avantgardejewelers.com
Rating:	4.9
Working:	Closed 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–6PM 10AM–3PM Closed

Location

Photos 69

Reviews 6

Jane Watson Hedrick

Im quite sure not enough room has been provided to post my review on Avant Garde Jewelers, so heres my attempt to be a good editor. First of all, anyone looking for fine, custom jewelry should look no further than Avant Garde Jewelers. Owner, Brian Hoover, is professional, knowledgeable, and highly skilled in the custom jewelry business. With over 45 years of jewelry "bench" time experience, Brian has the wisdom and confidence, imagination and creativity and strong, well established industry relationships necessary to create stunning, one of a kind jewelry masterpieces. The service he provides is unlike any other in the Austin area....perhaps in all of Central Texas for that matter. We are so fortunate to have a jeweler of his caliber in our back yard. Second, Brian has a demeanor and personality that is welcoming, patient and understanding. He appreciates the anxiety and tension that accompanies developing, creating and financing fine, custom jewelry. For most of us, jewelry of this superior quality is a substantial, lifetime investment. But to my relief, Brian quickly put all my fears to rest. It wasnt long before a fiduciary relationship had been established between the two of us.. He carefully and meticulously explained the pros and cons of what I was trying to accomplish. I respected his advice and was comfortable following his every recommendation. My financial responsibility was accurately discussed, the scope of work necessary was thoroughly explained and the approximate amount of time to complete the job was agreed upon. Today, Sunday, Avant Garde is closed. However Brian was sensitive to my crazy, busy schedule and agreed to meet me at his shop so I could pick up my redesigned piece. And WOW...I could not be more pleased. The final product exceeded all my expectations and then some. I cannot tell you how absolutely thrilled I am. I have nothing but praise for Brian and his design team. Trust me....trust Brian Hoover at Avant Garde Jewelers to bring your custom jewelry vision to brilliant life.

Mike Kirsch

Yesterday, upon receipt, this was a 5 Star ring. I have fairly long fingers and needed a wide wedding band to properly scale to my fingers and wanted a 12mm wide ring. Avant Garde is one of the only ring sources i could find, which offers widths, beyond 10mm. I chose to wait until after my wedding in order carefully decide on the style which I liked (bought a cheap online ring for the wedding ceremony itself). My choice from Avant Garde is a polished titanium with a 5mm 18K gold inlay. Avant Garde did a great job in manufacturing and the ring was stunning when I put it on yesterday. Family members raved about how classy it looks. HOWEVER, after wearing it around the house for only 24 hours, the gold is scuffing so badly that it already looks like it is 5 years old, on the inside surface. After reading all of Avant Gardes helpful online information and tutorials, I felt relatively confident that the gold would be much more durable than it has proven to be, after only one day of wearing. At this point, all of the scuffs are on the surface of the ring, to the inside of my hand/fingers, since this ring is wide enough that it doesnt readily rotate or spin on my finger. This is only from handling some cooking utensils and doing household chores, such as vacuuming. I absolutely love this ring, but after spending $450, I am quite disappointed in its durability. Had I purchased a polished gold ring at a regular jewelry store, I am sure I would not see the abundance of scuffs which this ring is showing after one day of wearing it. I guess I am stuck, since 12mm rings are generally unavailable, even from the major jewelry chain stores. So, bottom line is that Avant Garde did a fabulous job in fabrication and finished look, but I cant imagine why the gold and the titanium are scuffing so easily.

Claudia Hausken

Eight years ago Brian at Avant Garde helped my husband find a perfect beautiful stone for my wedding ring and took extra care and precaution when mounting it into the setting to ensure it was secure and strong. We both appreciated the attention to detail Brian put into his work at that time. They were much better at cleaning my ring than the jewelry store where we originally purchased it as well. I have had an allergic reaction to some of the metal in my ring and Brian has been so helpful in working through it. Whenever it needed to be recoated with rhodium, they took care of it. Recently, it had gotten worse. Brian was committed to fixing the issue and told me to return after each tweak to see if it had resolved. During this process he took the time to look very closely at the ring with me under the microscope and discovered that the prongs holding my stone had worn dangerously low. He fixed those immediately and we have now fully resolved the allergy and irritation issues I was having. I cant recommend Avant Garde and Brian highly enough. The whole staff is friendly and was above and beyond with their customer service. I will not go anywhere else for my jewelry needs.

Kristen Neely

Sunday I noticed one of the prongs on my ring (not made by Brian) was severely bent back. Tuesday I dropped it off with Brian at Avant Garde jewelers. It was ready on Thursday, and I picked it up Friday morning. You guys, I cannot recommend this place enough! He has resized my rings and rhodium plated them in the past. Turns out, he only charges a one-time fee for rhodium plating, and then does it for you whenever you need FOR FREE. And the total cost for him to open up all the prongs, remove the stone, and realign everything was a whopping $27! Avant Garde is the most affordable, professional jeweler in the Austin area! Brian really knows his stuff, and the turnaround is amazing! A previous jeweler I had visited wanted $75 per ring for rhodium, and said their turnaround was 2 weeks! No way! Forever going to Avant Garde, and I hope to have a custom piece done by Brian in the future. For now, my rings look brand new!

A Private User

Brian truly has a heart of gold. I showed up at his business a few days ago and brought him my engagement ring hoping to have it made into a cross pendant of some sort. My husband bought that ring from Brian and just a few short years later, I lost my husband to cancer. Anyway, Brian worked and worked with different designs before he was ready to turn it over to me saying that he knew I needed "something special". And boy did he deliver. My heart stopped when I saw his final design - it was so original and stunningly beautiful I could not believe it and yet I still recognized within that cross the ring my husband proposed to me with. I really feel like I heal a little bit more each time I put it on. Thanks Brian. Pros: Dedication to perfection - a sentimental artist Cons: none

Dan Shamlian

Since beginning on a custom engagement ring, Ive returned to Avant Garde for two other wedding related jewlery needs. Brian and his staff make the whole process less daunting and much more entertaining. They are very mindful of budget concerns and do not put much pressure on customers. The one downside I would convey, is that communication can sometimes be lacking, and I say this knowing that circumstances can (and did during my projects) arise. Depending on your timeline (mine was very relaxed), check in at your desired frequency to ensure that things continue moving if need be. Bottom line: I would definitely recommend their work, and they are my first stop from now on regarding any jewelry needs.