Longtime Linden Hills Custom Jeweler Claims a Storefront

Three decades ago, Gregory Brassil was on a walk in New York. After befriending a jeweler, the creative line of work had been ruminating in his subconscious. One day, it surfaced.

“It got me thinking one day. I was walking by myself and I thought, ‘Hmm, I should get into jewelry.’ It just sort of came out of the blue. I never really had any interest up until that point, but then I got really intrigued by jewelry. And I did–I got into jewelry,” Brassil said. 

And it’s been jewelry ever since. Brassil apprenticed and worked as a jeweler in California for 12 years. Following this stretch on the West Coast, Brassil returned to his childhood stomping grounds of Linden Hills and within a year opened his own jewelry business called The Goldworks.

After more than a decade of running The Goldworks, Brassil took an eight-month sabbatical. He then reopened the business as , seeking reinvigoration and to quash any suspicions that he worked only in gold. 

Today, Brassil specializes in platinum, gold and palladium and works from his third location in a two block radius, having moved Uniquely Yours from the location above in March and from the current site of Devanadi Yoga prior to that. Now in the space that was previously the children’s clothing shop Rove Arounds, Brassil enjoys his first true storefront. He has also been fortunate to enjoy success in the tight economy.  

“For the last couple years we have thrived,” Brassil said. “The economy, I hear, has been shaky. Ever since the economy went down, my business just went up.”

The fact of the matter is, Brassil and Uniquely Yours’ other designer and jeweler Soren Priede said, that no matter what happens with the economy, people still get married and they still want that perfect ring. 

Of course, the engaged public has options when it comes to jewelers. Brassil and Priede pointed to a couple of features that make Uniquely Yours unique. For one, they work hard on their web presence as a custom jeweler. They said many customers have commented that it’s hard to find a jeweler that does custom work. 

“It’s not actually accurate,” office manager Allison Reeck clarified. “But if you can’t find them on the internet they might as well not exist.”  

Then there’s the simple fact that at Uniquely Yours, the two men you talk to about your custom piece are also the ones who will design and create it, unlike many big box jewelers where the client never meets or talks to the person who actually does the jewelry work. Priede said there are often nuances in the way clients describe their envisioned jewelry. The magic, he said, is in how he and Brassil are able to pick up on what the client isn’t saying.  

The moment a client sees their perfect custom piece is what Brassil and Priede revel in, and why they make such an effective team. 

“The reason Soren and I work so well together is we both really want you to have exactly what you want,” Brassil said. 

Look for upcoming events at Uniquely Yours, including free root beer floats and a raffle drawing on July 2.