PAMELA COULSTON

The Canada Olympic Park sets just a few minutes away from downtown Calgary with the majestic Rocky Mountains serving as a picturesque backdrop.

Aside from housing a ski jump tower, and bob sleigh/luge track, the Olympic Hall of Fame and Museum is a great place to visit. Canada is also home to featured jewelry designer Pamela Coulston.

You might say that Coulston likes to keep it real. The graduate of California’s Gemological Institute of America, as well as an Accredited Jewelry Professional, wants her customers to feel the weight of her 18-karat gold and sterling silver bangles, pendant necklaces, and earrings.

“Jewelry is not just a visual pleasure but a tactile one as well. Pieces are not just meant to be seen, but to be felt.

As such, one of the greatest features of my jewelry is the quantity of gold and sterling silver I use,” says the designer.

“My jewelry items are solid not hollowed out from underneath. My bangles and rings are solid metal not hollow wire; if it looks big it will feel big.”  Coulston’s design style is reminiscent of an Eastern European aesthetic; strong, clean angles and subtle proportions.

Through her 19-year-old company, Disegno, Coulston skillfully cultivates a combination of trendy pieces including stacking rings, and heart pendant necklaces with an explorative streak producing such items as her visually striking and edgy Vertebrae Ring (seen above), as well as the texture-rich Whelk and Tortoise Shell items.


Her ring bands, in particular, are an eclectic group inspired by everything from Roman columns to front load washing machines. Her expansive experimentation with style and form includes integrating accents of rose quartz, aquamarine, carnelian, and lapis lazuli.

She also creates items with movable/removable parts. Her sterling silver Pelagia Ring, inspired by glass artist Dale Chihuly, features “three layers of frosted shells with high polished rims set with a pink freshwater pearl. The top two `shells’ are loose and rotate around the pearl,” says Coulston.

Her collections are a broad interplay of chic sophistication, subtle glamour and the whimsy of animal-inspired charms.

“I specialize in creating 18-karat gold custom made jewelry. I enjoy designing pieces that are wonderful to caress, to play with or fiddle with.

My designs reflect my clients’ needs and lifestyles. Their happiness is very, very important to me.”
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Photo 1 (top right): 18-Karat White and Yellow Gold Vertebrae Ring
Photo 2 (center): Sterling Silver Large Pelagia Pendant Necklace with Freshwater Pearl
Photo 3 (bottom left): 18-Karat Yellow Gold Stacking Mountain Range Rings