The business

For 35 years, Oscar Gomez has been building jewelry by hand in Goodyear, Arizona. He grew up watching his father work the bench, started learning the craft in his teens, and eventually built Havok Fine Jewelers from scratch, starting with 450 square feet and a passion for custom work. Today, the store spans 1,250 square feet and Oscar is still the only custom jeweler in the building.

Havok specializes in custom engagement rings, hand engraving, bead and pave work, and master stone setting. Most pieces that walk out the door are one-of-a-kind commissions. Oscar works with clients from the first sketch all the way through to the finished piece, and has been known to remember the same couple 25 years later when they come back for their anniversary ring.

Seventy percent of the clients who walk through his door first found him online. But eighty percent of what he posts is already sold by the time it goes up. Oscar often has ten to fifteen minutes with a finished piece before it leaves the store. That window is everything, and it is exactly what drove him to rethink how he handles photography.

GemIQ's role

Oscar first saw GemLightbox at the JCK trade show. He walked past the booth, talked it over with his wife, and moved on. Later that same day, they sat down at a social media seminar. The presenter, unprompted, told the room that if they could get a GemLightbox it would be one of the best investments they could make. They went back to the booth. A GemIQ team member handed Oscar's wife her ring and put it in the box. Oscar looked at his wife and said it was a no brainer. They bought it that day.

Now ninety percent of Oscar's photos use the GemLightbox Pro Eclipse background. He finishes a piece, puts it in the box, and has a professional photo and video within minutes. The AI description feature in GemIQ generates a caption that Oscar then edits in his own words, so every post has his voice without starting from a blank page. His favourite feature is GemStudio, the AI background tool that composites pieces against environments like rose petals or water. He also uses the camera to photograph repair jobs under examination, showing clients exactly what is wrong with a piece in a way a phone camera cannot.

The results

With GemLightbox now central to how Havok Fine Jewelers documents and presents its work, Oscar has seen the impact across every part of the business:

• 70% of walk-in clients now arrive having already found Havok Fine Jewelers through social media
• A single boosted GemLightbox video reached 15,000 views within two days
• 90% of product photos now use the GemLightbox Pro Eclipse background, giving the feed a consistent and elevated look
• Oscar can finish a piece, photograph it, and post it to social media with an AI-assisted description in under 10 minutes
• The new camera is used to document repair issues, helping clients see exactly what their jewelry needs before any work begins
• The planned spend on a professional photographer — at $500 to $1,000 per shoot — was eliminated entirely

For a one-man custom operation where every minute on the bench counts, being able to produce professional content without stopping the work has changed how Havok Fine Jewelers shows up online and how clients find them.