Chicago - April 07, 2006

Bright Lights, Big City

Ellie Thompson Custom Jewelry

Love the city living.

Though you could do without the chorus of sirens at 3 a.m. followed by a rousing rendition of your neighbors’ late-night antics.

Jewelry designer Ellie Thompson has figured out how to translate the pulse of the city without screaming it from the streets. Her platinum and gold designs pop with geometric shapes, contrasting metal textures, and intense gemstones like lime-green peridot and bright orange citrine. Our favorite may be a matte gold ring layered with high-polish gold circles, tiny diamonds, and a square magenta tourmaline.

Thompson, a trained gemologist, also does custom work and redesigns old or inherited jewelry. (So you know whom to call when it’s time to make over great-grandma’s wedding ring.) Her private, by-appointment-only gallery, located across from Millennium Park, is filled with so many beautiful baubles that you may not believe what you see.

Sounds like the makings of another urban legend.

Ellie Thompson & Co., 8 South Michigan Avenue, at Madison Street, suite 2203 (312-263-2264 or ellieco.com). By appointment only.