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Two-tone diamond engagement ring with vine motif set in 18k yellow and 19k white gold. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
John Muscarella, master jeweler, owner and designer for Lynn’s Jewelry Studio. Photo courtesy Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
John Muscarella knew the moment that he saw this green sapphire what he would do with it: set it in 19k white gold and surround it with hot pink sapphires. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
From concept to creation: A diamond ring is shown on the left as its wire rendering from CAD, transitioning to the actual ring on the right. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
Two-tone diamond engagement ring with vine motif set in 18k yellow and 19k white gold. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
PICTURED: Two-tone diamond engagement ring with vine motif set in 18k yellow and 19k white gold. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
by Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer
For over 50 years, Lynn’s Jewelry Studio in Ventura has been providing the finest metal and gemstone creations to Southern California customers. Founded in 1970 by Bob Lynn, the shop has a reputation for exceptional craftsmanship surpassed only by its customer service and passion for unique design. Current owner John Muscarella, who took over from Lynn after the founder retired in 2017, is maintaining that legacy while building one of his own.
Originally from the East Coast, Muscarella’s family moved to California when he was 10 years old. He grew up in Thousand Oaks and attended high school in Newbury Park, where his passion for jewelry creation and design was forged.
John Muscarella, master jeweler, owner and designer for Lynn’s Jewelry Studio. Photo courtesy Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
“Newbury Park High School had a jewelry class . . . and I fell in love with jewelry. I was a sophomore in high school.”
Muscarella prefers to work with his hands, and enjoys crafts like woodworking and stained glass as well. But his first love has always been jewelry.
“Working from the idea to taking that concept and creating a model to casting it in metal to the finished product — I still love it today.”
Muscarella learned his trade on the job, noting that he has held exactly three jobs since he began working in 1978: first at Adelphi Jewelers in Thousand Oaks, later Bill’s Custom Jewelry and Repair in Camarillo. His career with Lynn’s began in 1996, and he’s been there ever since.
“I’m a very creative type of person,” says Muscarella, and that quality comes out in the custom jewelry on display at his shop and studio off of Market Street. An elephant head carved in pink tourmaline is set into an array of gold elephant leaves that serve as the centerpiece for a necklace made up of dozens of freshwater pearls. A bit of honeycomb rendered in white gold and yellow diamonds sports a wee golden bee. A lustrous South Seas pearl is surrounded by a cluster of gold orchids. He’s turned several of his daughters’ drawings into wearable art, too.
“My youngest daughter has been designing jewelry with me since she was three,” he says with pride, noting that she would often draw a picture and ask him to make it into something. One piece he liked so much — an ID bracelet with little panda bears — that he made a mold out of it. “One of my favorite pieces — when she learned how to sign her name, I converted her signature into a charm.”
He also gets ideas by talking to his customers. He enjoys the process of combining his design sensibility with their imagination, and finds that this process is rewarding creatively and socially. Many of his customers become friends.
But in truth, the muse strikes Muscarella often and just about anywhere. When he travels, unusual things catch his eye: the shape of a wrought iron fence, an antique door hinge, crown molding.
John Muscarella knew the moment that he saw this green sapphire what he would do with it: set it in 19k white gold and surround it with hot pink sapphires. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
“I take pictures of the weirdest things,” he says with a laugh. “I see jewelry design in everything. I’ve dreamt of designs at times.”
And sometimes, there’s an unexplainable but very real connection to a stone. One of his newest pieces, for example, features a grass-green sapphire surrounded by bright pink sapphires — the essence of spring, captured in a ring.
“Once I saw the stone, I saw the ring that it was going to go in.”
Naturally, Lynn’s does a lot of work for engagements and weddings. And Muscarella’s customers come to him in a variety of ways.
“Some people walk in off the street,” he says. “He has no idea what she wants . . . but he wants to get engaged.”
The customer might buy something in the case. But more often, Muscarella will help them pick out a diamond and then mount it in a simple, traditional engagement ring setting. After the proposal and presentation of the ring have taken place, the couple returns with the ring and the diamond “is put into a design that she has a decision in.”
“Sometimes, the bride-to-be comes in, picks out a couple of designs we have in stock, and then he comes back and chooses something from what she has picked out. That way, she gets something that she likes, but he has a choice, too.”
The most fun, however, “is when they come in and we sit down and they have pictures of what they want. We’ll combine the different designs and they get something that is just for them.”
Lynn’s has a very handy tool to get that process started: a display box with a variety of stones in several sizes and cuts, with bands and settings to go with them. Customers can try out an array of configurations and sizes, and see how they look on the hand; like a LEGO® set for jewelry.
Behind the sparkling display cases is Muscarella’s workshop, where the magic happens.
His designs generally start as sketches on paper, which he then develops into three dimensions in an AutoCAD program on the computer. With that, he can create a model in wax resin using a 3D printer.
From concept to creation: A diamond ring is shown on the left as its wire rendering from CAD, transitioning to the actual ring on the right. Photo courtesy of Lynn’s Jewelry Studio
It’s a painstaking process: The models are built up layer by layer, one micron at a time. The finished product can easily be made up of 1,200 layers of wax resin or more. But the effort is worth it, as it allows every bit of detail, every nuance, to be faithfully maintained. And it enables Muscarella to cast just about anything in metal.
The CAD-created model is then surrounded by plaster and baked at 1,300 degrees — solidifying the plaster, but melting the wax resin away. The cavity left behind is used as the mold. (The entire process is called the lost wax method). Molten gold or silver gets poured into that mold to create the metal jewelry, which then may be fitted out with gemstones and other embellishments.
The workshop also has space for jewelry classes. Enrollment is limited to four students each, so that Muscarella can provide personal attention and guidance. The opportunity to learn design, torching, soldering, finishing and polishing from a master jeweler with Muscarella’s decades of experience is a rare one, indeed — and students come from all over Southern California to attend.
Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, opals, pearls, tourmalines . . . Muscarella has made beautiful jewelry with all of these and more. One special stone is the Gabrielle cut diamond, created by master cutter Gabriel S. “Gaby” Tolkowsky. Prized for its incredible brilliance achieved with 105 facets (an ideal cut has only 58), Gabrielle diamonds are no longer being made — and thus are very hard to come by.
He loves all gems and stones, but Muscarella’s favorite might be the chrysoberyl cat’s eye, which exhibits natural color changes. Look on his right hand to see a particularly beautiful example . . . set in a custom band designed by the jeweler himself.
Whether he’s creating a wedding set, giving new life to old jewelry or designing something completely original, Muscarella brings as much passion to his work today as he did all those years ago as a teenager in his first jewelry class.
“I found what I love,” he says. “There are so many things you can do. Anything can be created.”
Lynn’s Jewelry Studio, 4572 Telephone Road, Suite 906, Ventura, 805-642-5500, lynnsjewelry.com.